When Home is the Workplace: Foregrounding Ethical Responses to Domestic Violence When Working-from-home

Abstract

Domestic violence (DV) is a global problem affecting individuals, communities and societies, and increasingly a workplace problem. During the COVID-19 pandemic, home became both the workplace under government-directed lockdowns and a site for increased DV in a ‘shadow pandemic’ of violence. This article examines how workplaces supported DV victim–survivors when working-from-home during lockdowns. Drawing primary data from interviews with DV first-responders in Aotearoa New Zealand workplaces, a country with epidemic levels of DV, we theorise how workplaces conceptualised their responsibility for DV across ‘blurred’ spaces of home and work and enacted duty of care obligations when working-from-home. We argue that given DV is a complex work health and safety risk, mere legal compliance for protecting victims when working-from-home falls short of employers’ ethical responsibilities for ensuring safe workplaces and preventing violence.