Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech and The Hill
42 minutes ago
(The Hill) – One in five employees say their workplace is either very or somewhat toxic, according to a new poll by the American Psychological Association (APA).
“The number of individuals who report experiencing a toxic workplace without protection from harm is alarming,” said Arthur C. Evans, chief executive officer of the American Psychological Association, in a statement.
“No one should be afraid at work. It is clear that there is much work to be done to foster a positive working environment for all workers in the country.
The poll found that those who report working in a toxic environment are more than three times more likely than their counterparts in healthier workplaces to say they have “experienced harm to their mental health” at work.
The APA’s poll found that 52 percent of people with toxic workplaces have experienced harm to their mental health at work, while 15 percent of those with healthy work environments said the same.
Overall, more than one in five workers – or 22 percent – said they had experienced harm to their mental health at work, and 22 percent of employees had experienced workplace harassment in the past 12 months.
The APA says 14 percent of workers have experienced workplace harassment, a big jump from last year.
Rates of toxic workplaces vary by industry, the APA also found.
According to the poll, workers in customer, client or patient service jobs are more likely to report verbal abuse in the workplace than those who do manual labor or office work.
Twenty-two percent of office workers and 23 percent of manual workers who responded to the poll said they had experienced verbal abuse.
Meanwhile, 31 percent of employees in customer, client or patient service jobs said they had.
But manual workers are significantly more likely to report experiencing physical intimidation at work, with 12 percent of workers saying someone in their organization has “exerted physical violence” toward them.
Just 5 percent of office workers and 6 percent of customer, client or patient service workers said the same.
The poll was conducted between April 17 and 27 with 2,515 working adults.