A recent study has shown that sexual harassment is still occurring in the workforce with eight per cent of women feel sexually harassed at work but less than half go on to report such incidents.
1,496 women where question through a survey carried out by the Hr consultantcy Reabur. The results showed that nearly one in 10 women face harassment, only 44 per cent of them reported it. Survey answers also showed that 11 per cent of women have felt “victimised” by a male boss.
Results also showed that, a third (32 per cent) felt that if they reported the incident it could possibly affect their future career and more than a fifth (21 per cent) did not think their complaint would be taken seriously by managers or HR.
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A fifth of women (21 per cent) had also experienced sexist comments made by male colleagues in the workplace, with 39 per cent of the women reporting that they “wanted to make a formal complaint about the remarks”.
Two per cent of respondents claim to have been touched inappropriately by a male colleague at work, but only 14 per cent told anyone about the incident.
Again, more than a fifth (23 per cent) said they had not mentioned the incident because they feared they would be seen as “overreacting”.
The study also found that 11 per cent of the female respondents have felt “victimised” by male colleagues, while a further 23 per cent felt that gender discrimination was still prevalent in the workforce and that their male boss would promote a male colleague over them because of their gender.
Kirsty Burgess, co-managing director of Reabur, said: “It is concerning that many women still feel that they will not be taken seriously. I would strongly advise any victim of harassment to report the incident to a manager or trusted colleague.
“On many occasions these situations can be resolved internally, and the resolution makes for a much happier work environment.”
