Organisational policies and responses to employee disclosures of domestic and family violence and sexual assault: What constitutes best practice?

Abstract

Domestic and family violence (DFV) and sexual assault (SA) are prevalent harms affecting a significant number of Australians.

There is increasing recognition that the effects of DFV can potentially affect the workplace, including employee performance, productivity and organisational reputation.

Advocates have successfully recommended initiatives to support organisational responses to DFV.

However, where there are difficulties in workplace performance or an employee discloses and requests assistance, few initiatives are properly evaluated, and it remains unclear the extent to which organisations embed these strategies.

This scoping review aims to identify evidence of best practice organisational responses to employee’s experiences of DFV and SA.

Sexual harassment (including where it involves sexual assault) was not included in this review as it constitutes a substantial and separate body of literature, and the suite of organisational responses are well developed and evaluated.