Promoting Workplace Education and Awareness
Once management acknowledges domestic violence as a workplace issue and sends the simple message that they are concerned about it and want to help, employees facing these issues may feel more comfortable about seeking support and safety at work. One survivor revealed that had she seen just a poster in the lunch room, knowing that someone cared enough to hang a poster like that, she would have felt better about reaching out and asking for help.
On a regular basis, the workplace can make efforts to educate or make employees aware of domestic violence. These efforts may be initiated independently by senior management, the Employee Assistance Program, or the union -- or may be done cooperatively with several departments within an agency. Senior management augments any efforts of this kind with statements about their willingness to support employees who are victims of domestic violence.
The Family Violence Prevention Fund offers several ideas for domestic violence awareness activities at work:
Train supervisors and human resources staff on how to recognize and respond to people in abusive relationships. Approach your local community domestic violence program about assisting with this.
Include information about domestic violence and services available on pay stubs. Your local domestic violence program may have brochures that you can photocopy and include with pay stubs.
Conduct one or more workshops on domestic violence. Make presentations accessible to employees on all shifts. Consider inviting a speaker from your local domestic violence program to share information about local services and statistics about domestic violence in your area.
Display posters about domestic violence around your workplace, including restrooms, common areas, and your personnel office. Have materials such as brochures, safety cards and/or business cards available in places where employees can take them anonymously.
Include an article about domestic violence in your agency newsletter or bulletin.
Organize a wellness fair with information about domestic violence and other issues of importance to employees. Include posters, videos, brochures, and other free items such as pencils and bumper stickers which include the number of your local domestic violence shelter or the National Domestic Violence Hotline (1-800-799-7233).
Purchase a video about domestic violence that can be shown at employee fairs and workshops, or that employees can watch individually.
Successful activities will:
involve collaboration with your local domestic violence program;
make employees aware of what domestic violence is and its prevalence;
send a clear message that victims are not to blame, that their safety is important, and that there are individuals they can talk to if they choose;
provide information about community services and options available to survivors of domestic violence and their children;
offer suggestions for what all of us can do to prevent domestic violence and make our communities safer;
educate employees about how to recognize abuse and what they can do if they know someone in an abusive relationship.
The next sections are summaries - one for employees and one for managers - to help them recognize what domestic violence is and to identify sources for getting help at the workplace or in the community. They may be photocopied and distributed at the worksite. In fact, distributing these summaries to all employees can be a simple, yet effective, first step in reaching out to help employees who may be victims of domestic violence at your agency.
Employees
Does your partner ...
Behave in an overprotective way or become extremely jealous?
Isolate you from friends and family?
Call you names, put you down, and degrade you?
Physically hurt or threaten you?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, you are not alone. Domestic violence is very common and affects people from all walks of life. If you are in an abusive relationship, there are many resources in your workplace and in your community to help you.
In your workplace you can:
Talk to someone at the workplace you trust, such as a friend, co-worker, supervisor, human resources manager, or employee assistance counselor.
Notify security of your safety concerns. Provide a photo of the abuser and a copy of protection orders to security, supervisors, and reception area staff. Ask about relocating your worksite to a more secure area or increasing security at your current worksite.
Have your calls screened, transfer harassing calls to security, or remove your name and number from automated phone directories.
Review the safety of your parking arrangements. Ask security to escort you to your car, obtain a parking space near the building entrance.
Ask co-workers to call the police if your partner threatens or harasses you at work.
Ask about leave options if you need time off to seek legal, medical, counseling, or other assistance.
Consult with your union representative for support, advice, information, and referral.
In your community:
Call 911 if you are in immediate danger.
Call 1-800-799-7233 (SAFE) for help and referrals to a local domestic violence program.
Develop a personal safety plan with your Employee Assistance Program counselor and/or your local domestic violence program.
For more information about workplace and community resources, consult the Office of Personnel Management guidebook, Responding to Domestic Violence, Where Federal Employees Can Find Help, available at the OPM Home Page at www.opm.gov
Managers
Would you know what to do if an employee was being abused at home?
Domestic violence is a workplace concern. It can result in reduced productivity, increased medical expenses, absenteeism, and increased risk of violence at the workplace. The workplace can be an ideal place for employees facing domestic violence to get help: it's the place many spend at least eight hours a day, away from their abusers. You can make a difference, too.
First, be aware of possible signs of domestic violence:
Changes in behavior and work performance
Lack of concentration
Increased or unexplained absences
Signs that phone calls are disturbing
Bruises or injuries that are unexplained or come with explanations that just don't add up
Second, send a clear and consistent message to all employees that the workplace will respond to all employees who are victims of domestic violence in nonjudgmental and supportive ways. Inform all employees of the assistance available to them through their workplace.
If you believe that one of your employees may be abused:
Don't assume that she is being abused.
Let the employee know what you have observed in a nonjudgmental way -- "I noticed the bruises you had last week and you look upset and worried today."
Express concern that the employee might be abused -- "I thought it was possible that you are being hurt by someone and I am concerned about you."
Make a statement of support -- "No one deserves to be hit by someone else."
If the employee chooses not to disclose, no further questions or speculations should be made. A referral for assistance should be given at the end of the conversation.
If you are unsure how to approach the employee, consult with Employee Assistance Program counselors or the human resources office.
Post and distribute information about domestic violence and inform all employees that the following assistance may be available to them through the workplace:
Paid and/or unpaid leave options if the employee needs time off to attend court or counseling, or to find a new place to live
Flexible work schedules, telecommuting, job details to a different location, part-time employment, and job sharing
Confidential and free counseling from the Employee Assistance Program and referrals to community resources
Security assistance such as escorts to and from parking, relocation of workspace to a more secure location, and workplace safety planning
For more information about workplace and community resources, consult the OPM guidebook, Responding to Domestic Violence: Where Federal Employees Can Find Help, available at www.opm.gov. Also, check out the Family Violence Prevention Fund's web site at http://www.igc.org/fund/ and the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund's web site at http://www.nowldef.org/.
Remember you are not alone.
You are not to blame.
You do not deserve to be abused.
Federal Web Sites
Department of Justice
Department of Health and Human Services
General Services Administration
Office of Personnel Management
Other Web Sites
The following list is not exhaustive of the organizations available, nor does the list constitute an endorsement by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
References
Family Violence Prevention Fund, The Workplace Responds to Domestic Violence: Resource Guide for Employers, Unions, and Advocates, 1998.
Bureau of Justice Statistics, Violence by Intimates, Analysis of Data on Crimes by Current or Former Spouses, Boyfriends or Girlfriends, April 1998
The NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, The Impact of Violence in the Lives of Working Women: Creating Solutions, Creating Change, 1996.
Department of Health and Human Services, The Action Guide: Understanding and Responding to Domestic Violence in the Workplace, a product of the agency's Domestic Violence Policy Review Group, October 1998.
Domestic Violence: Finding Safety and Support, a publication of the New York Federal Executive Board, July 1996.
|
NOTE: Under Federal Law, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is prohibited from ranking, endorsing, or promoting agencies or organizations listed on its Web site.
|
