The Benevolent Society Urges Businesses to Address Domestic Violence

The Benevolent Society of Australia has made a public announcement urging businesses to address domestic violence in the workplace. In this new campaign launched to create awareness among employers, they provide some startling statistics regarding the impact of abuse on the business economy.
From The Office for the Status of Women report released in July 2004, the total annual cost of domestic violence in Australia in 2002-03 was estimated to be $8 billion ($6,035,618,633 US Dollars). Employers paid for around 70% of the work hours lost by staff affected by domestic violence. The total cost of abuse-related absenteeism that year amounted to $280 million ($211,212,529 US Dollars). On top of that, over 250,000 working hours were lost due to staff affected by domestic violence running late for work, or leaving early - and that amounted to a cost of $5.5 million ($4,148,817 US Dollars). An extraordinary 30% of those dealing with domestic violence at home are also harassed by their controlling partners at work, equating to a further 61,000 working days lost to business - valued at $8.3 million ($6,265,387 US Dollars). Currency rates based on conversions made on 12/14/04 at xe.com.
For more information on The Benevolent Society’s effort, please visit http://www.bensoc.asn.au/donations/dv_appeal_04.html