Domestic Violence Awareness Month

For millions of individuals, the workplace is supposed to be a sanctuary of productivity, professional growth, and financial independence. However, the silent crisis of domestic and dating violence frequently follows survivors past the office doors, deeply impacting their safety, mental health, and job security. Bridging this gap between corporate safety nets and real-world employee vulnerability is the need of the hour.

In December 2025, the National Domestic Violence Hotline and Futures Without Violence released a joint report on the experiences of survivors in the American workplace. The findings were direct: most U.S. workplaces remain unprepared to support employees experiencing domestic or dating violence, lacking clear policies, employee training, and accessible resources. 

Esta Soler, President of Futures Without Violence, put it plainly: "Not nearly enough of our country’s workplaces – large and small – are supporting employees facing domestic or dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking. It should be a call to action for workplace leaders to adopt the supports and policies that will help survivors maintain their employment and protect themselves and their children."

Domestic Violence Awareness Month, observed every October, exists precisely for this moment. For CSR and social impact leaders, Domestic Violence Awareness Month 2026 is not a communications calendar obligation. It is an annual prompt to evaluate whether your company is prepared to be a genuine source of support for employees experiencing abuse, and whether your community investment is reaching the organizations working to end it.

What Domestic Violence Awareness Month Is in 2026

The History and the 2025 Theme Carried Forward

Domestic Violence Awareness Month traces back to October 1987, when the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence designated the first national day of unity, which evolved into a full month-long observance. In 1989, Congress formally designated October as DVAM through legislation. The month has since grown into the primary national platform for education, survivor recognition, and community mobilization around intimate partner violence.

The theme for 2025, introduced by the Domestic Violence Awareness Project Advisory Group, was "With Survivors, Always." This concept emphasizes steady, year-round commitment over a temporary focus. "With survivors" means presence, continuity, and structural commitment across every season of the year, not only in October. For corporate leaders, it is a useful frame for evaluating whether your organization's relationship to this issue is genuinely consistent or concentrated in a single annual communication.

The Scale of the Problem in the American Workforce

The data on domestic violence in the U.S. workforce is extensive, current, and consequential. According to 2024 data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at least 41% of women and 26% of men in the U.S. experience intimate partner violence or stalking during their lifetime. In any mid-to-large company, that means the issue is not hypothetical. It is statistically certain that members of the workforce are navigating abuse while managing their professional responsibilities.

The Department of Labor reports that victims of domestic violence lose nearly 8 million days of paid work per year in the United States, resulting in $1.8 billion in lost productivity for employers. The broader economic toll is even more significant: a CDC lifetime economic burden study estimated the total population economic burden of intimate partner violence at nearly $3.6 trillion over victims' lifetimes, encompassing medical costs, lost productivity, and criminal justice activities. Writing for Forbes, leadership expert Michelle Travis highlighted that domestic abuse costs U.S. businesses an estimated $3 to $5 billion annually in lost productivity, healthcare expenses, and workplace violence. 

What the December 2025 Hotline and Futures Without Violence Report Found

The December 2025 joint report from The National Domestic Violence Hotline and Futures Without Violence identified a structural preparedness gap in American workplaces. Survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking face significant barriers to maintaining employment, and yet steady work is often essential to their safety and financial independence. 

The report made clear that employers are in a position to play a substantial role in supporting survivors, and that most are not yet doing so with the policies, training, or resources that the situation requires.

"When you make your workplaces safer and more supportive, you will strengthen your workforce, improve your productivity, and make your community safer. There’s no time to waste." 

— Esta Soler, President, Futures Without Violence, December 1, 2025

Why Domestic Violence Is a Workplace Issue, Not Just a Personal One

The Workforce Cost Employers Are Already Absorbing

The assumption that domestic violence is a private matter that does not enter the workplace is one the data consistently contradicts. Research cited by the Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence found that 21% of full-time employed adults are victims of domestic violence, and 74% of those individuals have been harassed at their workplace by their abuser. Research also indicates that approximately 50% of employed survivors are harassed at work by their abusive partners through phone calls, unannounced visits, or interference with their ability to travel to and from work.

