UN reveals figures on violence at work

More than one in five people employed – almost 23 per cent - have experienced violence and harassment in the workplace, 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, Report's US bureau informs.

Stephanie Tremblay, Associate Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, told reporters that the analysis covered almost 75,000 employees aged 15+ from 121 countries.

According to her, the most cases of violence and harassment at work were fixed in North and South America. The African continent is second for this indicator, she added.

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.

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.

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.