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The Business of
Health Care Report
Family violence costs businesses a lot each year --
$3 to $5 billion a year on medical expenses alone according to the Family Violence Prevention Fund. Add
to that an additional $100 million annually in lost wages, absenteeism and lower productivity. Employees
of family violence miss an average three days per month or an estimated 175,000 days of work each year.
The cost to business is tremendous to say nothing of the immeasurable human toll on your workers and
insecurity in the work place. The office might seem like an unlikely place to offer
help and support for victims of domestic violence, but it's actually a natural location. Work is one of the
few places where victims of home violence feel somewhat safe, making the work site a logical place for
extending help. Increasingly, businesses are taking steps to shore up security to make sure family violence
does not spread to the workplace. Each year, about 13,000 women are victims of domestic violence at work,
a subject which is being recognized by company security officers. As a result, some firms are implementing policies and
programs to help employees experiencing domestic violence, so the issues can be out in the open and addressed
directly. Many companies, like Texas Health Resources, have initiated awareness and training programs. When we
realized that one in four is a victim of some form of family violence, that translated into a potential 3,100
employees of our company affected. Along with other companies who have acknowledged the severity of this issue,
we began to train managers so they can recognize the signs of abuse. Leave and benefit policies are being expanded
by some to allow employees to take off time if they need to go to court or move to a safer place. Domestic violence extends well beyond the abused victim and
family to the dynamics of the work place, which makes it a business issue. It's refreshing that attitudes toward
extending help are changing for the better. Hats off to businesses for taking a lead. For Texas Health Resources
and its family of hospitals - Harris Methodist Hospitals, Presbyterian
Healthcare System and Arlington Memorial Hospital - I'm CEO Doug
Hawthorne with "The Business of Health Care Report" on NewsRadio
1080 KRLD.
©
2002 Texas Health Resources |
I'm Doug Hawthorne, President and CEO of Texas Health Resources, with
"The Business of Health Care Report" on 