Abuse at Work. What Next?

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) in the UK published some very concerning data last week on abuse rates at work. Based on input from more than 5,000 workers - most of them working in public-facing roles in sectors such as transport, education, and local and central government - TUC found that 8 in 10 participants experienced some form of physical, verbal or emotional abuse at work in the last 12 months.

Some numbers that stuck out for me:

• More than half of workers experience violence and abuse at work weekly or more (yes, you read that right)

• Police involvement was required in 22.6% of cases

• In most instances (46%), the perpetrators were customers; 9.2% cases involved co-workers, and 8.5% managers

• Some employees didn’t report the abuse, either because they felt they wouldn’t be taken seriously, or because violence was considered “part of the job”

• 32.8% said they experienced trauma as a result.

This data reminded me of “The Job, The Life”, a survey conducted by a team of sociologists at the University of Cambridge, which found that 90% of police officers and operational staff had been exposed to trauma. Of these, one in five reported experiencing either post-traumatic or complex post-traumatic stress symptoms. Less than a third of those who showed signs of these conditions were aware that they were experiencing them.

As anyone who’s lived it can tell you, abuse doesn’t just end when it stops. Being able to make an accurate sense of upsetting experiences, regaining a sense of physical and relational safety, and recognising that the inability to “just get over it” may be a sign of PTSD rather than a personal failing - all of this should be part of how employers think about supporting staff exposed to abuse or disturbing incidents at work.

Tackling abuse means dealing with the short and long-term outcomes, not just the incident itself.

Findings like these point to a side of the employee experience that few workplaces talk about openly, let alone manage proactively. The TUC survey begs the question: how many other frontline employees in retail, hospitality, banking, healthcare, private security, etc. experience regular abuse at work, and what are the rates of PTSD and CPTSD among them? How well do employers understand and address the risk of physical and psychological harm in public-facing roles? And how many frontline leaders are prepared to support their teams effectively after exposure to disturbing experiences at work?

Trauma awareness and support may be more relevant and urgent than most of us realised.

Until next time,

Adina