Topic: Supporting employees

Recognise economic harm

Economic harm is behaviour towards a person that controls, restricts or removes their access to money, economic resources or participation in financial decisions.

Japanese woman alone

What is economic harm?

Economic harm, often called financial or economic abuse, is recognised as a form of psychological abuse within the Family Violence Act 2018. 

It is experienced in many close personal relationships, particularly intimate partner relationships. It may also include forms of elder abuse. Unlike physical violence, economic harm is less visible and does not leave marks. The impact can be debilitating and can affect financial security well into the future. 

In situations where demands are refused, what begins as economic abuse can lead to other forms of abuse such as yelling, threats and more violent behaviour.

Read more about the Family Violence Act 2018.

Neutral face young person

“It was like he had an image of a perfect girlfriend. He would decide what I wore, where I went, who I saw and give me as much money as he thought I needed for the things he agreed that I could do”.

Why does it happen?

Economic harm can impact all ages, socio-economic groups, cultures, ethnicities and genders. It may also present differently in some cultures due to traditions and beliefs, or the systemic experience of colonisation.

Economic harm is experienced in the context of power and control and is often intentional, but not always. Like other forms of violence, it can be subtle, beginning with the smallest breach of trust, and then build over time.

Economic harm can also be a product of intergenerational learning, role modelling, previous trauma, belief systems, limited knowledge, traditions etc.

It is most evident when a specific pattern of behaviour is occurring – such as coercion, withholding financial access or support, deceptive behaviour or unreasonable control that limits another persons’ economic or financial involvement – including resources such as accommodation, transport, employment and clothing.

It may also involve limited or no participation in decisions or actions relating to financial and economic wellbeing.

Listen to Susan’s story:

Mother reading to kids

“I was afraid to get clothes for the kids”.

What it looks like

Other behaviour may be occurring, particularly if a person is trying to leave the relationship, which can be the most dangerous time.  

This could be such things as:

  • Child support isn’t being paid
  • The car is damaged so you can’t go anywhere
  • Court process intentionally dragged out
  • Money or resources being withheld to prevent you from leaving the relationship
  • Your employment situation becomes difficult due to constant harassment

Human relationships are complex. There are many things to navigate in a close personal relationship, and one of the most common challenges is money and finances. 

Discussions about money will surface at some point and are not only necessary but can be difficult regardless of how healthy a relationship is. 

However, there is a difference between “money problems” that a couple works on together to resolve, and financial controlling behaviour that can lead to economic harm.

Listen to Michele’s story:

Middle age rural woman

“I didn’t associate myself, my situation, with family violence.”

If you are an employer, you might notice some potential red flags 

Identifying economic harm isn’t so easy, or even possible in some cases, due to its lack of visibility. There are some potential red flags that have been identified by people with their own experience of economic harm.

Individually these indicators may mean very little, however several together can show a pattern. This does not necessarily mean economic harm is being experienced. 

These red flags are a starting point to let you know some difficulty could be occurring, and a conversation with the employee could be useful.

  • Withdrawing from social interaction – unable to participate in social or work activities that cost money – acting awkwardly or not wanting to talk about why
  • Seeming guilty and defensive when talking about spending money on everyday items
  • Partner ringing a lot, texting or showing up – checking up or asking about pay details
  • Presentism – regularly working late, not wanting to go home or asking for extra shifts
  • A change in appearance, or behaviour, or drop in work performance – usually competent, professional and proficient – now a lack of concentration or preoccupied
  • Asking for annual leave to be paid out without explanation
  • Having no money for necessities, yet having an income that should cover it
  • The employer being contacted by government departments regarding redirection, fines or other debts not paid
  • Appearing uncomfortable or fearful when talking about their partner
  • Hearing concerns from other colleagues that things aren’t good at home
  • Anxiety about getting paid on time, or needing pay in advance
  • Asking work to pay bills or redirect money to a different account
  • Not having access to their own or joint bank account
  • Using a shared email account
  • Ongoing transport issues getting to work – or being picked up and dropped off
  • Absenteeism – regularly late to work, not coming at all (sick) or other things happening at home
  • Change in employment status within the family such as job loss or reduced hours- leading to comments about extreme financial strain
  • Seeming emotional or irrational – all over the place with their thinking or behaviour
  • Forced to sign immigration papers or other documentation.

