1 In 5 Suffer From Violence At Work Worldwide, Women Are At Most Risk- ILO Survey

Working-class people at some point in their life might have experienced harassment or violence at the workplace. This harassment might come in more than one form. This is what atleast the global survey says. The survey hints psychological violence is more common than sexual, or physical forms at the workplace, and women at utmost risk.

 ILO Survey-Violence At Work Worldwide

The survey was conducted by the U.N. International Labor Organization (ILO), the Lloyds Register Foundation, and Gallup. The 75,000 workers in 121 countries took the survey titled as 'Experiences of violence and harassment at work:A global first survey' last year. Among them, over 22% of respondents reported having experienced at least one type of violence or harassment and 6.3% faced all three forms: physical, psychological, and sexual violence and harassment during their working life.

17.9% of employed men and women had experienced psychological violence and harassment, and 8.5% had faced physical violence and harassment. Only men reported more than women reporting the incident, as per a report released on December 5. 

The abuse heavily prevails among youngsters, migrants, and wage earners, especially women. The other findings pointed out that 8.5% of those surveyed said they experienced physical violence and harassment at work, with men more likely than women. 6.3% experienced sexual violence and harassment, 8.2% of them women, and 5% of men.

Many of these workers also reported facing violence multiple times. Over 60% of the survivors of violence and harassment said that it has happened to them multiple times, and for the majority of them, the last incident took place within the last five years. 

The research also highlighted discrimination faced by workers in the workplace. Most of them had faced discrimination on basis of gender, disability status, nationality, ethnicity, skin color, or religion. People who did not face violence or harassment at work then more likely to experience such discrimination.

The first attempt to survey the extent of violence and harassment in the workplace around the world found that workplace abuse is widespread. The host organisations in the 56-page long report said, “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- ILO, Lloyd, and Gallup to carried out the first global exploratory exercise to measure people’s own experiences. According to the organisations, “statistics on violence and harassment in the world of work are sporadic and scarce."

The organisations further said, “Ultimately, stronger evidence will help forge more effective legislation, policies, and practices that promote prevention measures, tackle specific risk factions and root causes and ensure that victims are not left alone in handling these unacceptable occurrences."

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