More than half of employees in Greece involved in a survey have experienced sexual harassment at work, but almost 40% of them do not know what the procedureis to be taken to be protected.
The data was found in a survey conducted by the Center for Social Action and Innovation (KMOP).
The survey, conducted between June and September 2020, included interviews with representatives of trade unions, employers' associations, NGOs and the Ombudsman, as well as an online survey of employees and employers.
126 employees, 27 employers and seven representatives of organisations participated, a sample that, as explained by the head of the KMOP research, Natasha Alexopoulou, gives a combined picture of what is happening in Greece.
84.13% of the employees were women, 68% work in the private sector and 75% live in Athens.
On the employers' side, senior managers and human resources managers participated, of whom 70.37% were women and 81.48% work in private companies.
The majority of employees who participated in the KMOP survey reported that the most common forms of sexual harassment in the workplace were:
- sexual suggestions or jokes that made them feel offended (70.63%),
- unwanted sexual innuendos (65.08%),
- discussions about a colleague's sex life (59.52%), and
- sexual comments about the appearance of a individual (59.52%).
2.38% of the sample reported that coercion into prostitution or sexual exploitation is widespread, while 1.59% admitted that sexual assaults (rapes) occur frequently in their workplace.
It is also noteworthy that almost half of the employees who answered the questionnaire reported that often or on a daily basis psychological violence occurs in the workplace.
More than half of the employees (52.38%) admitted to having been sexually harassed during their working life.
Also, 42.86% of the surveyed employees stated that they have witnessed some form of sexual harassment against colleagues in the workplace.
The vast majority of the sample (91.27%) found that women are more exposed to sexual harassment.
At the same time, 39.68% of the total sample of employees stated that they do not know the procedures that a victim must go through to seek protection in the company they work for.
42.06% underlined that the company where they work does not have a policy containing clauses prohibiting sexual harassment.
Moreover, anonymous complaints are not an active practice for 73.02% of organisations, according to respondents.
The vast majority of employers surveyed (77.78%) acknowledge that the problem of sexual harassment is very serious, although 33.33% state that there have never been any cases of sexual harassment in the company.
29.83% said that such incidents are not often observed.
