DVFREE Tick

The basis of the criteria for the DVFREE Tick are the essential recommendations within the Guidelines for a DVFREE Workplace Programme.

In addition to the Guidelines’ essential recommendations, DVFREE Tick training requirements are as follows:

• Your First Responders must participate in DVFREE initial First Responder training and annual refresher training
• All of your managers with direct reports must participate in DVFREE Manager training. While we understand this is a significant commitment of time and resource, manager training is critical to ensuring a safe and supportive response for employees who experience domestic violence.
  • The DVFREE Tick requires 70% of an organisation’s managers to participate in DVFREE manager training, and bi-annual refresher training. Organisations with more than 500 employees may have up to two additional years to meet this threshold.
  • Managers can be trained with the DVFREE manager online learning programme, OR by attending live DVFREE manager training which may be delivered either by a Shine trainer OR by a Tick partner organisation’s trainer who has been DVFREE accredited to deliver this training (Please contact usto enquire about fees and process for this option). The DVFREE Tick fee and Tick renewal fee includes the license for the manager online learning programme as well as one live manager training.

The DVFREE Tick criteria requires going above and beyond employers’ legal obligations under the Domestic Violence – Victims Protection Act 2018 and other relevant laws. See a high level comparison of legal vs DVFREE Tick requirements.

The process of working towards the DVFREE Tick officially starts once you sign a DVFREE Tick Agreement and pay your initial DVFREE Tick fee. After that, we will support you at your pace to meet the DVFREE Tick criteria over a period of up to one year. Some partners have achieved the DVFREE Tick within several months, while the average time for this is closer to six months.

Organisations may do these steps in a slightly different order, but broadly, the required steps  are as follows:

1. Create or revise your domestic/family violence policy and procedures, and domestic/family violence information for staff to meet DVFREE Tick requirements. You may also need to update other policies, procedures and staff information to align (e.g. your leave policy updated to include domestic violence leave).
2. Recruit and appoint First Responders, book your First Responder training, and plan ongoing support for First Responders. We recommend First Responder training in person if possible, but if it’s not possible to bring them together in person or if there are COVID restrictions in place, it can be delivered as an interactive and engaging online training. There’s an option for a Shine expert to participate in quarterly First Responder peer support meetings, which is one good way to ensure your First Responders are well-supported.
3. Draft your domestic/family violence information for staff to meet DVFREE Tick requirements, especially including a definition of domestic/family violence and help-seeking pathways. Most employers make this information accessible as a section on their intranet.
4. Plan your staff awareness raising strategy – you can utilise Shine’s free online learning module for this purpose, create your own learning module, and/or plan other creative ways of raising awareness amongst staff about domestic violence and your help-seeking pathways.
5. Create a statement from leadership (ideally your CEO or most senior leader) that supports your staff domestic violence programme. We can provide examples of these.
6. Plan your manager training rollout. This can be using the DVFREE online learning programme, with access provided as part of the DVFREE Tick fee and renewal fee. However, we recommend providing live training if possible at least for initial manager training as a best practice option, and which can be either in-person or online (Zoom is our preferred platform). Larger employers may want to have their own trainer(s) accredited to deliver this training. See the DVFREE TICK CRITERIA for details about manager training requirements.

Once you sign your DVFREE Tick Agreement, we can also provide some additional resources that can help get you started, such as leadership statement examples, a co-branded poster template, a sample Workplace Safety Planning tool, etc.

Your DVFREE Tick fee pays for all the support needed to achieve the DVFREE Tick. Specifically, it includes:

• Consultation to review written documents required by the DVFREE Tick (policy, procedures, staff information)
• One inhouse group training for your First Responders (20 max in person, 16 max online)
• Annual license and option to upload the DVFREE Manager Online Learning Programme onto your LMS (Learning Management System), or the programme can be accessed via Shine’s LMS.
• *One inhouse live training for your managers (30 max in person, 16 max online)
• Annual license and option to upload the DVFREE introductory online workplace learning module files, and DVFREE pre-training learning (for First Responder training) module files, onto your LMS (which can otherwise be accessed via Shine’s website/LMS)
• Auditing your organisation for the DVFREE Tick
• Once you are provided DVFREE Tick accreditation, the right to use DVFREE Trademarks for one year (after that is dependent on maintaining/renewing your DVFREE Tick)

*DVFREE Tick partners have the option of accrediting  internal trainer(s) to deliver live DVFREE Manager training within your organisation, which is generally a more cost-effective and sustainable approach for larger employers.