HOW DOES DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AFFECT THE WORKPLACE?

Domestic violence affects productivity and increases absenteeism:

24% of women between the ages of 18 and 65 have experienced domestic violence (EDK Associates, The Many Faces of Domestic Violence and its Impact on the Workplace, 1997).

74% of employed battered women were harassed by their partner while at work. This caused 56% of them to be late for work at least five times a month, 28% to leave early at least five days a month, and 54% to miss at least three full days of work a month.

The total health care costs of family violence are estimated in the hundreds of millions each year, much of which is paid for by the employer. 44% of executives surveyed say that that domestic violence increases their health care costs (Pennsylvania Blue Shield Institute, Social Problems and Rising Health Care Costs in Pennsylvania, pp. 3-5, 1992).

A 2005 phone survey of 1,200 full-time American employees found that 44 percent of full-time employed adults personally experienced domestic violence's effect in their workplaces, and 21 percent identified themselves as victims of intimate partner violence.

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Batterers also may be less productive or miss work because of violence, incarceration, or legal proceedings resulting from the violence. Results of a survey on the impact of domestic violence offenders on workplace safety and health revealed that perpetrators negatively affect workplace safety, productivity and are responsible for lost time:

78% use workplace resources at least once to express remorse or anger to, check up on, or threaten the victim.

74% has easy access to their intimate partner’s workplace, with 21% reporting that they contacted her at the workplace in violation of a no-contact order.

 48% reported difficulty concentrating at work, with 19% reporting a workplace accident or near miss

 42% of offenders were late for work.

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