Contemporary issue
Name
Institution
Course Name and Number
Instructor
Due date
Contemporary issue
Domestic Violence in the workplace
Domestic violence is a contemporary social issue that has dramatically impacted the workforce. It is the physical, sexual, or mental abuse at the hands of a current or former intimate partner (Cornell Law School, 2020). Most people do not associate domestic violence in the workplace; this is because they are issues that mostly occur at home. However, whatever abuse one receives outside of the work premises tends to affect their productivity. Maurer (2020), states that one in every four women and one in every ten men are victims of domestic violence in a year. Such victims majority of who are employees at various organizations end up losing approximately 8 million workdays per year, resulting in losses equivalent to 1.8 billion dollars of productivity to the organizations. Furthers statistics show that 19% of organizations have had a domestic violence issue in the past year, and 22% were not aware of that issue. It is no longer fair for employers to ignore local violence issues as it is causing huge losses. The issue dispossesses off the employee’s dignity as well as their physical and mental health.
Influence of Domestic Violence on Productivity in the Workplace
Victims of violence cannot treat it as an out of sight out of mind occurrence. Whatever happens out of work will affect one’s performance hence their productivity. For many victims, due to the issue, they tend to be late for work, require a lot of time off, or have poor concentration during work hours, primarily when they work in the same organization with their abusers. Coming into work late means that one will have to rush through their tasks of the day; this will result in mistakes that are a potential hazard to any organization. Asking for too much time off negatively impacts the co-workers as they will be asked to take up some of the victim’s workload. Too much workload for the colleagues also implies that they are not able to accomplish the tasks exceptionally.
In most of the abuse cases, the victims are afraid to open up to management on their abuse; therefore, the management takes their poor performance as slacking off, and they end up getting fired. The administration is then required to cater to the recruitment and replacement of such employees; this is an expensive affair and takes away from resources that are better of being injected to the organization improving productivity. The abuse could also be in the form of sexual assault by the intimate partner. In this case, you find that if it is in a traditional male-female relationship, and the male partner is sexually abusive, it can lead to mental trauma on the partner. Such traumas can manifest in that the victims are unable to work with male counterparts in the workplace, affecting productivity.
Impact of Domestic Violence from a Human Resource Management Executive Perspective
The Human Resource Management (HRM) executives of any organization strive to increase employee job satisfaction to reduce the turnover rates while improving overall productivity. From a human resource manager’s perspective, domestic violence is a menace that reduces the morale and pleasure that an employee derives from their employment. Traditionally management was of the attitude that domestic violence was a personal problem and should not affect how one works. However, in recent times management has learned to appreciate the severity of the issue, and they are implementing policies to cater to the victims (Maurer, 2020). The executives have to influence cultures that allow people to be open about any abuse and reducing the stigma that is associated with violence or abuse. Confidentiality is vital if an employee admits to being abused. The executives should only involve a small circle of people who can offer help to the victim avoiding discrimination. According to Gurchiek (2018), human resource management should also have put up emergency protocols since the abuser can show up at work, causing harm to the victim and their co-workers. The protocols can include sign-in policies for access to the organization. With consent from the affected party, the executive should hold the abuser accountable in cases where they work together (Cornell Law School, 2020). Therefore the issue changes the HRM policies of an organization and expands on the role of human resource managers.
Legislative Interventions for Domestic Violence
There are no laws about the effect of domestic violence specified to the workplace. However, the organizations implement legal policies that are influenced by laws such as The Violence Against Women Act of 1994. The law protects women and children from intimate partner abuse. It provides for the investigation of such issues. An organization has to offer for work- leave policies in case the affected party has to take time for legal appointments. Antidiscrimination policies are also essential to protect the employees from getting fired or stigmatized for being victims (Rayner-Thomas, 2013).
Ethical Ramifications of Domestic Violence on Human Resource Management Practices
In all organizations, HRM has to change its policies, practices, and culture to cater to victims of abuse. It is unethical for an employer to dismiss their employees when their productivity reduces, especially if the cause is domestic abuse. The HRM department has to be diligent when handling employees so that they can identify instances of abuse if they are occurring. It is the ethical responsibility of the managers to try and offer help and understanding to the victims. They should offer flexible working schedules to the affected party in case they need to report to the police or check on their children. Additionally, it is the ethical responsibility of the organization to provide training to all employees to guide them in identifying signs of abuse on co-workers (Maurer, 2020). Through this, they can offer help if the affected party accepts it.
References
Cornell Law School. (2020). Domestic Violence and workplace model policy and toolkit. https://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/Clinical-Programs/global-gender-justice/DVWorkplacePolicyPrivateEmployer.cfm.
Gurchiek, K. (2018). What employers can do when domestic violence enters the workplace. SHRM. https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/behavioral-competencies/global-and-cultural-effectiveness/pages/when-domestic-violence-enters-the-workplace-what-employers-can-do.aspx.
Maurer, R. (2020). When domestic violence comes to work. SHRM. https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/risk-management/pages/domestic-violence-workplace-nfl-ray-rice.aspx.
Rayner-Thomas, M. (2013). The impacts of domestic violence on workers and the workplace. http://makeitourbusiness.ca/sites/makeitourbusiness.ca/files/ImpactsofDomesticViolenceonWorkersandtheWorkplace_New%20Zealand_MargaretRayner-Thomas.pdf.