A survey on workplace violence and harassment shows that women aged 36-50 are harassed most frequently, specifically by their superiors, as well as deep distrust of the system, due to which the violence goes unreported.

The survey was conducted in June and July in companies and services in which the NHS union federation is active, covering 2,430 respondents employed in the energy sector, forestry, postal services, finance, insurance, and public services.

Presenting the findings on Monday, survey creators Petra Rodik and Jelena Ostojic said that while men most often experienced physical violence in the workplace, women were the most frequent victims of abuse, harassment and mobbing.

The most frequent form of harassment was gossiping and spreading rumors, failure to receive or receiving too many assignments, and criticising how a job was done. Ignoring employees was also quite frequent.

Those forms of harassment were most frequent in the 36-50 age group and least frequent among those aged 51 and over.

In most cases, employees were harassed by their superiors, followed by co-workers or unknowns. Harassment was most frequent on company premises and via e-mail.

The survey also shows that harassment was more frequent when the work was physically riskier and more demanding, and less frequent where there was social support, participation in decision making, and intrinsic rewards.