More than one in five people employed – almost 23 per cent – have experienced violence and harassment in the workplace, whether physical, psychological or sexual, according to the first ever joint analysis of data worldwide carried out by the UN International Labour Organization (ILO), the independent global charity Lloyd’s Register Foundation (LRF) and analytics and polling company, Gallup.
This first global survey on experiences of violence and harassment at work, aims to provide a better understanding and awareness of an issue rooted in complex economic, social and cultural factors, said ILO in a press release published on Monday.
Experiences of Violence and Harassment at Work: A global first survey assesses the extent of the problem and looks at the factors that may prevent people from talking about what they’ve gone through, including shame, guilt or a lack of trust in institutions, or because such unacceptable behaviours are seen as “normal”.
Lack of disclosure
Violence and harassment at work is difficult to measure. The report found that only half of victims worldwide had disclosed their experiences to another person, and often only after they had suffered repeated incidents.
The most common reasons given for non-disclosure were that it was seen as a “waste of time”, leaving people who have been abused, fearing for their reputation. Women were more likely to share their experiences than men (60.7 per cent compared to 50.1 per cent).
Globally, 17.9 per cent of employed men and women said they had experienced psychological violence and harassment at some point in their working life, and 8.5 per cent had faced physical violence and harassment. More men than women report having experienced this.
Of those responding, 6.3 per cent reported facing sexual violence and harassment, “with women being particularly exposed”, said the UN labour agency.
Most at risk
Young people, migrant workers, and salaried women and men have been the most exposed to violence, according to the data.
Young women were twice as likely as young men to have faced sexual violence and harassment, while migrant women were almost twice as likely as non-migrants to report sexual violence and harassment.
More than three out of five victims said they had experienced violence and harassment multiple times, and for the majority, the most recent incident took place within the past five years.
“It’s painful to learn that people face violence and harassment not just once but multiple times in their working lives,” said Manuela Tomei, ILO Assistant Director-General for Governance, Rights and Dialogue.
SOURCE: UN News. Read more at: https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/12/1131372
Was the department of nursing at SALCC included in those statistics ? The department of nursing at SALCC continues to experience the highest turnover of staff at the college. Hence, it is reasonable to conclude that not only the student nurses are adversely affected by the administration of the department of nursing but also the staff.