'Harassing texts or calls during the workday, maybe a partner showing up at the office, sabotaging them before a shift even starts… it all shows up at work'
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is driving absenteeism, performance problems and safety risks in Canadian workplaces, making it a front-line HR, health and safety issue.
“Intimate partner violence doesn’t stay at home, it follows people to work,” says Carly Kalish, CEO of Victim Services Toronto, in talking with Canadian HR Reporter.
Toronto Police data show that about 17,200 to 19,300 intimate partner violence occurrences each year, a level that has remained “steady over the last decade.” Nationally, more than 11 million people in Canada have experienced intimate partner violence at least once since the age of 15, and in 2023, 78 per cent of those aged 15 and over who experienced IPV were women.
For employers, the impacts are direct and costly. Canadian employers lose an estimated $77.9 million annually due to the direct and indirect impacts of domestic violence, according to a You are Not Alone document from the City of Toronto.
Among Canadian workers who have experienced domestic violence, 54 per cent said it continued at work, 82 per cent said it negatively affected their performance and 38 per cent said it affected their ability to get to work, according to the same document.
“It takes a village to help people and that’s what Ask for Angela is,” Kalish says, arguing that employers have a crucial role to play in that wider safety net.
Nearly half (47 per cent) of working Canadians don’t know that employers have a legal obligation to support employees facing domestic violence.
How does intimate partner violence show up at work?
Kalish says IPV routinely follows employees into the workplace in ways that disrupt operations and expose employers to risk.
“Harassing texts or calls during the workday, maybe a partner showing up at the office or in the parking lot, sabotaging them before a shift even starts… it all shows up at work,” she says. That sabotage can include hiding car keys, withholding transit money or disrupting childcare, resulting in lateness, absenteeism and heightened security concerns.
Those patterns often look like performance problems.
“Those effects show up in ways managers might misread, like lateness or distractedness or exhaustion or missed deadlines. But in the context, these people are simply surviving,” Kalish says. Without awareness and training, HR and line leaders may discipline employees whose behaviour is actually an indicator of severe risk at home.
At Victim Services Toronto, staff support about 18,000 victims of crime each year, and roughly 75 per cent are survivors of one form or another of gender-based violence, including intimate partner violence, sexual assault and human trafficking.
Broader research from the Canadian Women’s Foundation shows more than half (53 per cent) of respondents who experienced domestic violence said at least one abusive act happened at or near their workplace, and almost 40 per cent said it made it difficult for them to get to work. Yet only 28 per cent of workers surveyed said they had received information about domestic violence from their employer, and just 10.6 per cent believed employers are aware when it is affecting their workers.
Ask for Angela: a discreet safety lifeline
To offer a discreet route to help, Victim Services Toronto launched the Ask for Angela program in the Toronto area in 2023. The community-based, trauma-informed safety initiative lets anyone experiencing gender-based violence, coercive control or exploitation signal for help at participating locations by asking, “Is Angela there?” or “Can I speak to Angela?” Trained staff then move the person to a private space and connect them immediately to Victim Services Toronto’s 24/7 crisis support line, with the option of phone or in-person assistance.
The organisation recently expanded the program. New, strategic local partnerships across retail, hospitality, healthcare, transit, emergency response, and tourism will provide program training to 8,000 additional frontline staff and volunteers, expanding direct pathways to crisis support in everyday spaces across Toronto, according to the organisation. This growing ecosystem includes partners such as:
- CN Tower
- Courtyard by Marriott Toronto Downtown
- Delta Hotels by Marriott Toronto Airport & Conference Centre
- Hilton Toronto
- Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel
- Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
- The PrEP Clinic / The Ontario Prevention Clinic and Pharmacy
- Toronto Paramedic Services
“So far we have… over 230 participating retail locations and 8,000 staff [who] will be trained to be able to respond to this,” Kalish says. Posters and stickers in both public areas and staff-only spaces such as break rooms and locker rooms explain the code phrase and where help comes from.
The program is resonating with workers as well as customers. Kalish recounts how an employee at a participating location, trained on Ask for Angela, later phoned Victim Services Toronto about her own situation.
“She actually called us herself and said this is so incredible that my work cares about helping victims and helping survivors. I’m a survivor myself and I have been experiencing this for years… until I saw this poster up at my work,” Kalish says. The poster signalled that her employer was “a supportive person and place” where she could finally disclose.
What should HR and employers should do next?
For HR leaders, Kalish says education and legal literacy are essential. “A really important step that employers could take is education,” she says, urging employers to run webinars or workshops on gender-based violence and to invite Victim Services Toronto into workplaces so staff know “employers are a safe place to go” and that IPV is not treated as a private matter.
She also highlights Ontario’s domestic or sexual violence leave. “The leave is a really important piece because if you are experiencing this, you need… to do the things that you need to do in order to be safe,” Kalish says. “You can’t really function unless you’re safe.” That can include relocating, seeking legal support, getting counselling or, where appropriate, reporting to police.
She is urging more employers to join the Ask for Angela program and to integrate domestic violence information and referral options into HR policies and training.
“If you run a company that is committed to supporting your employees who might be survivors of gender-based violence… please don’t hesitate to reach out to Victim Services Toronto,” Kalish says.
