The DVFREE™ Tick is a mark of confidence that an employer has taken meaningful steps to create a domestic violence-free workplace, in other words, a workplace that is safe and supportive for staff experiencing domestic violence, and that does not tolerate staff using work time or resources to perpetrate domestic abuse.
For financial institutions and other businesses that want to improve their response to customers made vulnerable by someone within a domestic/family relationship who is abusing and controlling them, DVFREE recommendations for your workplace staff programme are an important step that will help lay the foundation for an improved customer response. Read more about how Shine can support better responsiveness to these customers.
The DVFREE Tick criteria ensures that accredited organisations go above and beyond meeting legislative requirements from the Domestic Violence Victims Protection Act 2018.
The DVFREE Tick is given by Shine, a highly reputable specialist domestic abuse service provider that has been helping people who experience domestic violence to become safe since 1990.
DVFREE offers a range of services that can be accessed as part of the DVFREE Tick or independently, from consulting on policy development and awareness raising activity, to training for your staff. These services will help your organisation provide effective support for staff experiencing domestic violence, as well as ensure you are prepared to appropriately manage staff who perpetrate domestic violence, and that all your staff know how to help a colleague who is experiencing domestic violence.
DVFREE Guidelines on Policy and Procedures
DVFREE training for First Responders and Managers
DVFREE Training helps First Responders and managers to respond to disclosures and support staff experiencing domestic violence. Contact us for more information or to organise in-house training at your venue, which is highly recommended for larger employers. Or you can send small numbers of staff to our open First Responder training workshops - run in main city centres or online for those outside the centres.
Access the online learning module about domestic violence and the workplace
Westpac Bank and Shine collaborated to create and update this learning module to help New Zealanders better understand domestic violence in the workplace, and how to help colleagues who are experiencing, or perpetrating, domestic violence. This module is free and takes less than an hour to complete.
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WHY GET THE DVFREE TICK?
“Fear, fatigue, and other responses to domestic violence can cause hazardous behaviour by some workers…We encourage the ministry, businesses, and regulators to mitigate the effects of domestic violence on work health and safety.” (from the Health and Safety Act 2015 Commentary)
In more serious cases, staff experiencing domestic violence are at risk of injury and death. Co-workers may also be at risk of violence from an abuser who comes to the victim’s workplace.
Domestic violence costs employers $368 million annually, due to lost productivity (Kahui, Ku, Snively, 2014). Staff experiencing domestic violence may:
- Be depressed, anxious or distracted.
- Take time off work or leave work altogether.
- Have their ability to work sabotaged.
Co-workers may provide cover, spent work time trying to help, or feel distracted or anxious worrying about their colleague. Abusers on staff may take work time or use work resources to perpetrate abuse.
Domestic violence is a NZ epidemic:
- 1 in 3 NZ women are physically or sexually abused by a partner/ex-partner in their lifetime.
- Rates of intimate partner violence for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) couples are as high as for heterosexual couples. Every 5 minutes, NZ Police respond to a domestic violence situation.
- Half of all NZ murders are domestic related.
Employers can play a key role helping victims be safe, holding abusers accountable, and speaking out on the issue to help move our society towards a zero tolerance of family violence.