Check if it’s happening to you

If your answer is yes to one or more of the questions below, you could be experiencing economic harm.

  1. Do you have to ask for money or explain your spending needs for everyday items or basic needs?
  2. Have you ever been coerced/forced to give up your job, go to work or stay home?
  3. Are you pressured to act in a specific way to have access to money? 

If your answer is no to one or more of these questions below, you could be experiencing economic harm.

  1. Do you have access to the money in your personal and family bank account?
  2. Are you allowed to know how much debt your family has?
  3. Do you have some or equal decision-making power over how the household money is spent?

Other useful resources

There are a number of resources and research reports that you can read for more information.

Resources

Rights for employees affected by domestic violence – Employment New Zealand

Research

Economic Abuse in New Zealand (2018) – Good Shepherd network in Australia and New ZealandDownload

We can help

If you’re experiencing economic harm, we can help.

Econonmic harm and cultural contexts in the workplace

There are many aspects of culture that are important to think about when responding to economic harm.

Smiling woman

When you are developing organisational policies and procedures, and providing support and information to staff, consider:

Language

For some employees, English may not be their first language. They may have a minimal understanding and struggle to read, write, or speak English. It is important to advise your employees of their rights and employment law in New Zealand. This could include employment entitlements, confidentiality, Family Violence Act, or even their basic human rights – particularly if they are here on a work visa.

Money

In some cultures, and families, money is managed, shared, and used differently. When talking with the person experiencing economic harm, be open to hearing what is important for them in their culture, what their concerns are about getting help. Work with them to develop a plan of support. To help your employee work through cultural differences, it may be useful to encourage them to get help from an organisation that has an understanding of their particular culture.

Home

Homes may also look different. Having more than one family or extended family living together could mean that money is viewed differently. For some people personal income may be seen as family income, making financial issues more complex and entangled. Some traditions and family beliefs can also impose financial expectations and control on an individual who may be unaware they could be experiencing economic harm and be too fearful to discuss their situation or ask for help.

Tips for supportive conversations about economic harm in the workplace

Whatever difficult life experience a person is going through, a supportive conversation is a good starting place. This is also true for economic harm.

Woman working

The best person to have a supportive conversation with is someone the staff member trusts and feels safe with. The wrong person could make matters worse or leave the staff member feeling vulnerable.

For a variety of reasons, staff members don’t always feel comfortable opening up to their line manager. You may want to encourage staff to speak to anyone in your management or people and culture teams with whom they feel comfortable.

What to consider in a supportive conversation

If a staff member wants to discuss family violence or economic harm with you, there are some things to consider:

  • Discuss who else on staff would need to know the situation to implement these entitlements – such as payroll, HR or senior management.
  • Take steps to make sure all disclosures and activities are kept confidential to the rest of the team by limiting access to staff files.
  • Provide information on external support – such as specialist services.
  • Make a plan together, including regular catch-ups during the next few days, weeks or months.
  • Provide a safe and private space to talk.
  • There may be more occurring in the background than you are aware. Just like in a medical situation, it’s important to determine if an urgent response is required. It is not your job to work this out alone. However, simply asking if the person feels an immediate response is needed will be enough to open up the conversation.
  • Offer any additional workplace support that can be made available – such as counselling or loan services
  • Discuss who else on staff would need to know the situation to implement these entitlements – such as payroll, HR or senior management.

Tips for having a conversation

Having delicate and emotional conversations with employees requires a careful and considered approach.

You need to listen and speak in a way that is clear, respectful, empathetic and non-judgemental.

It is important to explain confidentiality about expectations and limits, whilst acknowledging what is happening is not their fault, that they are not alone and there are ways to get through.

Remember

  • People experiencing abuse are not always ready to seek support and may only be ready to disclose part of their situation. Once they are aware help is available, they may choose to approach you at some other time or seek support when they are ready. It is important to let them know this is okay.
  • In some cases, the staff member may already have a significant support person in their life that they can talk to. Or they could already be working with a service or have a plan in place.
  • Wherever the conversation leads, be careful to listen openly and not to force your own agenda due to fear or uncertainty.

It’s not always possible to gather all the information or solve someone else’s problems. Remember we are all experts in our own lives and it’s important to trust that the person knows their situation best.

Check access to money

Whatever steps are taken, check your employees’ access to money.

