70% of workers in Chile admit to having been victims of harassment at work

According to the website of the Directorate of Labor of Chile , Harassment at work is any behavior that constitutes aggression or harassment, exercised by the employer or by one or more workers, against another or others, by any means, and which results in impairment, abuse or humiliation for the person(s) concerned, or which threatens or harms their employment status or employment, provided that all of these behaviors are practiced repeatedly.

A recent business survey vertical hunter – carried out in June and in which both men and women participated- found that 70.1% of respondents said they had experienced workplace harassment at some point in their working life while 29.9% answered that they had never experienced such a situation.

Similarly, after consultation with the persons concerned by the manner in which said harassment at work took place:

• 50.6% said it was by verbal or written violence.
• 23.1% up to discredit in front of colleagues.
• 13.4% through destructive criticism.
• 9% across the indifference of management and/or colleagues.
• 3.9% thanks to the discrimination based on race, religion, sex or ideology.

Paulina Henriquez, Master in Development and Organizational and University Behavior in Organizational Psychology from the Psychology Career at the University of La Frontera (UFRO), explains that the consequences of bullying at workcan be “very serious, very critical And this will obviously depend on the context, the characteristics of the harassment and also the extension over time in the disposition of this environment to the personal characteristics and personal resources of the people who find themselves in this situation”.

Elisa Ansolaga, Director of Research Faculty of Psychology UDP, explains that bullying at work It “has been identified as one of the biggest stressors in the workplace, and there are personal and organizational consequences, there is an impact on work and there are also negative effects on mental health”.

Among the most common are:

• The decline in self-esteem.
• Stress symptoms.
• Images of anxiety and depression.
• These contexts can lead to other more chronic contexts such as illnesses, accidents, etc.
• In extreme cases, one of the worst consequences can be suicide, and having been exposed to situations of workplace violence has been documented to be linked to subsequent suicide.

From the point of view of the situation of the person in a work situation, it is strongly expected that there be a deterioration in the quality of work, the productivity of people, and “obviously, we have consequences that trigger a vicious circle” emphasizes Henríquez.

Another consequence that can occur is that this person who works and suffers these consequences can have an impact on their personal and family life.

Physical harm, the affected person may suffer problems: cardiovascular, hypertension, sleep disorders, diet, etc

Among those who have suffered what is also called mobbingThe majority of cases corresponded to women compared to men.

According to the UFRO academic, there are studies that show that women may be more likely to experience certain forms of workplace bullying,” such as sexual harassment, but it is important to remember that workplace harassment It can affect anyone regardless of gender, race, religion, etc.

According to statistics provided by the Department of Labor, for example, between 2020-2021 there were 1,560 complaints, and in 2022 there were 1,267 and of this sample64% were women and 36% of men, “consequently, the tendency continues to designate the female sex as the most exposed to this type of environment”, adds Henríquez.

Article 2 of Law 20,607 stipulates that harassment is defined as contrary to the dignity of the person, and this includes any behavior that constitutes repeated assault or harassment exercised by employer or employer, for one or more jobs against one or more workers, by any means whatsoever, and which results in the loss, mistreatment or humiliation of the person, or threatens or harms their employment status or employment opportunities.

Another characteristic that workplace bullying must have to be determined this way is that “It must be systematic and over a long period of time in the workplace”, explains Henriquez.

The types of bullying that can be found can range from those “invisible” situations that another person might say is nothing, but the affected person knows it has an impact and it is intentional, to the more visible, such as:

• Exclusion from work.
• Isolate the person, keep the person away from their workplace.
• Change of conditions, such as raising wages less than the harassed person.
• Work overload compared to peers.
• Assignment of degrading tasks for the person.

The UDP academic explains that the most important thing when suffering from harassment at work, “is the recognition of what is happening, often situations of workplace violence tend to be minimized or tend to be made invisible or put on a purely personal level, hence the recognition that what is happening is violence”.

Similarly, the validation of having been a victim of violence “is something very important and then it is essential to be able receive timely care and treatment. put the accent on Ansolaga.

Henríquez recommends asking for help directly from the affected person. But who exactly? This has to do with the work context in which the person finds himself.

By Law 20,607 of Chile on harassment at work, it is stipulated that there must be a protocol of action in case of harassment at work in each institution, organization or work environment. The first thing that the person concerned must do is to activate this protocol.

“The first thing is to ask for support, first it can be a peer you trust, the management, the union or the union association, the important thing is that the person asking for support is trustworthy Secondly, that this person of trust has influence in decision-making, and if neither of the two things exist, it will be necessary to speak to the person who leads the action protocol “explains the specialist in UFRO.

If this person does not exist, the person concerned can go to the professional address if necessary, and in order to file a request: Evidence must be collected, so it is important to follow the event, the place, the time, who participated, if there were witnesses, etc.

“One of the most serious issues we have with workplace bullying is that there is usually no evidence, and therefore the second recommendation is that it be generated.” For this reason, the UFRO academic recommends anyone who suffers from this situation never to go alone with the stalker to a meeting or to a work situation, because as the harassment is in time, there will be time to take evidence, and maybe it will be done with someone else’s help.

“Harassment at work or mobbing It is a sad reality that affects the world of work, because in addition to generating a deficiency in the person or persons who suffer from it, contributes to a bad environment in the company, brain drain and loss of prestige of the organization, among other negative consequences,” says Francisco Gonzalez, Managing Director of Vertical Hunter.