Webinar Video Clip: Domestic Violence Comes to Work — Signs Symptoms and Response

Too often, domestic violence is a problem that remains contained within the walls of the household. But the reality is, the impact of domestic violence reaches farther than just the home. In this session, domestic violence is viewed in relation to its implications to workplace safety.

This session’s instructor is Mark Warren, the Vice President and Director of Training for Strategos International. Mark has 27 years’ worth of background in law enforcement having served in various roles including as an undercover operative, instructor, and team leader.

Mark discussed domestic violence, how it impacts the workplace and measures that organizations can put into place to ensure the safety of their team members and provide them with needed support. Specifics include:

• The reality that the workforce’s personal baggage involuntarily follows them in the workplace.
• The risk factors in the workplace that may be linked with violent attacks.
• Looking at statistics of deaths in the workplace, the causes, and the assailants to serve as a background to understanding the severity of domestic violence as it impacts the workforce.
• Domestic violence: what it is, who it affects, and how it manifests.
• The four types of behavior in domestic violence/intimate partner violence.
• Zeroing in on stalking, what it means, the stalker’s behavior, and what to look out for to recognize cases of stalking in employees.
• Looking at psychological aggression, how it is done, and the facets of an individual’s life affected by it.
• Facts and figures on domestic violence that demonstrate its prevalence and the disproportionality of women as victims.
• Understanding the consequences of domestic violence and the costs it may entail an individual, and in effect the organization, in the form of lost productivity and revenue.
• A comprehensive rundown of signs and symptoms of a domestic violence victim, from internal processes to externally manifesting behavior and coping mechanisms.
• ‘Problem employee’ behavior that impacts work performance that may serve as red flags that an employee may be entangled in a DV situation.
• DV incident response for the victim that highlights the importance of empowering them to:
  • Reach out to friends, family, authorities, and other resources that can provide support and enhance safety.
  • Keeping a log of all the incidents of victimization from an abuser.
  • Ceasing communication with a stalker.
  • Raising their level of safety by informing the workplace about the situation, requesting security escorts, and changing up routines/schedules.
  • Better awareness in their physical and technological activities.
  • Utilizing the legal system to obtain a protective order.
• The workplace’s role in institutionalizing assessments, policies, response plans, security measures, and training that are geared towards the prevention and effective response for such threats.

Questions raised by the audience were on:

• Finding the balance between ensuring victim privacy and safety and protecting others in the workplace from collateral violence.
• The likelihood that an abuser will go after the victim’s loved ones and friends.
• Gaining leadership buy-in on the value of assessments and policies that addresses domestic violence and other related threats by emphasizing the potential productivity and revenue costs of not doing so.
• Dealing with harassment and bullying in the workplace.

Resources and Handouts

• Handout: Domestic Violence Comes to Work: Signs, Symptoms, and Response
• The Psychology of an Active Killer, by Daniel Modell

Audience Comments

• “The concept and importance of a DV policy in place. This by far was the most impactful webinar I have attended on this topic since beginning my research a few months ago. Have a workplace DV concept training module was invaluable.” — Stacie
• “Very Good detailed webinar and information!” — Stephanie
• “Very knowledgeable, great presentation.” — Stephen
• “I appreciated the strategies of how to get organizations to normalize thinking of this issue as a work-related problem. I also appreciated the references included so I can learn more on the subject.” — Tina
• “It was interesting to learn that Homicide is the second leading cause of death in the workplace. I was always aware of DV/IPV instances could occur in the workplace but never knew the level of impact. We are always reactive in our approaches but this provided insights in being proactive to prevention and/or response to IPV in the workplace. Great training.” — Yolanda
• “Great presenter. I had no idea how much money businesses could lose out on in terms of productivity from employees dealing with DV.” — Sadie
• “It provided examples of how to implement in your agency. It also provided some information about how to talk to someone who may be experiencing violence. I think a lot of agency are afraid to talk to staff this showed that you could offer to support them. It provided financial information to that many times is the influencer for agency involvement.” — Nicole
• “Wonderful speaker, very informative webinar.” — Nereida