Committed to offering employees a safe & healthy place to work.
At a presentation at a Pittsburgh Human Resources Association conference, an attendee approached SF staff to explain that she had previously, as an HR director, failed to understand the importance of understanding partner violence as a workplace issue.
She said she had spent many hours over the previous several months working with a group of employees dealing with a coworker who admitted to being abused by her partner, but who was unwilling to seek help from HR or the company’s Employee Assistance Program. The HR director felt that her company lacked the skills to proceed further.
Shortly after this conversation, the HR director requested a 30-minute phone consultation that resulted in her revising the company’s workplace violence policy. Procedures were developed to aid employees who self-identified as victims and to make it clear to perpetrators that misuse of company resources to harass or harm others would not be tolerated.
SF provided two trainings, one for management and supervisors and the second for staff. During the latter presentation, the company President told his employees that the reason their company joined STANDING FIRM was not just because of the effect of partner violence on productivity or the liability issues mentioned during the training, but because he and the company are committed to offering their employees a safe and healthy place to work.
At the conclusion of both trainings, the SF trainer was approached by an employee who thanked her for talking about partner violence, as the woman had been a long-time victim, was now free from her abuser, and had never felt comfortable sharing that information with anyone at the company.