Sexual harassment in the workplace remains very widespread in Switzerland, despite the prevention measures put in place. Nearly a third of employees have already faced this problem.
The difference is however marked between the sexes, with 44% of women saying they have already suffered sexual harassment during their professional life, compared to 17% of men, noted Tuesday a study of the Federal Office for Equality between Women and Men (BFEG) and the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).
When respondents are presented with concrete sexist or sexual behaviors, the rate of people saying they have suffered harassment even rises to 52%, again with a significant gap between women (59%) and men (46%).
During the twelve months preceding the survey, young people were more often the victims of incidents and felt more often sexually harassed than older people.
Age plays a particularly important role in women. A third of them, aged 16 to 25, say they have suffered sexual harassment in their workplace in the twelve months preceding the survey.
The people most affected are those who work in close contact with customers, for example in the banking, hotel and catering, or health sectors. The perpetrators of harassment are most often male colleagues at the same hierarchical level as the victim. Women also often report harassment from their superiors.
“Alarming” figures
In a press release, Unia judges that these “alarming” figures correspond to the testimonies received daily. Employers must finally assume their responsibilities in accordance with the law and Switzerland must urgently ratify international conventions, demands the union.
Unia is calling in particular for a strengthening of the law, clear rules, sanctions and procedures against harassment within companies, as well as neutral contact points. In addition, staff must regularly be made aware and checks must be carried out. All these different points must be anchored in collective work agreements.
Employers are required by law to take measures to prevent harassment in the workplace, point out the BFEG and SECO. Despite this obligation, one company in five has not yet implemented any prevention or intervention measures. The study reveals that companies have very poor knowledge of the legal framework, as do their staff.
Faced with this observation, the study invites companies to increase awareness and information among their executives. They should also create clearly established internal structures and processes to facilitate the reporting of incidents and enable those affected to obtain support.
BFEG and SECO will revise their information and training materials. The new documents will be published later next year.
ats/ebz