  1. Does the staff member have access to their money?
  2. Will they have access during or after getting support?
  3. Do they need to secure money now?
  4. What impact will securing the money have on the relationship?

Ongoing employee support and economic harm

Whatever support is offered, whether it is internal or external, it is unlikely everything will be sorted after just one conversation.

Teacher

Dealing with economic harm situations with an employee can be ongoing for some time. Once things are put in motion there needs to be a commitment to ongoing support.

Even when external support is accessed, it may take time for the employee to work through their experience and get things sorted. Your employee may need regular check-ins and discussions over days, weeks or even months.

It is also possible things could get worse before they improve, as pressure from the person using violence may increase.

Check what you are doing to support your employee

What are you doing to support your employee?

  1. Prioritise safety over work efficiency
  2. Allocate some private time and space to listen
  3. Discuss and provide confidentiality
  4. Be sensitive
  5. Withhold judgement
  6. Invest time and resources
  7. Trust what is being said.

There are some things you shouldn’t do too

  • Seek proof of abuse
  • Contact the person causing harm
  • Compel the victim to accept support
  • Try to be a social worker or fix it yourself
  • Minimise the experience
  • Include staff who don’t need to be involved
  • Leave the conversation without a plan.

Always keep safety in mind

Your employee’s, your own and your team’s safety must be kept in mind at all times.

Remember that you’re probably not a trained social worker – so avoid overstepping. Intervening in what might seem the most helpful way can cause people to shut down, withdraw, or escalate very quickly.

It is important to know whether the relationship is breaking up – leaving a relationship is considered to be the most dangerous time where physical harm is a real possibility, even if it has not occurred previously in the relationship.

“HR was great – they helped me with my wage payments and helped me access domestic violence leave to get things sorted.”

“Work never knew what was going on for me – it was my safe space, I told no one.”

“I took my employee to the bank and we managed to get her accounts sorted and passwords reset.”

“The family violence service was so helpful – they supported me to get things sorted with Work and Income and my work helped arrange payments for my student loan.”

Seeking external support

External support comes in many forms depending on the extent of the problem, type of help wanted and cultural considerations.

It’s important that the person experiencing the harm has choices and is supported to make the decisions that work best for them. It’s easy to assume what the most appropriate support might be, however, it’s important that this is done together with the employee.

 Important questions to ask your employee when seeking support:

  • Are there family members, partners, ex-partners, friends, or acquaintances who work in the service you are considering accessing?
  • If so, are they supportive, would they have access to your information?​
  • Do you want them to know or be involved?

Family violence agencies

Specialist family violence agencies can:

  • Assist with safety plans – at work and home
  • Advocate with Work and Income
  • Provide access to legal assistance
  • Liaise with police if necessary
  • Provide education and advice – for both the employer and employee.

Finance

Our Financial Wellbeing Coaches are trained to support you with unmanageable debt and the financial side of your relationship. They can:

  • Provide advocacy and support with banks, creditors and debt collectors
  • Assist with support to access family violence services or address other needs as appropriate

Employment law

Employment law can include:

  • Domestic violence leave
  • Flexible working options
  • Time off
  • Information about appropriate treatment of staff.

Find out more about family violence leave – Employment New Zealand 

Holistic services

Culturally-specific support services that have an understanding of family harm can provide a whole of family response that includes traditional and role-specific values.

Banks

Most of the major banks now have dedicated teams who respond to:

  • Family violence
  • Economic harm
  • Other customer vulnerabilities.

We can help

Our financial wellbeing coaches are trained to support you with unmanageable debt and the financial side of your relationship.

Raise awareness of economic harm at work

Supporting financial wellbeing at work improves employee retention, productivity and work culture.

Woman sitting at a cafe

Your employees’ financial wellbeing and maintaining a successful organisation are connected. A survey by the Te Ara Ahunga Ora Retirement Commission showed:

  • An average of 20 hours per employee per month was lost because of money worries. Women were more affected by financial stresses than men. 
  • Women were more likely than men to hide or conceal their situation from family or friends (61%), feel ill or unwell (59%), or lose sleep (57%).

Read more about the Te Ara Ora Retirement Commission survey research.

Strategies you can use

There are a few strategies you can use as an employer to be aware of economic harm.