Domestic violence affects the workplace through several overlapping channels: increased absenteeism and tardiness, reduced concentration and performance, coworker safety concerns when abusers appear on-site, elevated healthcare utilization, and higher employee turnover. Resilience MI reports that domestic violence costs $8.3 billion in expenses annually from a combination of higher medical costs and lost productivity. The private sector, as the CDC has noted, incurs at least half the costs associated with intimate partner violence by virtue of providing health insurance and employee leave benefits.

The Financial Abuse Dimension Companies Often Miss

Not all domestic violence is visible, and not all of it is physical. The National Domestic Violence Hotline's 2024 data found that nearly 40% of people who reached out in 2024 reported experiencing economic or financial abuse, where one partner controls access to money, employment, and financial resources. Financial abuse is among the most effective tools abusers use to keep survivors from leaving: it limits access to housing, childcare, legal assistance, and transportation.

This dimension has a direct employer response. The SECURE 2.0 Act, signed into law in December 2022 and effective January 1, 2024, allows employers to opt into a provision permitting employees to withdraw vested 401(k) funds without the standard 10% early withdrawal penalty within one year of experiencing domestic abuse. This is one of the most concrete financial tools an employer can make available to a survivor attempting to establish economic independence. Companies that have not yet reviewed whether their 401(k) plan includes this provision have a specific, actionable step available to them before October.

Domestic Violence in Remote and Hybrid Work Environments

The shift to remote and hybrid work arrangements has changed the visibility of domestic violence for coworkers and managers. UC Davis HR and workplace violence prevention resources note that in remote settings, warning signs may include background disruptions or aggressive voices heard during video calls, sudden changes in availability, visible anxiety or distraction during virtual meetings, or abrupt exits from calls. These signals require a different kind of attention than the in-person behavioral cues that traditional training programs address.

For companies with hybrid workforces, Domestic Violence Awareness Month 2026 is a useful moment to assess whether manager training includes remote-context warning signs, whether EAP (Employee Assistance Program) resources are communicated with the same visibility in digital work environments as in physical ones, and whether the virtual workplace creates adequate confidentiality for employees who need to seek help during work hours.

How Companies Can Take Meaningful Action in October 2026

Building a Survivor-Centered Workplace Policy

A survivor-centered domestic violence workplace policy is different from a liability-management policy in orientation and in design. According to the National Resource Center: Workplaces Respond to Domestic and Sexual Violence, a comprehensive policy should include: a clear organizational statement of commitment and confidentiality, accommodation provisions (schedule flexibility, temporary workspace reassignment, leave), a defined referral process to internal EAP resources and external community organizations, and workplace safety protocols for situations where an abuser may appear at a company facility or make contact with colleagues.

The policy should also communicate the availability of the SECURE 2.0 401(k) provision for survivors and any paid leave provisions specific to domestic violence situations. Several states, including California and New York, now have specific legal requirements around domestic violence workplace policies for certain employer categories. Reviewing current state requirements alongside your existing policy is a practical pre-October audit step.

Employee Training That Goes Past Warning Sign Identification

Manager training on domestic violence typically covers behavioral warning signs: unexplained absences, visible injuries, withdrawal from colleagues, or anxiety. That foundation is necessary. What moves it toward genuine impact is adding bystander intervention training, which teaches coworkers and managers how to respond when someone discloses, how to offer support without creating pressure, and what referral resources to use.

The Futures Without Violence Workplaces Respond toolkit specifically recommends training that accounts for remote and hybrid work environments, since the behavioral cues and the intervention opportunities differ meaningfully from in-person contexts. Training should also clarify what managers are not responsible for: they are not expected to be counselors, investigators, or safety planners. Their role is to create conditions for disclosure, provide referrals, and maintain confidentiality.

Skills-Based Volunteering for Domestic Violence Organizations

Corporate volunteering infrastructure is rarely directed toward domestic violence organizations during Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and that represents a gap worth closing. Domestic violence nonprofits have consistent and specific needs that align well with the professional skill sets common in corporate workforces.

Legal pro bono volunteers can support restraining order documentation, housing rights advice, and employment law guidance for survivors navigating job loss. Technology professionals can audit and improve digital intake systems, hotline infrastructure, and case management platforms used by shelters and advocacy organizations. HR professionals can build employment readiness frameworks and job training curricula for survivors re-entering the workforce. Communications and marketing professionals can strengthen fundraising campaigns, donor communications, and public education materials.

