Hiscox Study: More Than One-Third of US Workers Feel They've Experienced Harassment in the Workplace: Sexual Harassment Tops List as Most Common Form of Employee Misconduct.

• Position: [IN THE NEWS]

* A recent study released by Hiscox, the international specialist insurer, revealed that more than one-third (35%) of employees feel they've experienced workplace harassment, 50% of whom said it was on account of their gender or sex. These findings are according to the 2018 Hiscox Workplace Harassment Study[TM], which surveyed 500 US adults employed full-time. "As the spotlight on workplace harassment intensifies, companies must be aware of the peril they face by ignoring this issue," said Patrick Mitchell, Management Liability Product Head at Hiscox USA. "Businesses of all sizes face steep financial, reputational, and workforce consequences if they fail to take steps to prevent, detect and mitigate inappropriate behavior in the workplace."

Gender and Seniority Key Factors

While it's important to note that companies should be careful not to overlook any potential incidents of harassment, 78% of those who were harassed said it was perpetrated by a male, and 73% said their harasser was in a senior position. The data also found instances where respondents explained that the harassment was committed by women against men, by members of the same sex and by non-company employees, such as customers or vendors. All of these scenarios represent incidents in which a company could be subject to liability and financial loss if they fail to appropriately protect their employees.

Harassment: Unreported

Despite more than one in three employees noting they felt harassed, 40% of those respondents said they never reported the harassment to company management or the police. The top reason cited for the failure to report was the fear the allegations would create a hostile work environment (53%). Of those who were harassed and did report it, 37% did not believe the incident was handled properly by their employer, and for women who reported harassment, this figure climbed to 49%. It's not just victims who don't report harassment. Forty-five percent of all respondents said they have witnessed harassment in the...