Check pay details

Confirm pay details when an employee is signing a new contract or a new person is employed. You could create a tick box on the employment form. Some examples are:

  • Is this your bank account?
  • Do you have access to the money in this account?
  • Do you need another option?
    E.g. wages split, a portion paid into another account or paid in cash?

Check email

Ask if your employee wants to create a different email to use for payslips or other confidential information.

Provide information

Make sure you provide economic harm information during the interview or as part of role induction. 

For example: “As an organisation, we have a family violence and economic harm policy. We have strategies in place to support anyone experiencing it.”

Create an open workplace culture

Create an open workplace culture that encourages communication and support to make it easier for employees to raise concerns.

Implement a wellbeing programme

Implement a workplace wellbeing programme where workplace support is offered to address financial harm. 

For example: 

  • Increase awareness about available wellbeing options – including domestic violence leave, or cashing-up a week’s annual leave. 
  • Contact us about providing a workplace financial wellbeing programme

Put information on your intranet

Put family violence and economic harm information on your staff intranet. You could include:

  • What economic harm is
  • Safety plans whilst at work
  • Services that are available to assist
  • Banking information
  • Availability of financial support options such as Good Loans

Find out more about our Good Loans financial support option.

Decorate the office

Put notices, posters and pamphlets around the office to make economic harm more visible, raise awareness and provide support.

When hanging notices up, it’s worth noting economic harm isn’t always associated with family violence – it’s often thought to be elder abuse.
It’s also worth noting that the words abuse or violence can sometimes be a barrier; they are commonly associated with extreme physical violence – think about using the word harm instead.

Raise awareness of flexible working hours

Ensure that your employees are aware you have flexible working hours and conditions to access support if they need time off – as per legislation.

Read more about Managing family violence leave – Employment New Zealand.

Host employee training

Host employee training that provides basic knowledge around economic harm. Or you can contact us about tailored training to support your employees and clients.  

You could also speak to your employee assistance service, such as EAP services or Benestar to see what resources they may have available.

Find more resources with the Employment Assistance Programme (EAP).

Find more resources with Benestar.

Develop a workplace policy

Develop a workplace policy or regularly review your workplace policies, safety plans and procedures. Shine offers a DVFree accreditation programme that provides workplace policies, guidelines and a best practice response to family violence.

Learn more about the DVFree accreditation programme.

We can help

Find out more about our workplace financial wellbeing programme

Impact of economic harm

Economic harm has both short- and long-term consequences.

Serious older person

The impact is complex

The impact is complex, and cuts across many environments, often leading to years of debilitating economic and social conditions.

Self-esteem

It is common to feel exploited, depressed, distressed, embarrassed, angry and stupid. Shame, fear, low self-worth and self-belief can lead to physical and mental health issues.

Anxiety about financial matters is also a problem – excessively worrying about overspending, long after a relationship has ended. Confidence to rebuild a future, have trust and navigate new relationships is significantly diminished.

Social isolation

The need for support can increase dependence on family and services, often causing fragmented relationships. Personal safety can also be compromised, requiring a move to a new area, away from local supports. 

Credit and debt

Economic harm can cause excessive debt and a damaged credit history that lessens one’s ability to meet basic needs and can lead to homelessness.

Employment

Remaining in or obtaining new employment can also be impacted by the lack of resources, or poor credit history. It can also be affected by a partner or ex-partner’s interference.

Legal system 

Legal and other financial challenges around child support, access, and ongoing court costs can also be debilitating both financially and emotionally, and can continue long into the future. 

Lack of choice  

Any decisions that are made when people are in ‘survival mode’ can lead to consequences such as even more debt, recordable offences or criminal charges, which can influence or restrict future choices.

Impact on other employees

When an employee is experiencing economic harm, there is likely to be a flow-on effect that could impact your other staff members or teams.

If productivity is affected, colleagues can be left feeling frustrated, concerned, or may even display strong emotional responses. Depending on how these experiences are expressed, workplace relationships and culture can also be impacted – for better or worse.

The social element of work relationships can also lead to a level of personal distress for some people. There may be a feeling of responsibility to step in, support their colleague or fix their problem. For others, it could trigger old or current feelings relating to their own experience of violence or trauma.

By providing information to all employees about family violence, employee rights, and internal or external pathways for support – some of these points can be addressed.

45% of employees who experienced some form of family violence confided in co-workers.

Impact on children

In families where harm is occurring, it is often hoped that children are protected by not seeing or hearing what’s happening. 

