Domestic Violence At Work Is Everybody’s Business (NAPSA)—While domestic violence may never touch your home, the issue has reached the workplace at every level. Fifty-six percent of corporate leaders say they know an employee at their company who has been affected by the issue, according to a survey conducted by RoperASW for Liz Claiborne Ine. as part of the company’s 1l-year domestic violence awareness campaign. According to corporate leaders, when domestic violence affects one employee, the effects are felt company-wide. Many leaders believe that domestic violence has a harmful effect on employee attendance and physical safety. Experts say there are steps you can take to raise awareness of the issue in your own workplace. For example: * Encourage your employer to contact the National Workplace Resource Center on Domestic Violence (415-252-8900) for technical assistance and materials on domestic violence in the workplace. * Talk to your Human Resources department about using posters and brochures, newsletter articles, employee training and/or brownbag seminars to educate employees about domestic violence. * If you suspect a coworker may be suffering from abuse, encourage her to talk to an outside expert or someone at work whom she trusts. She can contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline, 1-800-799-SAFE, for information and local referrals. A recent survey foundthat: Most corporate leaders now rank domestic violence on parwith terrorism (68 percent) as 0 mojorissue that affects society. Theyidentified domestic violence as a majorsocial issue (66 percent in 2002; 57 percent in 1994). Theyarealso morelikely to say that they are awareof employees affected by domestic violence (56 percentin 2002, 40 percent in 1994). Yetfew think that corporations should play a mojor role in addressing the issue (12 percentin 2002 ond 1994). @ You may want to ask your employer about having the number posted aroundtheoffice. Most big companies have made some effort to address the issue of domestic violence with their employees: 78 percent of Fortune 1,000 leaders offer domestic violence counseling or assistance to their employees, according to the Liz Claiborne survey. But many corporate leaders hesitate to say they should play a major role in solving the problem. “Domestic violence is everybody’s problem, and everybody needs to help solve it—even CEOs,” says Paul R. Charron, Chairman and CEO ofLiz Claiborne Inc. To learn more about the issue of domestic violence and Liz Claiborne Ine.’s efforts to stop it, visit www.loveisnotabuse.com. This study was conducted by RoperASW via telephone, among a sample of 100 senior executives in Fortune 1000 companies across the United States. The results presented are representative of the views and opinionsof this population of senior executives within a margin of sampling error of +/- 9.8 percentage points on the totals.
