New guidance has been launched by the Equality and Human Rights Commission to help employers manage and support employees affected by domestic abuse. The guidance, developed with the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, outlines how employers should respond if an employee is affected by domestic abuse. The guidance is designed to enable employers to develop a domestic abuse workplace policy and provides tips for managers on how to manage and support an employee experiencing domestic abuse. Both organisations believe the guidance is necessary because domestic abuse is a subject that managers struggle to respond to appropriately and statistics show that domestic abuse currently costs UK businesses over £1.9 billion a year, e.g. in any one year, more than 20% of women take time off work because of domestic violence and 75% of women that experience domestic abuse are targeted at work.
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