A quarter of all LGBT people have been bullied at work, study finds
A quarter of LGBT+ people have been bullied at work. (Envato)
A quarter of LGBT+ people around the world have experienced bullying in the workplace, a new inclusion study has shown.
The Kantar Inclusion Index asked 18,000 people in 14 countries and 24 industries about equality, diversity and inclusion in business.
The study found that more than half of LGBT+ people suffer from “consistent high stress, anxiety and mental health problems” at work.
Of these people, 59 percent said their companies were aware of their mental health problems, but 38 percent said their employer was unsupportive.
When looking at what caused job-related mental health issues, the study found that 40 percent of LGBT+ workers felt left out at work or social activities associated with work.
In the last 12 months, a third (31 percent) said they had been made to feel uncomfortable at work, and a quarter (24 percent) said they had experience bullying in their workplace.
Job anxiety was most common in those with a non-binary gender identity (40 percent), and was also reported by 35 percent of women and 37 percent of men.
The global director of Kantar’s Inclusion Index, Mandy Rico, said: “If you are serious about inclusion and diversity in your business, you need to get serious about measuring it.
“Diversity is the fact, while inclusion is the act, and until now inclusion has been much harder to measure.
“Our findings illustrate that a significant amount of work remains to be done to make workplaces more inclusive, diverse and equal, especially around the subject of bullying which persists at high levels around the world.”
Lawyers at Simpson Millar previous told PinkNews that the bullying of LGBT+ people in the workplace could amount to harassment on the grounds of sexual orientation.
They recommend keeping a log of any offensive or derogatory comments made, along with dates and the names of any witnesses who heard them, to help with recalling the harassment when reporting it.