There are, however, psychological, emotional, environmental and economic factors associated with harm that can have a significantly negative impact. Children’s basic and developmental needs can be disrupted or limited, along with their social and educational opportunities, due to lack of access to finances. 

Parents or caregivers can become emotionally unavailable, and children may need to negotiate issues that occur at home. They can be left feeling responsible, confused and isolated. 

Their confidence and self-esteem can become eroded, impacting their overall wellbeing and psychological recovery. In the long term, economic harm can negatively affect a child’s mental wellbeing, and lead to social or behavioural issues, depending on their age, the level of harm and the length of exposure.

Responding to economic harm in the workplace

A business owner shares her story of how her company supported a member of staff experiencing economic harm, what it meant for her business, and what’s been put in place to help prevent it.

24 November 2021

It came to our attention that a member of staff was experiencing several forms of abuse, one of which was economic abuse.

The head of her department came to us concerned after noticing the member of staff going to the bathroom to cry, making comments about not having enough credit on her phone or bus money to get home.

In the workplace, there’s a social element within colleague relationships, so when the team became aware of how much stress she was under they were really concerned, and this impacted staff productivity and morale.

The first thing we did was have a conversation with the staff member. We wanted to make sure we weren’t making her uncomfortable and that we weren’t interfering where we weren’t wanted.

However, as employers we have an obligation to address wellbeing issues with our employees – so it wasn’t appropriate to ignore it either.

This member of staff faced real challenges too. She was relatively young, with limited English and had little knowledge of what her legal rights were as a working visa holder in New Zealand.

While we had been paying wages directly into her bank account, an account that was in her name, it turned out she didn’t have access to that account.

Effectively she had no access to her full time wage and was being given $20/week for the bus.

We knew that we couldn’t provide appropriate support by ourselves so we started by helping her access services that could help her understand her rights and find out support was available.

After talking with our staff member and highlighting that she could seek support for the way she was being treated, we discovered a major red flag – that she hadn’t been receiving her wages.

Supporting from start to finish

Supporting her from start to finish was really important as she had very little support in the way of friends or family in New Zealand.

We took her to appointments, to find emergency accommodation, and we took her to the bank to set up a new bank account – because she was not equipped to navigate these services herself.

She was also receiving a lot of pressure from the person perpetrating the abuse, which was emotionally challenging for her. Because she had so much to deal with, we couldn’t just say “Let’s introduce her to a support agency” and then wash our hands of it. We had to be available every day for a few weeks until she felt like she had a plan.

Despite being told what was happening to her was normal, she instinctively understood that she was being treated badly and that she wanted to leave her living situation. Eventually she was relocated to safe accommodation, she had a new bank account, her own money and new passwords – whilst everything else had been cancelled.

Her liability and name were removed from the mortgage where she was living – she hadn’t understood that she was listed as personally liable for the mortgage of the family home she was living in.

Alongside all of this, was our staff, who were being hugely impacted by what was going on.

The main part for us was that she was safe and had her own money.

The right thing to do

When people ask us “why did you go above and beyond?”, they expect you to say “because it was the right thing to do” – and of course it was the right thing to do, but it was also the business smart thing to do.

If you’ve got a staff member who is experiencing abuse, it can be very triggering for other staff, which impacts productivity, staff retention and morale.

There were probably four or five days where our staff were only thinking about this and what was going to happen.

Therefore, in terms of our business, being proactive in this scenario far outweighed the inconvenience of dealing with it.

It’s all very well to have HR strategies in place, to tell staff to come talk to you and to tell staff you’ll be there if they need you – but to actually do it and in the most serious of cases – well the impact was that our staff thought they worked for the best company in the world.

Moving forward we have implemented training for our HR staff so they can encourage staff to talk to them when they need help and respond to concerns appropriately.

We’ve also put together information about what the legal obligations are around the rights to your own money, privacy over your own money management and what agencies are available should you need help with anything.

It’s been important to remind ourselves that our member of staff that we supported, initially didn’t understand that she was being treated illegally. We can’t sit back and wait for them to come to us. How can they if they don’t know something is wrong?

A big learning point for us was that staff might not recognise abuse in their own lives, so we’ve also provided information about the signs of harm and abuse and what you can do if it’s happening to you.

* The name and any identifying details have been changed to protect the privacy of the person involved.

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