Our EIDA Beacons are an inspiring group of organisations who are leading the culture change among UK employers by improving how business takes action on domestic abuse. Beacon members meet regularly to discuss best practice in supporting employees impacted by domestic abuse.
Here they share their insights on ‘Communication and Awareness Raising’ by drawing on their own experiences to create a resource to inspire and support other employers.
Five key insights
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Take a long-term view. It can be tempting to do ‘too much’ in the first few months when there is lots of initial enthusiasm for a new domestic abuse policy or response, and then run out of steam. Rather than a one-off awareness raising campaign, we recommend a long-term, strategic approach so that your message really gets across to employees and, importantly, becomes embedded in how you do things.
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Put your policy or response in the spotlight. Once you have launched a robust domestic abuse policy or guidance, consider how you follow up to check how many employees know it is there and what it entails. Workshops, events, case studies, quizzes and surveys are all potential ways to do this. Think about how you communicate: it is often necessary to use multiple channels to reach all employees.
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Review your approach regularly. Draw on feedback from your people, EIDA and experts in the sector to ensure that your domestic abuse response and the information you are sending out is relevant and up to date.
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Bring in the voice of your own people. One of the most powerful ways to raise awareness is to share personal stories from a survivor of domestic abuse within your organisation. While this can be done anonymously, there is often even greater impact when employees hear directly about the experience of one of their own colleagues, in a face-to-face setting, via a recorded video or in a blog or article. Sharing stories of domestic abuse can be hard and it is important to ensure that people are comfortable to do it and support is available.
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Use and create impactful staff networks. Whether you have a group of Domestic Abuse Champions, a Domestic Abuse Working group or are spreading the word via an existing employee network, ensure these networks are raising awareness across your whole organisation in all its locations and departments. This will ensure your communication is impactful and joined-up.
Thank you to all EIDA Beacons for sharing these insights:
Learn more about becoming an EIDA Beacon
Resource created: November 2022
