Partner violence — also known as domestic violence — is most commonly viewed as a personal issue and is associated with someone’s home life. While it’s true that partner violence often occurs in and around a home, it doesn’t stay at home when the victim and the abuser go to work.
“Partner violence is a workplace issue because the behavior impacts the workplace and is costly to employers,” says Sandra Caffo, the senior director of LifeSolutions, a UPMC WorkPartners affiliate.
Smart Business spoke with Caffo about partner violence and the impact it has on the workplace, employers and employees.
How would you define partner violence?
Partner violence is a pattern of abusive behavior that is done by one person to control a partner. It’s not about being angry. It’s not an over-reaction to a partner making a mistake. The goal is for the abuser to let the partner know who’s in charge. This behavior can be physical, sexual, psychological or emotional. Most often the abuser is a man and the person being abused is a woman, but there are female abusers as well. And, partner violence happens in all types of relationships — married, unmarried, heterosexual, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered — and it touches all economic groups.
What is the scope of partner violence in the workplace?
According to statistics from Standing Firm, an organization in Southwest Pennsylvania that is dedicated to addressing partner violence as a workplace issue, more than one in five full-time employed adults have been victims of partner violence and 64 percent of those say that their work performance has been significantly impacted as a result. This includes receiving harassing phone calls, e-mails and text messages at work to having the abuser come to the partner’s worksite and verbally or physically assault that employee.
Abusers are also employees. Employed abusers have told researchers that they have misused company time and resources — such as phones, computers, e-mail and automobiles — to remind the partner that they are always present. Each and every workplace, regardless of size, can be impacted by partner violence.
How does partner violence impact the workplace?
First, partner violence is costly to employers. There are the direct costs, such as the hospital visits required by the abused individual and the cost of ongoing care. In addition, there is the problem with absenteeism and presenteeism. Many times, abused employees are not productive at work because they may have been up all night protecting themselves from or being harassed by the abuser. They also arrive at work late as the abuser may hide their clothes, hide the keys to the car and/or threaten not to take care of the children.
Secondly, partner violence doesn’t just impact the person being abused. It also affects that person’s co-workers. Because so many people work in cubicles rather than offices, many times co-workers overhear threatening phone calls to a person near them. They don’t know what to do to help and may even be fearful for their safety, as well as the safety of the co-worker, and worried that the abuser might come to the workplace and harm them as well. This raises the stress level for everyone and interferes with workplace focus and productivity.
