Only 1.6% of victims made a complaint, according to the survey
“Violence and harassment in the world of work is a widespread phenomenon, which must be addressed immediately, while, at the same time, a small percentage of victims proceed to report such incidents to the competent institutions, which shows the need to pay many efforts, to strengthen confidence”.
This results, among other things, from the first official study by the General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE) and the Confederation’s Equality Secretariat in collaboration with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) on the phenomenon of sexual harassment and violence at work, which they presented today at an event, which took place at the ESIEA offices, after the entry into force of n. 4808/2021 and the ratification of International Labor Convention 190 of the ILO.
The figures are revealing and reveal the extent of the problem, but also the fact that these phenomena are unfortunately not reported to the competent authorities.
From all stages of the survey, which was conducted between July 9 and September 9, 2024 on 876 participants, there was also a pervasive need and concern for victims to have access to effective protection mechanisms throughout the territory.
Specifically, according to the research findings, only 1.6% of the victims reported the incident to the competent authorities. Similar are the results of the annual report of the Labor Inspectorate, based on which, for the whole of 2013, the Labor Inspectorate dealt with only 12 cases on this issue nationwide.
As the research shows, victims do not inform the relevant institutions, either because they do not trust them (27.2%), or because they believe that nothing substantial will be done (51.1%), or because they fear that the complaint will negatively affect their work, their position or their professional development prospects (37%).
At the same time, only 3.1% have a Collective Labor Agreement with provisions covering sexual harassment.
Also, 78.9% said that unions should insist on the inclusion of appropriate provisions in labor regulations on sexual harassment and violence.
As pointed out, the functioning of institutional social dialogue structures with the participation of trade unions both on gender equality, discrimination, violence and harassment at work, as well as on the situation in the field and inspections by the Labor Inspectorate has stopped.
In particular, 1 in 3 workers has received sexual harassment in the workplace (31.4%-275 incidents).
Additionally, 3 out of 4 victims are female workers (75.3%), 21.1% are male and 1.5% did not state their gender identity.
77.1% of such phenomena come from the private sector and 17.8% from the public sector.
43.5% of the general sample noted that the phenomenon is common in the workplace and 31.5% answered that it is very common.
The forms of unwanted behaviors are verbal, non-verbal, physical and online.
Most victims who experienced unwanted behavior in their current workplace had received inappropriately intense or indecent looks that made them feel uncomfortable (65.5%). 46.2% had experienced obscene sexual jokes or offensive comments about the body or private life. 32.4% had experienced unwanted physical contact, such as closeness, touching body parts, kissing/hugging or something else. 20.7% experienced behavior of a sexual nature at work, which caused them feelings of insult, humiliation or fear. 17.5% received inappropriate dating proposals. 12% experienced inappropriate suggestions for sexual activity and 6.9% experienced inappropriate suggestions on social networking sites.
Regarding the sectors most affected, the first seven positions are occupied by the following sectors: financial and insurance activities (31.6%), other service activities (6.9%), education (6.9%), health and social care activities (6.2%), administrative and support activities (5.1%), information and communication (4.7%) and arts, entertainment and entertainment (3.3%).
In 49.4% of cases, the perpetrator is a male colleague or partner.
In 40.4% of the incidents, the perpetrator is a male employer or supervisor.
27.1% of incidents involved a male customer, patient or passenger.
Consequences of sexual harassment in employees
67.3% felt uncomfortable in the workplace, 31.9% avoided social contact with colleagues, 29.5% had difficulty concentrating or performing their tasks, 24.7% considered leaving their job and 21.9% manifested depression or other unpleasant psychological consequences.
Victims’ reaction to sexual harassment
38.2% of victims responded that they did not react at all, 3.6% filed a formal complaint with a special workplace unit and 5.2% reported the incident to a trade union.
Results of the reaction in cases where the victims confronted the perpetrator or informed the relevant persons or institutions
45.7% of participants stated that there was no effect, 27.5% stated that the harassment stopped, 8.7% noted that the allegation was investigated, and 6.5% responded that the perpetrator was transferred to another department.
Those who submitted an official complaint responded about the outcome of the complaint as follows:
– 7.1% answered that the complaint improved the situation,
– 10% that nothing changed and
– 6.4% that the complaint worsened the situation.
What kind of information and support would victims like to receive?
43.8% seek professional and legal support to report harassment and violence.
48.1% request information/information from the competent institutions regarding actions in case of sexual harassment.
41.3% request protection from other sexual harassment and protection from retaliation.
34.9% ask for moral support.
33.2% seek professional help to understand rights.
As part of the event, it was proposed to conduct an education program or awareness campaign or both from next year (2025). A prerequisite is the cooperation of all interested parties (employees, employers and independent authorities).
As emphasized, everyone’s cooperation is necessary to prevent and combat the phenomenon. The aim is to give victims the courage to report and deal with harassment and violence in the workplace, it was pointed out in APE BPE.
Greetings at the event were addressed by, among others, the president of ESIEA, Maria Antoniadou, the president of GSEE, Yiannis Panagopoulos, the Director of FES Athens, Regine Shubert, the General Secretary of Equality & Human Rights, Katerina Patsoyannis, the President of the National Committee for the Human Rights Commission, Maria Gavouneli and its Spokesperson PASOK-Movement of Change, labor expert, Kostas Tsoukalas.
The national report on sexual harassment in the workplace was presented by the author of the report, Dr. Athena Malagardi and the statistical analyst, Kostas Boukouvalas.
