Violence in the workplace: Women and frontline workers face higher risks
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.
Agnès Parent-Thirion
Senior research managerAgnès Parent-Thirion est chargée de recherche senior au sein de l’unité Vie professionnelle d’Eurofound, chargée de la planification, du développement et de la mise en œuvre de projets de recherche sur les conditions de travail, en particulier l’enquête européenne sur les conditions de travail (EWCS) et ses analyses. Elle est responsable de l’édition extraordinaire de l’EWCS 2021 et de la préparation du questionnaire pour l’EWCS 2024. Ses recherches portent sur les conditions de travail, la qualité de l’emploi, le suivi des conditions de travail, l’organisation du travail, le genre, l’avenir du travail et le temps. Elle travaille dans le domaine des enquêtes comparatives européennes depuis plus d’une décennie, dans tous les aspects, y compris la conception, l’élaboration de questionnaires, le travail sur le terrain, le contrôle de la qualité et l’analyse. Elle est diplômée en économie et gestion des universités Paris IX Dauphine et Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne et titulaire d’un diplôme d’études supérieures en statistiques du Trinity College de Dublin. Elle a récemment suivi des cours en ligne sur l’intelligence artificielle : leadership axé sur l’enquête avec MIT Sloan Executive Education et « Les grands enjeux de la transition : ré-ouvrir l’horizon, comprendre pour agir » avec le Campus de la Transition. Avant de rejoindre Eurofound, elle a travaillé pendant plusieurs années à la Commission européenne.
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