Others are aware of the problem, but don't feel that business should play a role in addressing it. Only 12 percent said that corporations should play a major role in addressing the issue. Forty-three percent said they would definitely respond to the problem in the future. Some organizations have been pioneers in responding, and others are signing on. In 1994, the President of Polaroid initiated the Chief Executive Officer's Project, extending a charge to businesses large and small and corporations across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to collaborate with battered women's shelters.
Shelters also agree to provide various forms of support.
It seeks to educate the general public about domestic violence and raise corporate America's awareness of the need to deal with the problem. For its own employees, Liz Claiborne has a strong Employee Assistance Program that offers counseling and referrals. It also sponsors a series of family stress seminars during business hours. The company has conducted a campaign to educate its own workers and has raised money for the Family Violence Prevention Fund's national public education campaign. In 1995, the Women's Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor developed the Working Women Count Honor Roll , a program challenging businesses, nonprofits, unions, and state and local governments to initiate new programs or policies that make real, positive workplace change in the areas women say they need it the most.