A joint study of the United Nation’s International Labor Organization with the safety charity Lloyd’s Register Foundation and pollsters Gallup has found that more than one in five people in employment worldwide have experienced some form of workplace harassment or violence.
The survey was a first attempt to produce a global overview of the magnitude and frequency of the problem, and the barriers that prevent people from talking about it.
It found that 22.8 percent – which would amount to 743 million people in employment – have experienced “at least one form of violence and harassment at work during their working life,” according to data collected last year.
Nearly a third of victims said they had been subjected to more than one form of violence and harassment, and 6.3 percent had experienced it in all three forms – physical, psychological and sexual.
Fewer than 55 percent who experienced it in the past five years disclosed it to someone else.
The most common barriers that prevented people from coming forward were “waste of time” and “fear for their reputation.”
“Violence and harassment at work is a taboo issue,” said Manuela Tomei, the ILO’s assistant director general for governance, rights and dialogue. “In many instances, there are no adequate policies and preventive systems in place, and when they are in place they are distrusted,” she added.
The survey also found that violence and harassment at work could be recurrent and persistent, with more than three in five victims saying it happened to them multiple times.
Physical, psychological and sexual violence and harassment at the workplace continue to exist because we cannot simply ignore it away. More action has to be taken, by both employers and government, to enact policies and programs that can increase the confidence of Filipino workers that their interests are protected and prioritized.*
