World Risk Poll: Visualizing Harassment and Violence in the Workplace
Visualizing Harassment and Violence in the Global Workplace
Did you know that one in five people have experienced violence and harassment in the workplace at least once?
In this graphic sponsored by Lloyd’s Register Foundation, we showcase the findings from the World Risk Poll 2021: Safe at Work? report and uncover some uncomfortable truths about workplaces across the world.
The Context
There is an urgent need for comprehensive and reliable data on the nature and scale of workplace harassment to help policymakers target their efforts.
To address this need, the Lloyd’s Register Foundation partnered with Gallup to produce the World Risk Poll—the first global and comparable survey on violence and harassment in the workplace from respondents across 121 countries.
One extremely important note to mention is that all data is based on incidents that were reported and therefore may be an underestimation of actual cases of physical, sexual, and psychological harassment in the workplace.
The Findings and What They Mean
The study found that a concerning number of people reported harassment and violence at work and that experiences varied by gender.
The data shows the reported instances of multiple types of violence and harassment in the workplace that were experienced one or more times.
Take for example the first row of the table below. It is saying that 49% of men who reported at least one instance of violence reported it as psychological abuse alone, compared to 20% of men who experienced a combination of both psychological and physical abuse one or more times.
| Harassment Form | Female (%) | Male (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Psychological | 47% | 49% |
| Physical | 9% | 16% |
| Sexual | 12% | 4.5% |
| Psychological + Physical | 11% | 20% |
| Psychological + Sexual | 11% | 4.5% |
| Physical + Sexual | 2% | 1% |
| Physical + Sexual + Psychological | 7% | 5% |
Notably, women’s experiences had a sexual element in 32% of cases, while just 16% of men’s experiences had this element.
Moreover, foreign-born women and men reported higher instances of violence and harassment in the workplace, with 30% of foreign-born women and 26% of foreign-born men experiencing some for of workplace abuse—surpassing the global average of 20%.
Examining statistics related to age in the global workforce also reveals concerning trends. Among those aged under 24 years old, over 33% experienced psychological abuse in the workplace.
| Age | Psychological (%) | Physical (%) | Sexual (%) | Total (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15-24 | 17.9% | 8.8% | 6% | 32.7% |
| 25-34 | 15.6% | 7.1% | 5.8% | 28.5% |
| 35-44 | 13.7% | 5.6% | 3.5% | 22.8% |
| 45-54 | 13.4% | 4.9% | 4.3% | 22.6% |
| 55+ | 9.3% | 3.2% | 2.5% | 15% |
An Urgent Need for Collective Action
The statistics presented in the report show that workplace harassment and violence is an issue that impacts a significant portion of the global workforce, with migrant workers and young people being the most at risk.
In part three of this series, we’ll explore the World Risk Poll 2021: A Resilient World? And learn about the types of financial difficulties people face all over the globe.
Learn more about the risks faced by ordinary people around the globe. Download the free report here.
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