Inappropriate behaviour at work is most common in healthcare sector
In 2023, 17 percent of all workers (aged 15 to 75 years) reported experiencing inappropriate behaviour at work in the past twelve months. Those working in healthcare (30 percent) and the accommodation and food services sector (20 percent) were the most likely to report inappropriate behaviour. By contrast, workers in agriculture and construction experienced relatively little inappropriate behaviour.
| Sector | Share of workers (% of workers (aged 15-74 years)) |
|---|---|
| Healthcare | 29.6 |
| Accommodation and food services | 20 |
| Commerce | 17.4 |
| Administration | 17.4 |
| Recreation | 17.1 |
| Education | 16.9 |
| Transport | 16.7 |
| Business services | 12.3 |
| Manufacturing | 9.7 |
| Financial | 9.1 |
| ICT | 8.9 |
| Construction | 8.5 |
| Agriculture | 6.3 |
| Source: CBS, TNO | |
| ¹⁾ In the past 12 months. | |
Over 1 in 5 female employees experience inappropriate behaviour
Female workers are more likely to report having experienced inappropriate behaviour in the past twelve months: 21 percent, as opposed to 13 percent among male workers. This is reflected in the relatively high incidence of inappropriate behaviour in sectors in which more women tend to work, such as healthcare and education. In those two sectors, 82 and 65 percent of workers were women in 2023, respectively. In the construction sector, on the other hand, only 14 percent of workers were women.More inappropriate behaviour in jobs that involve a lot of social interaction
Inappropriate behaviour is also more common in roles that involve more interaction with colleagues, clients, patients or students. The healthcare and accommodation and food services sectors are the sectors in which workers report the most social interaction, with over 75 percent of workers reporting social interaction (almost) all day. In ICT and financial services, by contrast, this was the case for less than 40 percent of workers, the lowest of any sector. Relatively few workers report inappropriate behaviour in these sectors.In healthcare, men and women are almost equally likely to experience inappropriate behaviour
As is the case for workers across the board, on average, the share who experience inappropriate behaviour in the healthcare and accommodation and food services sectors rises with the frequency of social interaction. This applies to both men and women. In the healthcare sector, the share of workers experiencing inappropriate behaviour does not vary significantly between male workers (29 percent) and female workers (30 percent).
| Frequentie van contact | Men (% of workers (aged 15-75 years)) | Women (% of workers (aged 15-75 years)) |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 28.6 | 29.8 |
| No social interaction or only a few times a day at most | 16.2 | 19.6 |
| Social interaction many times a day | 26 | 29.5 |
| Social interaction all day | 38 | 34.1 |
| Source: CBS, TNO | ||
| ¹⁾ in the past 12 months. | ||
In the accommodation and food services sector women are more likely than men to experience inappropriate behaviour
In the accommodation and food services sector, there is a difference between male and female workers: 24 percent of female workers report experiencing inappropriate behaviour, compared to 16 percent of men. This is mainly because among workers who interact with other people throughout the day, female workers are much more likely to experience inappropriate behaviour (29 percent) than their male counterparts (18 percent).
| Frequentie van contact | Men (% of workers (aged 15-75 years)) | Women (% of workers (aged 15-75 years)) |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 15.8 | 24.2 |
| No social interaction or only a few times a day at most | 12.3 | 16.3 |
| Social interaction many times a day | 15.1 | 18 |
| Social interaction all day | 18.1 | 28.5 |
| Source: CBS, TNO | ||
| ¹⁾ in the past 12 months. | ||
Women in accommodation and food services sector are three times more likely to experience unwanted sexual attention
The male-female difference when it comes to inappropriate behaviour in the accommodation and food services sector is mainly down to unwanted sexual attention: 16 percent of female workers report experiencing this, compared to 6 percent of male workers. Female workers in healthcare also report unwanted sexual attention relatively frequently (10 percent, compared with 5 percent among male workers). On the other hand, male workers in healthcare are more likely to experience other forms of harassment, physical violence or bullying. As a result, the overall difference between male and female workers in healthcare is relatively small.
| Sector | Ongewenst gedrag | Man (% of workers (aged 15-75 years)) | Woman (% of workers (aged 15-75 years)) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Healthcare | Unwanted sexual attention | 5.1 | 9.7 |
| Healthcare | Harassment or threats | 22.1 | 20.5 |
| Healthcare | Physical violence | 12.3 | 9.8 |
| Healthcare | Bullying | 8.9 | 5.7 |
| Accommodation and food services | Unwanted sexual attention | 5.8 | 15.9 |
| Accommodation and food services | Harassment or threats | 11.3 | 11.5 |
| Accommodation and food services | Physical violence | 2.6 | 1 |
| Accommodation and food services | Bullying | 5.4 | 4 |
| Source: CBS, TNO | |||
| ¹⁾ in the past 12 months. | |||
The results presented in this news release are based on the National Survey of Working Conditions (NEA) carried out by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) and Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), which identifies differences in inappropriate behaviour in various sectors. Statistics Netherlands (CBS) also conducts the Employee Survey of Health and Welfare (WNE), which asks more detailed questions about aggressive behaviour in the workplace (including verbal aggression and discrimination, for instance). In addition to including more items in the WNE, the questions also include more examples of inappropriate behaviour. The percentage of workers in the healthcare and wellbeing sector who have experienced aggression at work is higher according to the WNE than the according to the NEA, due to the more comprehensive questions included in the former survey.