“Expect violence at work”: 1 in 12 UK employees experienced threats, insults or attacks in the workplace in the past year

1 in 12 workers experienced threats, insults or physical attacks in the workplace in the past year, according to a new study. Some were told to "expect violence at work."

The research was co-authored by Dr Vanessa Gash (City St George’s, University of London) and Dr Niels Blom (University of Manchester), and found that violence and threats in the workplace are much more prevalent than previously thought:

• Workplace violence was found in all industries examined, from finance to construction to the arts
• 1 in 13 employees reported feeling unsafe at work
• Violence & fear in the workplace were linked to workers developing anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder
• Workers continued to experience symptoms of poor mental health even a year after a violent incident.

Workers in public administration and facilities – for instance civil servants, firemen, police officers, legal assistants, immigration officers – had the highest risks of workplace violence.

This was followed by people working in health, residential care and social work, such as nurses, midwives, doctors and radiographers.

Workers with the third-highest risk of experiencing workplace violence were employees in the wholesale and retail sector, such as shop attendants and product buyers.

For these top three sectors, the prevalence of violence was even higher, with 1 in 10 employees reporting exposure to workplace violence in the previous 12 months.

Statistics around violence are only "the tip of the iceberg"

People who had experienced workplace violence told the researchers they felt current statistics are only “the tip of the iceberg”.

They noted it was easier to report physical violence compared to insidious bullying, which was harder to prove.

Proper support after a violent incident was lacking, with some workers reporting their managers dismissed their claims or responded with annoyance or upset.

As most people are unable to simply leave their jobs, this dynamic of feeling trapped in a violent workplace only heightened their distress.

Dr Vanessa Gash said:

Violence in the workplace is more prevalent than we realised. Around 5% of people in the vast majority of industrial sectors experience workplace violence.

7.7% of people in the UK feel unsafe at work. Often people dismiss fear, but our analysis shows a close fit between employees’ exposure to violence and their fear of violence, so their fear is often justified.

The idea that you'd have to go into work and be scared at work is really, very problematic.

Most of us can avoid what we are scared of, we can avoid walking alone at night, but we can’t avoid going to work. Most of us need a job to pay our rent and our other expenses.

Not only is workplace violence extremely unjust, but it is also extremely inefficient for the economy because we risk losing really good workers.

Given the strong association between feeling unsafe at work and mental health, fear of workplace violence needs to be better recognised as a significant problem for workers alongside violence.