My Support Options
Are you experiencing domestic, family and sexualised violence and working? Do you know what workplace support options might be available to you? Making decisions about your next steps relies on knowing what your options are. In some workplaces it can be difficult to find out what support options are available to you and how to access them.
My Support Options (presented below) is designed to share with you examples of what victim-survivors of domestic, family and sexualised violence have wished for and/or asked for from their workplace. The options were identified in the publications listed (at the bottom of this page). The support options are ideas not advice. They are not exclusive or exhaustive.
You can browse through the list at your own pace and decide which (if any) of the options you will search for or ask about in your workplace.
If your workplace doesn't provide the support option/s you need - they may be able to support you with something similar or provide support in how access the option elsewhere.
Change my location of work
Access to a pre-paid/work funded mobile
No records about DFSV will be stored without my express permission
Alternative address for mail
Alternative email address
Alternative phone number
Access to secure parking or escorting to/from public transport
Secure/restricted access to staff areas
Flexible lunchbreaks
Change/vary my work start and finish times
Change my work hours
Adjusted /alternative duties
A safe/private place to make calls
A separate work computer to look up information
A place to securely store documents
Change of work contact details or visibility of my details
Safe lockers for storage of personal items
Access to emergency funding
Access to pay in advance
Food vouchers
Utility vouchers
Separating my pay
Resources toward career management/progression
Domestic and Family Violence Leave (Paid)
Colleagues I can trust and talk to
After school space at workplace for children (e.g.to safely complete homework)
Information on financial hardship supports
Access to free (violence-informed) counselling
Information about DFSV support options
Legal Assistance
Information about support options for my children
Employee assistance program
Open the support options listed above in PDF format. You can save or print the PDF to keep thinking about what you need now and next. You might find it useful to share the options with someone you are safe to talk to, or with someone in your workplace who can clarify which support options are available to you.
My Safety Kit is a reflection resource designed to support people who are, or may be, experiencing domestic and family violence.
View an introduction to My Safety Kit for people reflecting on their relationships (2.4mins)
Are you a responding workplace? Explore our Guide: Uplifting workplace responses to domestic, family and sexualised violence.
Explore more resources on our Workplace Responses landing page.
References:
Examples of support options (above) are drawn from lived experience insights in the following sources:
- Insight Exchange (2020). Insights Paper: Experiences and perceptions of workplace responses to domestic and family violence (Appendix A, B and C, open text responses). Retrieved from: https://www.insightexchange.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Insights-Paper-Workplaces-and-EAPs-FINAL-web.pdf
- Fitz-Gibbon, K., Pfitzner, N., McNicol, E. & Rupanagudi, H. (2021). Safe, thriving and secure: Family violence leave and workplace supports in Australia. Monash University, Victoria, Australia. DOI: 10.26180/17131691. Retrieved from: https://research.monash.edu/en/publications/safe-thriving-and-secure-family-violence-leave-and-workplace-supp
- McNicol, E., Fitz-Gibbon, K. & Brewer, S. (2022). From workplace sabotage to embedded supports: Examining the impact of domestic and family violence across Australian workplaces. Monash University, Victoria, Australia. DOI: 10.26180/21268686. Retrieved from: https://bridges.monash.edu/articles/report/From_workplace_sabotage_to_embedded_supports_examining_the_impact_of_domestic_and_family_violence_across_Australian_workplaces/21268686
- McFerran, L. (2011). Gendered Violence & Work: Safe at home, safe at work? Australian Domestic and Family Violence Clearinghouse, University of New South Wales: Sydney. Retrieved from: https://bridges.monash.edu/articles/report/From_workplace_sabotage_to_embedded_supports_examining_the_impact_of_domestic_and_family_violence_across_Australian_workplaces/21268686
Our thanks extend to people with lived experience who contributed to these reports and the people and organisations who undertook this work for the benefit of many.