Eurofound Blog

Blog

Published: 27 February 2023

Violence in the workplace: Women and frontline workers face higher risks

Agnès Parent-ThirionSenior research manager

Topics

Psychosocial risks Working conditions Subjective well-being Health and well-being

Women and frontline workers are most exposed to the risks of adverse social behaviour at work, such as burnout, exhaustion, anxiety and depression. This is according to the European Working Conditions Telephone Survey 2021 (EWCTS). In this data story, we dive into EWCTS data (EU27) to examine the prevalence of adverse social behaviour in the workplace - also known as ‘violence in the workplace’ - and the health and well-being implications it has for those who experience it.

Women more likely to experience adverse social behaviour, particularly unwanted sexual attention

The EWCTS found that, on average, 12.5% of workers in the EU experienced some form of adverse social behaviour at work in 2021; [1] however, the share of women experiencing adverse social behaviour at work was consistently higher than that of men.

While this is the case for all forms of adverse social behaviour covered in the survey, the gender gap is particularly striking when it comes to unwanted sexual attention.

Women are 3.6 times more likely to suffer from unwanted sexual attention than men. What’s more, the likelihood of a young woman (18–34 years) reporting unwanted sexual attention is three times higher than men of the same age, and 10 times higher than the oldest group of men (50+ years).

Women aged 50+ are 3.5 times less likely to report unwanted sexual attention than women aged 18–34 (1.6% compared with 5.6%).

Frontline workers most exposed to adverse social behaviour

While the EWCTS reveals that people who deal with customers are twice as likely to experience adverse social behaviour at work compared to those who don’t, the situation is particularly acute for frontline workers.

Healthcare workers reported up to three times higher levels of unwanted sexual attention than the EU average (5.7% compared with 1.7%). To put this in perspective, just 0.3% of information and communication (IC) professionals reported unwanted sexual attention.

Both healthcare and protective services workers (including fire-fighters, police officers, prison and security guards) reported 2–3 times higher levels of bullying, harassment and violence than the EU average.

A variety of frontline workers reported verbal abuse or threats, some as high as 2.5 times the EU average.

Health professionals are 3 times more likely to report unwanted sexual attention

Healthcare and protective services workers are 2–3 times more likely to report bullying, harassment and violence

Verbal abuse or threats is the most common form of adverse social behaviour directed towards frontline workers

Health implications

There is a clear link between adverse social behaviour and the share of workers reporting negative mental health and physical health outcomes – a phenomenon known as psychosocial risk.

People who experience adverse social behaviour in the workplace are around three times more likely to experience physical and emotional burnout (32% compared to 10%) and emotional exhaustion (40% compared to 14%), and almost twice as likely to suffer from anxiety (53% compared to 27%) or be at risk of depression (38% compared to 20%).

Ensuring prevention and protection is essential

Adverse social behaviour at work poses a significant risk to workers’ health and well-being. It can have a long-term impact on individuals – some studies show that the effects can linger for years after the initial incident(s) – and may also affect their families, co-workers, employers and wider social circles in general.

The EWCTS reveals that women and frontline workers are most at risk, given their higher-than-average exposure to issues such as bullying, harassment, violence, verbal abuse or threats, and unwanted sexual attention.

Given the significant psychosocial and employment-related risks (many people who experience adverse social behaviour do not see good job prospects in the near future) [2] it is imperative that public policy addresses the need for improved job quality. Both prevention and protection – including supporting victims – are key.

While there are a range of policy initiatives at EU, national, sectoral and company levels to address the issues, one third of workers who are exposed to adverse social behaviour still say that they do not get the necessary support from their management (reported by 34% of men and 29% of women).

Footnotes

^ In the 2021 EWCTS, workers’ exposure to adverse social behaviour is captured by asking three questions: 1) ‘ Over the last month, during the course of your work have you been subjected to verbal abuse or threats?’; 2) ‘… to unwanted sexual attention?’; 3) ‘Over the past 12 months, during the course of your work have you been subjected to bullying, harassment or violence?’.
^ Respondents … tended to disagree or strongly disagree … with the statement that they see good job prospects and were more likely to agree or strongly agree with the statement that they might lose their job in the next 6 months.

Authors

Viginta Ivaškaitė-Tamošiūnė

No additional information available.

See profile

Agnès Parent-Thirion

Senior research manager

Working life research

Agnès Parent-Thirion is a senior research manager in the Working Life unit at Eurofound, tasked with the planning, development and implementation of working conditions research projects, in particular the European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) and its analyses. She is responsible for the EWCS 2021 extraordinary edition and for the preparation of the questionnaire for the EWCS 2024. Her research interests include working conditions, job quality, the monitoring of working conditions, work organisation, gender, the future of work and time. She has been working in the area of European comparative surveys for more than a decade, in all aspects including design, questionnaire development, fieldwork, quality control and analysis. She is a graduate in economics and management from Paris IX Dauphine and Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne universities and holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Statistics from Trinity College Dublin. She has recently completed online courses on artificial intelligence: inquiry-driven leadership with MIT Sloan Executive Education and ‘Les grand enjeux de la transition: re-ouvrir l'horizon, comprendre pour agir’ with the Campus de la Transition. Before joining Eurofound, she worked for a number of years in the European Commission.

See profile

Related content

29 November 2022

Working conditions in the time of COVID-19: Implications for the future

The strict public health restrictions implemented by governments in 2020 to control the COVID-19 pandemic abruptly changed working life and continued to shape it over the two years that followed. Between March and November 2021, over 70,000 interviews were carried out in 36 countries by the European Working Conditions Telephone Survey (EWCTS), a high-quality probability-based survey. The aim was to provide a detailed picture of the working lives of Europeans in that exceptional time.

The report documents the working conditions of Europeans in 2021. It examines variation in job quality and identifies its positive association with well-being, health, work engagement and the financial sustainability of work. It highlights the divergences in the experiences of workers depending on workers’ own attributes and their place in the workforce. From this analysis, the report aims to derive lessons for the future, particularly in relation to the enduring marks on how we work and the implications for work organisation, the quality of work, and the interaction between work and private life.

Research report

17 January 2023

Job quality is pivotal in addressing today’s workplace and societal challenges

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we live and work. With the lifting of restrictions across the globe, we are now able to examine the many repercussions on the world of work. In particular, the unique demands of the last few years have shone a harsh spotlight on the pressures brought to bear on different jobs and on certain work environments and the stresses associated with different forms of work. The pandemic has made us reassess so many aspects of our working lives. But has it changed the way we think about job quality – its role in ensuring a good working life and, indeed, a good life in general? The European Working Conditions Telephone Survey (EWCTS), a representative survey of Europe’s workers conducted by Eurofound in 2021, provides some answers.

Blog post