K7.3mil lost to violence

A SURVEY has found that family and sexual violence (FSV) costs companies more than K7.3 million annually in lost time by employees.
Business Coalition for Women (BCFW) partnered International Finance Corporation for the survey report titled “Workplace responses to family and sexual violence in PNG: Measuring the business case” involving three major companies in the country.
Survey results were highlighted during a recent FSV forum in Lae by BCFW executive director Evonne Kennedy.
According to the report, surveys and interviews with employees completed last November found that FSV:

• IMPACTED all genders in the workplace, at all levels of seniority in different ways;
• COST companies around 10 days in lost time per employee per year, which equates to more than K7.3 million per year for the participating companies; and,
• IS commonly perpetrated by family members and other people in the household as well as current and former intimate partners

This survey was to establish whether there were benefits for employers and employees to implement suitable workplace responses for those experiencing family and sexual violence and what those benefits were.
It also set out to encourage more businesses to introduce workplace support for staff affected by FSV.
In doing so, companies may be better able to attract and retain staff who may otherwise drop out of the workforce due to FSV while improving productivity.
The report captured almost one-third of every partnered women (31 per cent) reporting experiences of violence within the last 12 months, compared to neighbouring Fiji’s 23 per cent and the Solomon Islands’ 28 per cent; and that the high rate of violence was compounded by limited support services.