How can workplaces respond to employees who use violence?
[Moo Baulch: Former Chief Executive Officer
Domestic Violence NSW (DVNSW)]
We've been working I guess in the last sort of four or five years thinking about what that looks like. So, there are certainly approaches to things like naming it first of all.
We know there was a pretty big piece of research that was done two or three years ago
that looked at the sorts of resources that perpetrators use within the workplace to actually further the abuse. So it might be things like emails or phone calls. Those sorts of really kind of, I guess, practical things that perpetrators use. But also, those attitudes often will not be isolated to what's going on in the family, so it'll be something that perhaps is manifesting in other ways in a workplace as well. Whether that's impacting one other team members, whether it's something that can be picked up on through conversations that happen in the workplace.
[Michael Salter: Associate Professor of Criminology, School of Social Sciences, University of NSW]
We've seen some workplaces provide flexible leave provisions so that where perpetrators do have court matters, for example, or when they need to attend perpetrator treatment programs, they are supported to do that, and they are able to do that and I think that's important. If perpetrators move out of employment if they become unemployed then it frankly it gives them more time to perpetrate domestic and family violence. It also places them under economic stress and they're more likely to perpetrate violence in that context as well.
When offenders remain linked to formal employment, then they are more concerned about their reputation, they are more easily embarrassed when people find out what they're doing, and this can provide a bit of a break on their behaviour as well. They're more likely to respond to things like police intervention because they really don't want their workplace to know about it. So, it's a fine line for workplaces to walk, but it's an important one. This helps perpetrators get back on track they're being held accountable, they're not being left, they're not being that off the hook but they're walking towards a more normal way of life. The kind of life that actually, we want them to lead. They're productive members of society but they're no longer engaging in violence.
