Workplace sexual harassment: the boss is not the most common perpetrator

The EU definition of sexual harassment in the workplace covers any form of unwanted verbal, non-verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature, when it occurs in the course of or in connection with employment, occupation, self-employment or occupation. The aim or consequence of such conduct is to violate the dignity of the victim, explained Marta Kahancová, Director of the Institute for Central European Labour Studies in Bratislava, at a joint conference of the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation, the Women's Section of the MSZP and the Women's Section of the MSZP.

She explained that harassment also creates an intimidating, hostile, somewhat humiliating or offensive environment. How the worker experiences this is very important, he said. He believes that it is not true that this is a marginal issue and that we should not pay much attention to it. It is also relevant, he adds, because it affects the well-being and dignity of workers. "It is important to focus on sexual harassment because it is present, it is all around us, so we need to understand where it is happening. It is also important because it has significant consequences for victims, such as psychological, social and professional consequences. And the legislative environment is very important in this field, but it is not sufficient, and the implementation of legislation is very inconsistent in different countries," he said.

The research

The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung has therefore carried out comparative research on sexual harassment in the workplace in 6 countries. "In the research we carried out, we worked with the above definition of harassment, but we also placed great emphasis on the individual perception of the victim. Even before the research was carried out, we knew from Eurostat data that sexual harassment in the workplace was widespread in Europe," said the Director. The research was carried out in 2024 using an online data survey and the results were obtained after analysing more than 4,600 evaluable responses, supplemented by 44 individual interviews. These asked them what had happened to them and what actions had followed. "Almost a third of respondents - 29 per cent - say they have experienced unwanted behaviour in this regard at work.These usually take the form of verbal abuse or unwanted physical advances, but digital harassment is also common, when inappropriate content is delivered to them through various digital channels," said the Director.

The common experience of the six countries is that victims most often do not report or complain, partly because they fear retaliation and partly because they do not trust that meaningful action will follow a complaint. Many victims claim to have experienced prolonged psychological pressure and stress and felt they had to quit their jobs because they were not comfortable working there because of the harassment.

The perpetrators: not the managers at the top

"In the survey, we looked at who the victims and perpetrators are: what we found was that it is generally people in more vulnerable positions who are victims, so it is mainly women who are victims, and younger people who are victims. This also happens with men in similar positions," said Marta Kahancová. In 66% of cases, the harassment was committed by a colleague and not a superior. The latter was "only" the second and the third most common (28%) cases of harassment of clients. In terms of consequences, almost 55% of respondents said they felt uncomfortable, unwell at work, unsafe and had psychological effects (anxiety, depression, self-doubt). "These behaviours are also damaging for employers, who lose a lot of talented employees. However, in contact with European companies, we find that in many places such behaviour is not addressed, even when the employee quits and leaves the job. However, this also has a negative impact on company culture, the workplace atmosphere, community spirit and social cohesion are also harmed if victims of sexual harassment are not dealt with," she said. Victims said that in many cases, rather than complaining or fighting for their rights, they left the workplace because they felt it would be more dangerous to complain.

Broad legal framework but difficult circumstances

"What can we do? What is the legal background and framework to support this work?" - the expert asked. He said there is a lot of legislation in place, but there is a lot more to do. There is a so-called ILO Convention (Convention No. 190 on the Elimination of Violence and Harassment at Work - ed.) against harassment, and there are EU directives,but even this is not enough, according to the leaders, it only provides a basis for national legislation. Concrete measures are also needed, the director said. The survey showed that the national legal framework often includes several pieces of legislation on the subject: anti-discrimination legislation, the Labour Code, equal opportunities legislation, but they contain contradictory provisions, or are somehow overlooked in the broader equal opportunities issue. For example, Croatia has 5 different pieces of legislation dealing with harassment and they contain contradictory provisions. In several countries, the legal background sets out so-called cumulative preconditions, which means that something is harassment only if several things are present: for example, the dignity of the employee is violated or a threatening environment is created. It is very difficult to prove more than one of these, or to accept allegations as fact from the victim's perspective.

Snap from the conference (source: Friedrich Ebert Foundation)

What are the institutional preconditions? In many cases there is an ombudsman's office dealing with equal opportunities, women's rights. "In many countries we have seen that labour inspectorates, for example in Greece, have a specialised area of expertise to deal with harassment, they act, they investigate what happened after victims report it. But there are also good examples.

What to do in case of harassment?

Overall, there is a big gap in the implementation of the legislation and, according to experts, the culture of the country in question also determines what is considered normal and accepted, and what is considered unacceptable behaviour in the society. The regional results of the survey found thatonly half of victims take action and the most common way is to tell a colleague or a trusted friend what happened. "The victim is often afraid of being laughed at, of being ignored, or even of being discouraged by a trusted contact from reporting or reporting because they think it is not worth it. Often the victim does not trust the institutional process.

When we asked if they discussed it with the union or HR, we found that they rarely ask for help, preferring to tell a trusted friend about what happened," says the expert, who describes the difficulty of unravelling such cases. According to the research, victims themselves tend to trivialise the situation, saying "it is not that serious, maybe we should wait to report it, avoid action" and indeed there have been cases where there was retaliation but it was the whistleblower's career that was disrupted. Victims need, first and foremost, confidence, information about what someone can do if this happens to them. Also, they need protection so that this behaviour does not continue and the harasser is retaliated against. Victims of harassment also need legal support on how to report the incident and, of course, moral support from their employer. They may also need medical, financial or other practical help," says the director. There are some good examples, such as the German railway company Deutsche Bahn, which has adopted a workplace code and provides training on sexual harassment in the workplace.

Recommendations

The Foundation, which carried out the survey, also made recommendations to workplaces, including the inclusion of sexual harassment in collective agreements, as collective bargaining should not only be about wages. ILO Convention 190 should be ratified and national legislation improved, with clear sanctions and protection for victims. Annual training on how employers and workers can deal with harassment should be provided, reporting mechanisms improved and a culture of zero tolerance adopted at company level," said the Director of the Central European Institute for Labour Studies, summing up the tasks that emerged from the research.



The research report in English can be read/downloaded at this link

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