Resources for domestic violence in the Canadian workplace: Results of a pan-Canadian survey

ABSTRACT

Domestic violence (DV) is increasingly recognized as an occupational health and safety issue, however little is known about the DV-specific resources/supports available in workplaces. A sample of 8,041 Canadian workers who were currently employed responded to online survey questions on the types of DV-related information they received in the workplace, their awareness of DV-related workplace resources, and provided suggestions for resource improvements. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-squared test, and content analysis. Overall, 42% of respondents had received DV-related information from their union and/or employer; most took the form of training/education, written, or electronic information. Many (43%) respondents reported being aware of employer and/or union-provided resources/obligations related to DV. Key suggestions for workplace improvements included increased workplace education/training, efforts to raise awareness and reduce stigma, links to social/community services, workplace policies and special accommodations such as schedule flexibility, and a generally more supportive work culture. Some differences by DV exposure, gender, and employment type emerged. Although many Canadian workers in this sample had received DV information at their workplace and/or were aware of such resources, most had/were not. Enhanced resources, and communication of these to workers, remain a priority, especially as new legislation specific to this issue emerges.

KEYWORDS:

• Domestic violence
• occupational health
• workplace resources

Acknowledgments

This research has been a collaborative effort between the Centre for Research and Education on Violence Against Women and Children (CNW, BM, JM), Western University’s Faculty of Information and Media Studies (CNW, JM), and the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC). The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions that the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), and the CLC made to translation of the survey, translation of responses, and study recruitment, respectively.

Notes

The term domestic violence was used in this study as it specifies the setting/sphere in which the violence occurs, differentiating it from workplace (or other) forms of violence.

Most research has been conducted with female victims; less is known about the work-related experiences of men and people of diverse genders exposed to DV.

The CLC (www.canadianlabour.ca) includes Canada’s 34 national and 33 international unions as well as 98 provincial and territorial federations of labor, 111 district labor councils, and 12 federations of labor. The organizations represent 3.3 million Canadian workers in total.

It is worth noting that 82.9% of respondents in this subsample were unionized.

Other research has examined victims’ receipt/use of DV support/resources in the workplace (Swanberg et al., 2005), but, to our knowledge, has not specifically examined general worker awareness of resources/obligations or the types of DV-related information received.

Note that; Statistics Canada (2015). has only recently begun to include questions on its population-based surveys that extend beyond the male/female gender binary, thus national prevalence rates for trans* identity are not available; U.S. statistics generally place the figure at under 0.5% of the population, very consistent with our data of 37/8429 = 0.44% of the sample).