Intimate partner violence is pervasive, and its impacts are significant. In OECD countries, on average almost one in four women (23%) report having experienced physical or sexual violence at the hands of an intimate partner in their lifetime; given the significant underreporting of violence, the real number is likely to be higher. The scourge of violence is not only a fundamental human rights issue, but it brings high social and economic costs to individuals, businesses and societies.
Employers play an important role in broader societal efforts to address IPV, and workplaces are an important site for prevention and response. In addition to presenting a potential safety and security risk to workplaces, IPV can significantly affect victim-survivors’ ability to participate in, thrive at and advance at work, harming workers and employers. While robust data on the workplace impacts of IPV are scarce, national and company-level surveys conducted in OECD countries indicate that most victim-survivors (between 55‑84%) report at least some work-related impacts, and a worrying number of victim-survivors (between 16‑58%) report that the abuse has continued at or near the workplace on at least some occasions. Dealing with the impacts of abuse while maintaining employment can present a significant challenge: a high share of victim-survivors report taking time off work to deal with the impacts of the abuse, and worryingly, some drop out of the workforce or need to change jobs altogether. This is particularly concerning given economic security can be critical to leaving and recovering from violent relationships.
Effective workplace supports could help to improve social and economic outcomes for workers and businesses, and there are impressive examples of employer-level actions to end IPV, including in partnership with victim-survivor organisations and workers’ representatives, amongst others. Approaches are commonly focused on establishing robust oganisational policies and processes to respond to violence; upskilling workers to be able to identify and respond to violence, and/or to intervene when they witness behaviours or attitudes that can be a precursor to violence; ensuring that victim-survivors are connected with appropriate support, either through direct provision or referral to appropriate services; and establishing workplace flexibility measures that enable victim-survivors to address the impacts of violence while maintaining employment.
Ending violence against women is a priority for OECD member countries, and public policy plays an important role in encouraging and supporting an effective workplace response. Addressing violence against women is by far the biggest gender equality priority in OECD countries: in 2024, almost 9 out of 10 countries (87%) reported violence against women as one of their top three gender equality priorities. Several countries have extended employment protections and/or an entitlement to flexible working arrangements to workers affected by IPV, and some are encouraging and supporting employer efforts through guidance, good practice certification schemes, professional equality obligations and transparency measures. Domestic violence leaves have emerged as a relatively recent policy trend: at least six OECD countries now have (national) paid domestic violence leave entitlements for a least a subset of the population, though coverage and design of the leave schemes varies considerably across countries. While long-term results remain to be seen, limited early evaluation finds meaningful benefits. It will be important to continue to monitor downstream impacts on social and economic outcomes.