Domestic Violence Affects Bottom Line
Melissa Morbeck was leading a double life. By day, she worked as an accounts payable supervisor for a Connecticut firm, a seemingly strong and articulate woman who appeared to be completely in charge of her life.
But by night, Morbeck changed her personality to suit the demands of a spouse who beat her so badly he crushed a disc in her back, deafened an ear and crippled her self-esteem.
Then, in 1991, six years after the abuse began, a desperate Morbeck broke down in tears and told her boss. “I said, ‘My husband beats me. I need your help,”’ recalled Morbeck. “I had no one to turn to and no money. Without money I couldn’t leave, but I also knew the company would stand by me.”
Company representatives helped Morbeck develop an escape plan, and gave her the money she needed to buy a $300 train ticket to California. But Morbeck’s troubles were hardly over. Though she had moved away, she couldn’t stop looking over her shoulder. Unable to make decisions, she would walk into stores and then leave because she didn’t know what to buy.
Once again, an employer helped.
Aware that Morbeck was suffering from physical and emotional injuries, a supervisor in the Los Angeles office of Hill, Holliday, Connors Cosmopulous Inc., the Boston-based advertising agency, found a physical therapist to treat Morbeck’s back, encouraged her to participate in counseling, then found work for her in the agency’s Boston office after learning she would have to return to New England to attend divorce proceedings.
Today Morbeck, manager of employee benefits and compensation at Hill Holliday, credits the agency with helping to turn her life around.
A report on domestic violence in the workplace was recently released by the U.S. Department of Labor. Among the study’s findings:
Nearly 1 million people are victimized each year by violent crime while at work. Between 1987 and 1992, 5 percent of the women victimized at work were attacked by a husband, ex-husband, boyfriend or ex-boyfriend. By contrast, only 1 percent of victimized men were attacked by an intimate.
Ninety-six percent of employees who were victims of abuse reported some type of workplace problem as a result. More than 60 percent were often late, 50 percent said they were routinely absent, 70 percent had trouble performing their duties, 60 percent reported being reprimanded for problems stemming from the abuse, and 30 percent were fired.
Slowly, firms are beginning to realize domestic violence can affect the bottom line. Each year, employers lose $3 billion to $5 billion in lost productivity, absenteeism, medical bills and employee turnover because of domestic abuse, reports the Bureau of National Affairs.
In Boston, a group called Employers Against Domestic Violence was formed to help human resource professionals help employees in need of assistance and advice. Formed by the law firm Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo along with Fleet Bank, the coalition is among a handful that have sprung up across the country in recent years.
In Philadelphia, Cigna Corp., the multibillion-dollar insurance company, now offers a special insurance policy for domestic violence victims and their employers, possibly the first of its kind in the country.
In Chicago, a counseling center backed by Friends of Battered Women and Their Children (1-800-603-HELP) is trying to help employers develop workplaces that are sensitive to the problems and needs of workers suffering from domestic abuse.
Some employers are hardly strangers to the issue. Polaroid, with a 12-year head start, has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to shelters in the Greater Boston area over the years. It also trains staff to recognize battered workers, and offers paid and unpaid leaves of absences to such employees.
Liz Claiborne also got involved. It cosponsors the National Workplace Resource Center on Domestic Violence in San Francisco, (1-415-252-8900). The center’s library collects information on corporate policies and practices relating to domestic violence.