Organizations such as the National Domestic Violence Hotline, Futures Without Violence, and regional domestic violence coalitions welcome structured corporate volunteer partnerships. 

1. Futures Without Violence (USA & Global)

• Focus: This organization develops specialized toolkits and training programs to build workplace safety frameworks and job-readiveness tracks for survivors.
• Volunteer Impact: Professional volunteers can assist in refining employment training curricula and developing educational materials for corporate leaders.

2. National Domestic Violence Hotline (USA)

• Focus: This national organization operates continuous crisis intervention, digital chats, and resource databases for survivors nationwide.
• Volunteer Impact: IT and technology professionals can help optimize secure digital intake infrastructure, improve chat systems, and evaluate hotline data management tools.

3. Garden of Hope (USA, New York)

• Focus: They specialize in serving immigrants and localized communities facing language, cultural, and socioeconomic barriers.
• Volunteer Impact: Pro bono legal experts can support survivors navigating housing rights and immigration documentation, while marketing volunteers can translate and tailor public education outreach.

4. My Sister's House (USA, California)

• Focus: This organization provides targeted culturally responsive safe havens and dedicated job training programs to help survivors regain financial independence.
• Volunteer Impact: Corporate HR professionals can lead mock interviews, resume writing workshops, and vocational mentorship tracks to assist survivors re-entering the corporate workforce. 

Goodera's skills-based volunteering catalog includes opportunities organized by professional domain, enabling CSR teams to match employee expertise to specific organizational needs rather than defaulting to general awareness events.

Grantmaking and Community Partnership With Domestic Violence-Serving Organizations

Community investment in domestic violence organizations can take two structurally different forms, and both serve important purposes. Emergency and operational funding supports immediate needs: shelter operations, staffing for hotlines, legal advocacy programs, and housing assistance for survivors in crisis. Capacity-building investment supports organizational development: technology infrastructure, communications capacity, workforce development programs for survivors, and financial sustainability planning.

For CSR leaders building a measurable community investment strategy around Domestic Violence Awareness Month, capacity-building grants tend to produce stronger ESG-reportable outcomes because their effects are documentable over time and connect directly to survivor employment and economic independence metrics. Pairing grant funding with a scoped skills-based volunteering project for the same organization creates a combined investment that is more valuable to the nonprofit than either component alone.

Connecting Domestic Violence Awareness Month to Your ESG and CSR Strategy

SDG Alignment for Domestic Violence Programs

Corporate engagement with domestic violence issues maps to multiple Sustainable Development Goals. SDG 5, Gender Equality, specifically Target 5.2, addresses the elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls in public and private spheres, which directly encompasses intimate partner and domestic violence. 

SDG 8, Decent Work and Economic Growth, connects to the employment retention and economic security outcomes that well-designed workplace domestic violence programs support for survivors. SDG 10, Reduced Inequalities, applies given the disproportionate impact of domestic violence on women, low-income workers, and communities of color.

For ESG disclosure purposes, GRI 401 on Employment and GRI 403 on Occupational Health and Safety are the reporting standards most directly relevant to workplace domestic violence policies and programs. The CSRD, for companies with EU-facing reporting obligations, increasingly treats gender-based violence and workplace safety as material social disclosures.

The Business Case for Leadership Commitment

The business case for domestic violence workplace investment is both a cost-mitigation argument and a talent strategy argument. On the cost side, the $3 to $5 billion annual employer cost estimate from Forbes, combined with the 8 million lost paid workdays per year, makes a direct case for the return on investment from early support and intervention infrastructure. Turnover reduction for survivor-employees who receive accommodation and support is a particularly meaningful metric given the high replacement cost of experienced workers.

On the talent strategy side, SHRM research and employee benefit surveys consistently find that workplace safety, confidentiality, and accommodation policies are factors in employee decisions about where to work and whether to disclose sensitive personal situations. Employees who trust their employer to handle sensitive circumstances with confidentiality and support are more likely to remain engaged and productive.

