The Organizational Readiness Assessment (ORA) tool can assist your organization in assessing its readiness to support both those experiencing domestic violence, and those behaving abusively towards their intimate partner.
The ORA is meant to be used as a developmental tool to be completed at different points in time to measure organizational readiness to support workers who are impacted by domestic violence. It allows users to assess their organization’s readiness in 8 key areas:
- Workplace Culture
- Senior Leadership Support
- Occupational Health and Safety
- Workplace Policies and Collective Agreements
- Education and Training
- Information and Awareness
- Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) / Workplace Resources
- Support for Domestic Violence and Community Organizations
The more items that an organization can check off, the more confident they can be that they are responding supportively to workers in their organization who may be impacted by domestic violence.
For each of the eight areas of the tool, organizations will receive information indicating that they have reached one of four possible readiness levels:
- Level 1: Need to Get Ready
- Level 2: Low Readiness
- Level 3: Adequate Readiness
- Level 4: High Readiness
While the ORA is not a substitute for meeting legislation requirements, it has been developed with them in mind. Organizations working towards meeting their obligations under the Canada Labour Code (violence and harassment), should be achieving a level 3, or “Adequate Readiness” result from the ORA.
The ORA includes a ‘Tools and Resources’ section area that directs organizations to resources and supports to help them find what they need to provide effective responses to their workers impacted by domestic violence.
We hope the ORA can help you to measure your organization’s progress toward effectively supporting workers who may be impacted by domestic violence.
The ORA was developed as part of a research study conducted jointly by the University of Toronto and the Centre for Research on Violence Against Women and Children (CREVAWAC) at the University of Western, Ontario. The federal government issued a grant to CREVAWAC to create organizational tools, training, and supports to assist Federally Regulated Employers to provide supports in the workplace for workers who are impacted by domestic violence. CREVAWC has worked in partnership with FETCO – Transportation and Communications employers and the Canadian Labour Congress to create all training and resources, including the ORA.
If you would like to share your survey responses with the research team, please click on the link below to read the full study information and give your consent.
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Download Organizational Readiness Assessment