583 million people around the globe experienced psychological abuse at work: Report

The first-of-its-kind survey on people's experience with violence and harassment at work has surprisingly revealed that sexual harassment while prevalent is not the most reported form of abuse in workplaces; psychological abuse takes the cake.

The survey undertaken as a joint effort between International Labour Organization (ILO), Lloyd’s Register Foundation (LRF) and Gallup found that almost one in five people or 17.9 per cent have experienced psychological abuse and harassment in their workplace. This means that 583 million all over the world have experienced abuse such as insults, threats, bullying or intimidation.

Sexual harassment on the other hand was faced by one in fifteen or 6.3 per cent of people. Globally 205 million employees have faced unwanted sexual touching, comments, pictures, emails or sexual requests.

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As with sexual abuse, women were found to have experienced higher incidences of psychological violence and harassment. However, the frequency of psychological abuse was higher for men.

Incidents of physical violence were also found to be prevalent. 277 million or 8.5 per cent have faced abuse in the form of hitting, restraining or spitting.
While both genders faced it, men were more likely to have experienced it, they were also more likely to report the abuse.

The report shows that the risk of experiencing violence and harassment at work is particularly pronounced across certain demographic groups. It found that youth, migrant, and wage and salaried women and men were more likely to face violence and harassment at work, and
this can be particularly true among women.

"For instance, survey results show that young women were twice as likely as young men to have experienced sexual violence and harassment, and migrant women were almost twice as likely as nonmigrant women to report sexual violence and harassment."

However, despite the alarmingly high numbers, only one in two or 54.4 per cent of the victims have shared their negative experiences. Rather than using other informal or formal channels, the victims were more likely to have these conversations with friends and family.

As per ILO, this could be chalked up to due to a "fear of stigmatisation, lack of knowledge of reporting and monitoring systems, “normalisation” of violence and harassment, and re-victimisation or retaliation risks". The most common fears that discouraged people from talking about the abuse were "waste of time" and "fear for their reputation."

The report recommends that prevention mechanisms should be put in place; existing national and workplace mechanisms could be broadened or adapted to prevent abuse in the workplace. Additionally, it advocates increasing awareness of violence and harassment, enhancing the capability of institutions to deliver effective remedies, and supporting and establishing a right-based framework to help combat the problem.

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