Violence at work in Ireland third highest in EU

IRISH workers are more likely than their European counterparts to experience physical violence in the workplace, while older workers say they suffer age discrimination.

The startling statistics were uncovered by the EU’s Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, based in Dublin.

Irish respondents said they have been threatened with physical violence; have been attacked by work colleagues and customers, as well as being bullied, generally, at work.

In the list of 30 countries and 750,000 workers surveyed, the Irish were third highest when it came to suffering physical violence and fourth highest in experiencing physical violence from work colleagues.

They were also ahead of the average when it came to having experienced threats of physical violence, bullying and sexual harassment.

Irish respondents more than double the European average of those discriminated against in work or in getting a job because of age.

Bullying incidents generally were highest in the Netherlands, France, Britain and Ireland, but the report’s editors put this down to a higher level of awareness among workers in these countries.

But this is unlikely to be the case when it comes to actual physical violence or the threat of it from fellow workers and from the public they deal with.

The situation of women workers showed little change over the past few years, according to the report: “The pay gap shows no signs of closing while around half of all women in the 25 EU countries are firmly positioned in the lower third of the overall income scale.”

This is despite the rising number of women in managerial positions in all countries. Workers in Ireland are more likely to have a female boss than in most other countries, according to the survey.

Overall, women work slightly fewer hours in paid employment than men but when unpaid work, including work at home, is taken into account, women work far longer hours.

Ireland is also at the lower end of the scale when it comes to training at work, especially in the private sector.

Jorma Karppinen the foundation’s director said: “A majority of European workers report that work is interesting and offers new opportunities to learn, but access to training has not increased, particularly not for older workers, which indicates slow growth in life-long learning initiatives.”

Generally, workers in the 30 European countries are satisfied with their working conditions, due largely to job security, a positive working atmosphere and good opportunities to learn and grow, the survey shows.