The study, which was commissioned by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) and carried out by the National University of Ireland, also reveals one in 12 people in Ireland have experienced or witnessed violence in the workplace.
Researchers surveyed 1,500 people for the study and also found 43% of people said they have experienced ill-treatment and almost half (47%) had witnessed ill-treatment.
And around one in five (17%) stated they had perpetrated the ill-treatment.
A third (31.3%) reported having experienced “incivility or disrespect”, while 9.5% said they had perpetrated it, and 2.6% reported experiencing physical violence in the workplace.
The survey also found public sector workers are five times more likely to experience violence in the workplace than employees in other sectors.
It also found workers of block, mixed or Asian ethnicity have the highest levels of experiencing and/or witnessing violence.
IOSH has also published new guidance to help employers ensure their staff do not suffer from ill-treatment at work.
“It is alarming to see the amount of people who felt there was nothing to be done, even if they reported an issue,” said IOSH vice-president, Louise Hosking.
“Everyone has the right to be respected at work. Any form of ill-treatment is completely unacceptable.
“It can have a huge impact on an individual and the team around them, causing stress and tension, which ultimately has an effect on the business as a whole.
“Ill-treatment at work is linked to physical and mental health issues, which in tern affects the decisions people make and increases risks to themselves and those around them,” added Ms Hosking.
“Together with the guide, we hope we can support businesses to create healthy work environments in which their people can feel supported and the businesses can in turn thrive.”
In this episode of the Safety & Health Podcast, ‘Burnout, stress and being human’, Heather Beach is joined by Stacy Thomson to discuss burnout, perfectionism and how to deal with burnout as an individual, as management and as an organisation.
We provide an insight on how to tackle burnout and why mental health is such a taboo subject, particularly in the workplace.
“Approval Deprivation” starts with “don’t be silly” as a small child, moving onto “your lazy or stupid” in the classroom if you don’t get ‘it’ first time around and hilarious teasing in the schoolyard so, why anyone should imagine the Professional politically correct should override any adults personal ideologies founded on their experiences of a life-time of approval deprivation are deluded to say the least. Discrimination and survival instincts are routed in evolution and it is going to take more time to embed anything like a generic “nonjudgmental” ethos into the social consciousness as a norm especially as parents increasingly… Read more »