Examples Setting the Standard

Verizon's Domestic Violence Workplace Policy and Ally Training

Verizon has maintained one of the more documented corporate domestic violence programs in the private sector. Their partnership with the Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence (CAEPV) produced the CAEPV HopeLine from Verizon Webinar Series, a training resource distributed at no cost to employers across the country. Alan Gardner, then VP of Human Resources for Verizon Wireless, described the program's intent: "We are working to train employers to recognize and assist employees in need, and direct them to appropriate resources and assistance."

Verizon also developed an Entrepreneurship Training Grant Program for survivors of domestic violence recognizing that strong coping, management, and problem-solving skills are common among survivors navigating complex circumstances. Their #ForwardTogether campaign, active in October 2020 and extended into subsequent years, combined internal employee education with external community investment in survivor support organizations.

Futures Without Violence's Workplaces Respond Program

Futures Without Violence operates the Workplaces Respond to Domestic and Sexual Violence national resource center, which provides employers of all sizes with policy templates, manager training curricula, survivor resource materials, and consultation on building survivor-centered workplace programs. The resource center's materials are freely available and specifically designed for adaptation by corporate partners to fit their industry, size, and geography.

The December 2025 joint report, produced in partnership with The National Domestic Violence Hotline, is the most current and research-grounded resource available for corporate leaders designing or reviewing their Domestic Violence Awareness Month programming. For CSR teams at the beginning of this work, the Workplaces Respond toolkit represents the most practical entry point into policy and training design without requiring a consultancy engagement.

The Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence Model

The Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence (CAEPV) has produced one of the most widely referenced frameworks for employer engagement with domestic violence as a workplace issue. Their model policy and their research on the prevalence of workplace harassment by abusive partners (74% of employed survivors have experienced it) provide the evidentiary foundation that most corporate Domestic Violence policies reference.

This model is particularly useful for companies that want to move from a general workplace violence policy to a specifically survivor-centered domestic violence policy. The framework addresses the key tension in corporate domestic violence response: the dual obligation to support survivor employees while maintaining the workplace safety of all staff, particularly in situations where an abuser may attempt contact at a company location.

A Practical Activation Framework for CSR Teams

Before October: The Policy and Readiness Audit

The most useful September activity for a CSR team preparing for Domestic Violence Awareness Month is an internal readiness assessment across four dimensions. First, does a written domestic violence workplace policy exist and is it published in a location all employees can access? Second, has the EAP been communicated recently with specific reference to domestic violence resources, including for remote employees? 

Third, have managers received any training in the past 12 months on recognizing warning signs and responding to disclosures, including in virtual work contexts? Fourth, has the 401(k) plan been reviewed to determine whether the SECURE 2.0 domestic abuse withdrawal provision has been adopted? 

These four questions will quickly identify the highest-priority action for October, which should drive the depth of programming rather than spreading effort across too many surface-level activities. 

During October: Depth Over Breadth

One well-scoped skills-based volunteering project with a local domestic violence organization, designed around a specific professional skill the nonprofit has identified as a genuine need, produces more durable impact than five awareness communications. One manager training session, delivered by a qualified facilitator and adapted for both in-person and remote managers, moves the organization further than a policy email. 

One clear, accessible communication to all employees surfacing the National Domestic Violence Hotline (1-800-799-SAFE / 1-800-799-7233, or text START to 88788) is the single most important awareness step any employer can take.

Goodera's corporate volunteering platform can help CSR teams identify and scope skills-based volunteering partnerships with domestic violence organizations as part of a structured Domestic Violence Awareness Month program, with impact measurement built in.

After October: The Year-Round Structure

April brings Sexual Assault Awareness Month, the adjacent and often overlapping observance, and a natural checkpoint for reviewing whether October commitments have been maintained. The Workplaces Respond annual convening provides peer learning and updated resources for HR and CSR professionals responsible for workplace domestic violence programs. December is the moment to confirm that the SECURE 2.0 provision review was completed and that any necessary 401(k) plan amendments are in process.

The EAP communication strategy should not be an October-only activity. Domestic violence does not observe a calendar, and the employees most likely to need information about support resources are often the least likely to come across it during a month-long awareness campaign. A quarterly EAP communication cadence that includes domestic violence resources, delivered through multiple channels including intranet, email, and manager briefings, is the structural approach that turns October programming into year-round organizational commitment.