More than one in five people (almost 23%) in employment have experienced violence and harassment at work, whether physical, psychological or sexual, according to a first of its kind joint analysis by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Lloyd’s Register Foundation (LRF) and Gallup.

Experiences of Violence and Harassment at Work: A global first survey provides a sense of the extent of the problem and its different forms. It also looks at the factors that may prevent the victimised people from talking about their experiences, including shame, guilt or a lack of trust in institutions, or because such unacceptable behaviours are seen as “normal”.

Why don't victims speak out?

Violence and harassment at work are difficult to measure. The report found that only half of victims worldwide had disclosed their experiences to someone else, and often only after they had suffered more than one form of violence and harassment. The most common reasons given for non-disclosure were “waste of time” and “fear for their reputation”. Women were more likely to share their experiences than men (60.7% compared to 50.1%).

Globally, 17.9% of employed men and women said they had experienced psychological violence and harassment in their working life, and 8.5% had faced physical violence and harassment, with more men than women experiencing this. Of respondents, 6.3% reported facing sexual violence and harassment, with women being particularly exposed.

Who is more at risk?

The groups most likely to be affected by different types of violence and harassment include youth, migrant workers, and wage and salaried women and men.

Young women were twice as likely as young men to have faced sexual violence and harassment, and migrant women were almost twice as likely as non-migrant women to report sexual violence and harassment.

More than three out of five victims said they had experienced violence and harassment at work multiple times, and for the majority, the most recent incident took place within the last five years.

“It’s painful to learn that people face violence and harassment not just once but multiple times in their working lives. Psychological violence and harassment is the most prevalent across countries and women are particularly exposed to sexual violence and harassment.

The report tells us about the enormity of task ahead to end violence and harassment in the world of work. I hope it will expedite action on the ground and towards the ratification and implementation of ILO Convention 190,” said Manuela Tomei, ILO Assistant Director-General for Governance, Rights and Dialogue.

The ILO’s Violence and Harassment Convention, 2019 (No. 190)  and Recommendation (No. 206)  are the first international labour standards to provide a common framework to prevent, remedy and eliminate violence and harassment in the world of work, including gender-based violence and harassment.

The Convention includes the specific recognition, for the first time in international law, of the right of everyone to a world of work free from violence and harassment, and sets out the obligation to respect, promote and realise this.

“Gathering robust data on this highly sensitive issue is challenging but essential. For the first time, this report lifts the veil on this pervasive problem which plagues more than one in five workers globally,” said Andrew Rzepa, Partner, Gallup.

“For too long, companies and organisations have been unaware or unwilling to tackle violence and harassment in the workplace. This dataset provides a baseline that we can all use to track much-needed progress on this vital safety issue.”

“To tackle global safety challenges as difficult and deep-rooted as violence and harassment at work, it is critical to have good data to understand the extent of the problem and to identify those most at risk, especially in places where little reliable data may have existed previously,” said Sarah Cumbers, Director of Evidence and Insight at Lloyd’s Register Foundation.

What are the solutions?

The report makes a range of recommendations, including:

Regular collection of robust data on violence and harassment at work, at national, regional and global levels, to inform prevention and remediation laws and mechanisms, policies and programmes, and research and advocacy.

Extend and update mechanisms to effectively prevent and manage violence and harassment in the world of work, including through labour inspection systems and occupational safety and health policies and programmes.

Increase awareness of violence and harassment at work, including its different manifestations, with a view to changing perceptions, stigmas, attitudes and behaviours that can perpetuate violence and harassment, particularly those based on discrimination.

Enhance the capacity of institutions at all levels to deliver effective prevention, remediation and support, to build people’s trust in justice and ensure victims are supported.

The ILO-LRF-Gallup study was based on interviews conducted in 2021 with nearly 75,000 employed individuals aged 15 years or older in 121 countries and territories, as part of the Lloyd’s Register Foundation World Risk Poll.