Insights from employers
Our Membership and Partnerships Manager, Ayesha Fordham, spoke with Gurdip Rai from Google and Dawn Grant, who runs Kaleidoscope Event Services Ltd.
Gurdip leads Google’s workplace violence prevention programme, which recently incorporated domestic abuse into its policy. The programme aims to centre the victim-survivor in all cases, and also offers support to other employees that may be impacted. Early in her time in this position, she was faced with an incident involving two UK employees working in the United States. There had been a publicly witnessed assault, and the contract of the person causing the harm was immediately terminated. The person assaulted was clear that what they needed was to be heard and listened to, and to be signposted to support organisations. Gurdip highlighted the need for employers responding to domestic abuse cases to engage with teams across their organisation to ensure a holistic response.
Dawn provides safeguarding support at events, including very large festivals with thousands of workers on site. At one site, a male employee had assaulted his female partner, who presented with a facial injury. Adopting a victim-led approach, Dawn arranged for the woman to receive medical treatment, enabled her to keep working at the site while separated from the person who had assaulted her, while also respecting her wishes that the perpetrator not be reported to the police. The perpetrator had drug and alcohol addictions, and Dawn arranged for him to receive support with those issues in the hope that he would later be able to engage with domestic abuse perpetrator programmes.
Dawn’s key insight for employers is that having a policy in place gives you a structure and boundaries to your response. All employers should be aware that they are likely to have victim-survivors of domestic abuse in their workplace. Dawn emphasised that while an employer must never condone domestic abuse, they can try to support people to address their issues.
Panel: The wider context
The panel featured Jo Broadbent, who works as a Counsel at Hogan Lovells specialising in employment law, Senior Probation Officer, Paul Weatherstone, from the National Probation Service, and Ippo Panteloudakis, Head of Services at Respect.
Respect runs a helpline for perpetrators of domestic abuse, most of whom make contact after a significant incident where they have been confronted with their behaviour. The primary objective of perpetrator programmes is to safeguard the victim. Paul echoed the importance of a victim-centred approach and noted the importance of meeting perpetrators without judgement. Multiple interventions may be needed to deal with a range of issues, such as alcohol or drug abuse programmes. The Probation Service also evaluates interventions based on rates of reoffending and the nature of those offences.
From a legal perspective, Jo emphasised that employers need good domestic abuse policies that encompass perpetrators. Employers must make it clear that in the event of domestic abuse (including incidents outside the workplace), there is the potential for disciplinary action up to and including dismissal. This helps employers to protect employees and gives them flexibility in terms of the appropriate response to allegations of abuse. The best domestic abuse policies are holistic and don’t
leave loopholes that might expose an employer to additional legal risk. This ensures that messages are consistent across a range of policies - such as referring to domestic abuse in IT misuse policies for example.
Importantly, employers do not need to wait for police involvement or a criminal conviction before they can take action. If a domestic abuse situation is suspected, particularly if it has a bearing on an employee’s ability to perform their role, they can take immediate steps to investigate the issue (whilst ensuring that any action does not create further risk for the victim-survivor). When investigating allegations that an employee has engaged in harmful behaviours, employers should ask all those involved to keep the matter confidential.
Roundtable discussions
Participants were invited to discuss and reflect on key considerations when addressing perpetrators within the workplace. This included:
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Appropriate data management systems to safeguard information about people sharing their experience of domestic abuse.
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Safeguarding practices and training for members of the HR team and line managers.
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Awareness of post-separation abuse that can continue to affect victims/survivors.
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Knowing where to signpost victims/survivors and perpetrators to specialist services.
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Considering the mental health impact of domestic abuse in performance reviews.
Everyone’s Business Award
Hestia CEO Patrick Ryan presented the Everyone’s Business Award to two employers that have implemented ambitious and effective domestic abuse response within their organisations. This award is a benchmark for best practice in the sector. It is awarded by an independent panel of experts from the domestic abuse field and representatives of employers who have previously been given the award. We congratulate TSB and the London Borough of Hounslow on their inspirational work!
Thank you to everyone who attended our Networking Event and contributed to the great discussions. By coming together and sharing our ideas and experience, we can create the most effective responses to domestic abuse and help to bring about positive change.
