Employers' PACT

The Scottish Government’s definition of Violence Against Women:

Gender based violence is a function of gender inequality, and an abuse of male power and privilege. It takes the form of actions that result in physical, sexual and psychological harm or suffering to women and children, or affront to their human dignity, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life. It is men who predominantly carry out such violence, and women who are predominantly the victims of such violence. By referring to violence as 'gender based' this definition highlights the need to understand violence within the context of women's and girl's subordinate status in society. Such violence cannot be understood, therefore, in isolation from the norms, social structure and gender roles within the community, which greatly influence women's vulnerability to violence.

Reasons: Violence against women crosses class, creed and colour:

• one in five women experience violence at some point in their lives
• around 75% of these women are targeted at work
• more than 20% of employed women take time off work because of violence against them
• around 2% lose their jobs as a direct result of the abuse

So, in addition to legal, social and welfare burdens on taxation, violence against women costs businesses around £2.7 billion each year through

• decreased productivity
• poor performance
• irregular attendance
• higher absenteeism
• loss of skills and experience
• staff turnover

Furthermore, it is known that many perpetrators of violence against women abuse workplace resources; for example, 25% of workers admit to viewing pornography in the workplace with one third forwarding it to others. Not only does this impinge on working time, bring the organisation into disrepute and damage commercial activity but it may also leave employers open to litigation.
Given the prevalence of violence against women in the general population, it is likely that some employees will have experience of abuse. Since gender based violence is one of the most sensitive indicators of gender inequality, the PACT policy will help employers meet their legislative obligations under the Equality Act 2010. As an employer, you are in a powerful position to help change the culture which encourages violence against women and the Zero Tolerance Trust’s PACT scheme has been developed specially to support you effect these changes.

Employers' PACT membership Benefits

PACT membership reduces the impact of VAW costs to your business by helping you to
Policy - Introduce a VAW prevention policy in the workplace
Zero Tolerance Trust provides you with a VAW policy template and written statement of intent

Action - Nominate a lead person to adopt best practice, raising awareness of VAW
Zero Tolerance Trust advises you on ways to tackle performance issues and create inhouse support

Communication - Cascade VAW policy information and monitor responses
Zero Tolerance Trust gives you a toolkit for policy actions and reporting procedures for managers

Training - Introduce inhouse and external VAW training opportunities
Zero Tolerance Trust offers template training sessions, self study packs and bespoke training solutions

JOIN NOW TO CUT THE COST OF VIOLENCE