Workplace violence, abuse rampant

United Nations, Dec. 6: The first attempt to survey the extent of violence and harassment at work around the globe has found that workplace abuse is widespread, and particularly pronounced among young people, migrants, and wage earners, especially women.

More than 22 per cent of the nearly 75,000 workers in 121 countries surveyed last year reported having experienced at least one type of violence or harassment, according to the report released on Monday by the UN International Labour Organisation, the Lloyd’s Register Foundation and Gallup.

“Violence and harassment in the world of work is a pervasive and harmful phenomenon, with profound

and costly effects ranging from severe physical and mental health consequences to lost earnings and destroyed

career paths to economic losses for workplaces and societies,” the three organisations said.

One-third of the people said they had experienced more than one form — and 6.3 per cent said they had faced all three: Physical, psychological, and sexual violence and harassment.

Psychological violence and harassment was the most common form, reported by both men and women, with 17.9 per cent of workers experiencing it at some point during their employment, it said.

Some 8.5 per cent said they experienced physical violence and harassment at work, with men more likely than women, and 6.3 per cent experienced sexual violence and harassment, 8.2 per cent of them women and 5 per cent of them men.

More than 60 per cent of the victims of violence and harassment at work “said it has happened to them multiple times,” said the report.