Impacts of Abuse in the Workforce
There are many impacts of domestic violence in the workforce, including:
- Reduced employee productivity
- Increased absence from work
- Higher costs to replace, recruit, and train employees when victims are wounded or dismissed for poor performance on the job
- Higher health expenses for the company
- Strained relationships among co-workers
- Potential harm to customers, employees, and/or coworkers when abusers enter the workforce and become violent
- Liability costs in the event that someone is harmed at the workplace (OHSCO, 2010)
- Disruptive phone calls, threats, harassing emails, inappropriate visits from the abuser, violent confrontations
- Reduced employee motivation
- Loss of focus, thereby leading to an increased risk of injury
- Co-workers are vulnerable, too (individuals who witness domestic violence are at a greater risk of suffering health consequences). This could result in high costs to the employer if co-workers take time off work and are less productive when they are at work.
(WorkSafeBC, 2015)