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Fair Treatment at Work Survey: Understanding Workplace Equality and Diversity

Explore findings from the first British survey on unfair treatment, discrimination, bullying, and sexual harassment at work. Learn about survey design, aims, and results to drive equality initiatives.

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Fair Treatment at Work Survey: Understanding Workplace Equality and Diversity

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  1. The Fair Treatmentat Work SurveyEquality and Diversity Forum, London, 18 July 2007 Grant FitznerDirector, Employment Market Analysis and ResearchDepartment for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory ReformWeb pages: www.berr.gov.uk/employment/research-evaluationgrant.fitzner@berr.gsi.gov.uk

  2. Structure of presentation • About the survey – What is the FTWS? • Design of FTWS • sample design, survey structure, survey content • Unfair treatment at work • Discrimination at work • Workplace bullying • Sexual harassment • Concluding remarks

  3. Part 1:ABOUT THE SURVEY

  4. What is FTWS? • First British survey of employees to explore unfair treatment, bullying and sexual harassment at work • Asks questions on two levels: • about personal experience (self) • and about awareness of treatment of others in workplace • Used to explore all six equality strands • and many other potential causes of unfair treatment

  5. Fieldwork • Cognitive and pilot test • Main fieldwork – November 2005 to January 2006 • Nearly 4,000 face-to-face interviews achieved • Boost of sub groups: ethnicity, young, old, religion

  6. Aims and objectives • Comprehensive survey of unfair treatment, discrimination, bullying and sexual harassment • Robust and reliable statistical instrument • and a discrete set of questions in future surveys • Statistically representative sample • Of sufficient size to do breakdowns • A baseline for monitoring and evaluation • Contribute to DTI’s research programme on the nature and causes of racial discrimination at work

  7. Caveats • This is a complex survey • seven major questions • two different population bases • The survey reports employee’s perception • these are subjective,and will vary between individualsand groups • Care must be taken when interpretingthese findings

  8. Part 2:UNFAIR TREATMENTAT WORK

  9. Question 11 • In the last two years with your employer, have you PERSONALLY been treatedunfairly because of any of the following? • Age • Gender • Nationality • Religion • Race or ethnic group • Sexual orientation (e.g. gay, straight, lesbian, bi-sexual etc.) • Disability • Long-term illness • Marital status • Political beliefs • Colour of skin • Physical appearance • The way they dress • Being pregnant • Union membership • Accent or the way they speak • Address or where they live • Social class • Other • No

  10. Incidence of personal unfair treatment • Around 1.6 million or 6.9% of employees said they had personally been treated unfairly at work in the last two years • Only small differences by sex, religion or sector • But disabled employees twice as high (15%) • Gay, lesbian and bisexual also high (14%) • Also differences by race/ethnicity • Black employees (12.5%) • Asian employees (8.0%) • White employees (6.5%)

  11. Employees reporting personal unfair treatment at work in last 2 yrs, by type

  12. Incidence of personal unfair treatment, bullying and sexual harassment • Around 2.1 million or 8.9% of employees said they had personally experienced unfair treatment, bullying or sexual harassment in last 2 years • Only small differences by sex – 8.0 per cent for males vs. 9.9 per cent for females • Disabled employees very high – 19.7 per cent vs. 7.6 per cent non-disabled • Also differences by race/ethnicity Non-white (11.2%) White employees (8.6%)

  13. Unfair treatment of others at work • One in seven (14.0%) employees who worked with others said they were aware of others at work being treated unfairly • More likely to be reported by: • disabled employees (21%) • gay, lesbian or bisexual employees (18%) • black employees (17%) • public sector employees (17%) • But 85% of all employees neither experienced unfair treatment themselves, nor aware of any other person at work being treated unfairly

  14. Unfair treatment at work in last 2 years

  15. Unfair treatment by industry

  16. Part 3:DISCRIMINATION

  17. Incidence of discrimination at work • Around one in every thirty employees (3.5%) reported discrimination at work, as defined here • Of the six equality strands, disability and long-term illness was the most common (1.2%) • Followed by race-related discrimination (1.1%), gender (0.9%), age (0.8%) and religion (0.2%) • Sexual orientation was lowest • too small to be reported

  18. Part 4:WORKPLACE BULLYING& SEXUAL HARASSMENT

  19. Incidence of workplace bullying • Almost one million employees (3.8%) said they had personally experienced bullying or harassment at work in the last two years • Women (4.9%) more likely to have been bullied than men (2.8%) • Even higher amongst disabled employees • especially high amongst disabled women • No significant differences by age or ethnicity • Over one in ten (10.6%) of employees who worked with others said they were aware of others at work being bullied or harassed

  20. Bullying at work in the last two years

  21. Incidence of sexual harassment • Much lower than bullying • only 9 in every thousand employees (0.9%) • More women (1.1%) than men (0.7%) • though men account for two-fifths • Disabled employees five times as likely as non-disabled to be sexually harassed • Managers twice as likely as non-managers • Almost 4% of employees who worked with others said they were aware of others at work being sexually harassed

  22. Part 5:SUMMARY

  23. Some key findings for researchers • Black and disabled employees suffer a much higher incidence of unfair treatment than other groups • Unfair treatment on the basis of long-term illness was twice as common as for disability • Almost one million employees have experienced workplace bullying in the last two years • and particularly high for disabled women • Younger workers are more likely to report age discrimination than older workers • Two-fifths of those sexually harassed are men

  24. A mixed picture • Vast majority of employees (85%) say they areare unaffected and unaware of unfair treatment • But a sizeable minority of employees have experienced some form of unfair treatment in the last two years

  25. A complex picture • Some types of unfair treatment and discrimination seem quite straight-forward (e.g. age) • Others are more clustered (e.g. race) • race and ethnic group, nationality, colour of skin • Unfair treatment is not evenly dispersed • appears to be clustered in certain workplaces • and among specific groups

  26. Part 6:FUTURE RESEARCH

  27. Related EMAR research • Second Fair Treatment at Work Survey • some scope for extension • looking for research partners • Maternity and Paternity Rights Survey 2007 • unfair treatment of women due to pregnancy • 2006 British Social Attitudes Survey • Work-Life Balance Employer Survey 2007 • Vulnerable workers research • Equalities Data Review Task Force

  28. DISCUSSION

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