One in six people have experienced psychological harassment at work
Identified as the most common form of workplace abuse according to the data, people say they have experienced harassment through insults, threats, bullying or intimidation.
Safe at work? Global experiences of violence and harassment
This page is approximately a 3 minute read
Violence and harassment at work remains an issue for many people globally.
This report explores individual experiences across countries and demographics around the world. It provides insight for regulators, businesses, governments, communities, and researchers to help them develop relevant policies to prevent harassment for millions of people during their working lives.
Download the report
Click here to download (pdf/4.9mb)An introduction to the report
Experts from the International Labour Organization and Lloyd's Register Foundation discuss the report's findings.
Key Findings
- More than one in five people worldwide (21%) say they have experienced some form of violence and harassment – whether physical, psychological, or sexual – at work during their lifetime. More than one in 10 people (12%) say they have experienced it within the past year.
- Psychological harassment – such as insults, threats, bullying or intimidation –is the most common form of workplace harassment globally, with 17% (about one in six people) saying they have experienced this during their lifetime. This is followed by physical (7%) and sexual (6%) violence and harassment.
- A number of groups are at heightened risk of particular and multiple forms of violence and harassment globally, including migrant women, three in ten (30%) of whom say they have experienced any form of workplace harassment and violence, compared with two in five women (21%) working in their country of birth.
- For a majority of those who have experienced it, workplace violence and harassment is a recurring issue. More than three in five people (61%) who have experienced psychological harassment say this has happened three or more times, including almost two in five (37%) who have experienced it more than five times. More than half of people who have experienced physical (56%) and sexual (52%) violence and harassment say this has happened three or more times.
What forms of violence and harassment do men and women experience at work?
The data visualisation shows the proportion of men and women who reported any experience of each of the three forms of violence and harassment (physical, psychological, and sexual) asked about by the Poll, as well as the proportion who experienced different combinations of forms. This visualisation is split by gender, with women shown above and men below.
Use your cursor to hover over the data segments for more information, and scroll down to see more data. We recommend using a desktop or laptop device for the best user experience.
Violence and Harassment
Digging Deeper: global experiences of workplace violence and harassment
A new film by Susan Maybud – international consultant on gender equality and women’s advancement in the workplace – investigates global experiences of violence and harassment at work, as uncovered by ground-breaking data from the Lloyd’s Register Foundation World Risk Poll.
See more
Citation
If you wish to use and reference the Safe at work? Global experiences of violence and harassment report in your own work, please include the following DOI: https://doi.org/10.60743/E5JH-8Z68
Example Citation in IEEE Style:
Lloyd's Register Foundation. (2023). World Risk Poll 2021: Safe at work? Global experiences of violence and harassment. Lloyd's Register Foundation. https://doi.org/10.60743/E5JH-8Z68
World Risk Poll Data
Explore the full dataset that underlies this report, including specific data for every country included in the World Risk Poll.
Discover country-level insights