One in ten workers is bullied, claims survey

ONE in ten people is bullied, harassed or suffers physical violence at work, according to an EU-wide survey of the problem.

The effects on workers vary from depression to thoughts of suicide with employers losing out due to a drop in productivity.

The report, prepared for the EU’s European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, says a lot more research is needed along with major initiatives to prevent it.

Raymond-Pierre Bodin, the Dublin-based Foundation’s director, says the full extent of physical and psychological violence is not known and there is a general ignorance about why it happens in the workplace.

However, he said all the studies point to an increase in violence.

The most vulnerable tend to be women, young people and those working in the public sector such as teachers, nurses and police and where they have most contact with the public.

While sexual harassment is often the most common form of abuse, people who are from a different race or gays are experiencing growing violence too: “Both men and women experience violence at work, but women remain more vulnerable than men, with women often concentrated in high-risk jobs such as nursing, social work and teaching.

“Women are also most often victims of intimidation and psychological abuse while men are more frequently exposed to physical violence and assault,” Mr Bodin said.

Much of the abuse is not reported because people are afraid of losing their jobs or being ostracised by their colleagues, according to the report.

But the costs to business can be very high, with workers often becoming sick or absent from work, suffering premature ill health, retiring early or simply leaving their jobs.

The cost to the victims can be long term and very serious. “There is increasing and considerable evidence that physical and psychological violence has serious implication for the health and wellbeing of workers with post-traumatic stress disorders and suicidal thoughts relatively common in most serious cases”, the report said.

The report calls for co-ordinated action from the EU to raise awareness of the problem, carry out further research and introduce guidelines and training manuals.

Ireland is one of the countries that have not introduced any specialist legislation to deal with bullying in the workplace, instead relying on the existing law on violence.