Among the types of harassment, 34.2 percent were ‘violence by superior taking advantage of hierarchy at work.’ (image: Kobiz Media/Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Sept. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — One in five workers in the IT sector has been bullied or witnessed bullying at work, according to a recent survey.
Out of 1,364 IT workers surveyed, 265 or 19.4 percent said they had experienced or witnessed bullying at work, according to findings released Tuesday by the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU).
Some 158 respondents, or 59.6 percent said they had considered quitting their job due to harassment at work, while 36 respondents, or 13.6 percent said they had even considered taking the extreme measure of committing suicide.
In addition, 33.9 percent said the harassers were team leader-level managers. Next in line was company colleagues accounting for 31.6 percent.
Among the types of harassment, 34.2 percent were ‘violence by superior taking advantage of hierarchy at work’, followed by ‘verbal violence’ at 33.1 percent.
In response to how the company reacted when bullying was reported, 81.1 percent cited ‘no action taken’, which was the case for most of the respondents.
At 6.7 percent, only a few cases resulted in discipline, while 4.8 percent of the victims said they received assistance in dealing with the harassment and only 2.2 percent of the perpetrators were fired.
The FKTU said that in order to improve the working environment in the IT industry, organizations in the form of labor unions are needed for each workplace.
D. M. Park (dmpark@koreabizwire.com)
