The role of the workplace when home isn’t safe

For someone experiencing domestic violence, the workplace can be much more than somewhere they earn an income. It may be one of the few places they feel safe, writes Tahnee McWhirter.

The workplace can provide financial independence, connection with others and, critically, time away from the offender. This places HR professionals and managers in an important, and sometimes uncomfortable, position when it comes to domestic violence.

We rightly talk about the 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave available to Australian employees, but it’s not enough for an effective workplace response simply to comply with this regulation.

The real test comes when a manager is sitting across from an employee who has just disclosed they’re unsafe at home. How do you effectively and respectfully handle that situation and understand what to do next?

Domestic violence is an issue that, sadly, is only increasing and should be on every HR leader’s agenda. According to Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures, approximately one in three Australian women have experienced violence or abuse from an intimate partner since age 15, and police recorded 97,800 family and domestic violence offenders in 2024–25 (an 8 per cent annual increase).

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Family and domestic violence doesn’t stay out of the workplace, and one of the first signs can be performance issues.

An employee may start arriving late, missing work, struggling to concentrate, or taking unexpected calls. Their performance may decline, and they may become withdrawn or behave differently around colleagues.

None of these signs automatically means someone is experiencing violence, but you can see the need for managers to approach sudden performance or behavioural changes with curiosity and care, rather than going straight to performance management.

Sometimes a conversation that simply starts with, “We’ve noticed things have changed; is everything okay?” can uncover an issue the employee hasn’t shared with anyone else.

Managers aren’t counsellors, police officers or family violence specialists, nor should we expect them to be. However, we do need to know how to respond to a disclosure, including where our responsibilities begin and end. Importantly, we need to know how to connect an employee with appropriate support.

Flexibility isn’t always the safest answer

Our default response to an employee going through a difficult period is often to offer flexibility, which can be super helpful. But in cases of domestic violence, we need to challenge our assumptions about what flexibility looks like.

For example, offering a few days of working from home or simply giving them 10 days of leave may seem compassionate, but if home is the least safe place for that employee, this may not be the best approach, and more information is required. The same applies to changing someone’s hours, workplace location or contact arrangements without first understanding their circumstances.

Ask the employee what they need to support them rather than make assumptions. What do they need to feel safe at work? Are there particular times they need flexibility, or does their work location need to change? Is there someone who should (or should not) be able to contact them through the workplace?

The best response is individual instead of formulaic.

Confidentiality extends to payroll

Financial abuse is another reason employers need to think beyond the obvious and ask the right questions.

Under Australia’s National Employment Standards, all employees (including casual workers) can access 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave each year.

Importantly, employers must not identify paid family and domestic violence leave as such on an employee’s payslip. Generally, the payment should appear as ordinary hours of work, or another kind of payment for performing work. It can also be recorded as another type of leave at an employee’s request.

There is an important safety reason for this: a person using violence may monitor their partner’s finances, emails or employment information. Something as routine as payroll administration can expose information the employee needs to keep private.

HR and payroll teams need to understand these requirements and treat confidentiality as a safety issue, not just as an administrative one.

10 days’ leave is a start, not the whole response

Paid family and domestic leave is an essential entitlement. It gives employees time to attend court, access police or support services, relocate, or plan for their own or a family member’s safety.

But a policy document sitting on an intranet won’t tell a nervous manager what to say when an employee shares that they have been abused.

Employers should ask whether managers know how to respond, whether HR, payroll and relevant frontline employees understand confidentiality requirements, whether there is a process for workplace safety concerns, and if employees know how to access specialist support.

Good training matters here, but so does culture.

Employees need to believe that they can disclose what’s happening without being judged, having their privacy unnecessarily compromised or fearing that the disclosure will damage their career.

I’m not suggesting employers should become domestic violence services. Specialist services exist for a reason, and workplaces need to know when and how to refer people to them. This is about recognising that family and domestic violence can become a workplace issue and being prepared when it does.

The question for every HR leader is this: if an employee told one of your managers tomorrow that they were experiencing domestic violence, would your organisation know what to do?

Tahnee McWhirter is a partner at HumanX HR.

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