GENEVA: More than one in five people in employment worldwide have experienced some form of workplace harassment or violence, according to a survey released by the United Nations on Monday.

“Violence and harassment at work is a widespread phenomenon around the world,” the UN’s International Labour Organization said following a joint study by the ILO, Lloyd’s Register Foundation and pollsters Gallup.

The survey was a first attempt to produce a global overview of the magnitude and frequency of the problem, and the barriers that prevent people from talking about it.

It found that 22.8 percent — which would amount to 743 million people in employment — have experienced “at least one form of violence and harassment at work during their working life”, according to data collected last year.

Nearly a third of victims (31.8 percent) said they had been subjected to more than one form of violence and harassment, and 6.3 percent had experienced it in all three forms — physical, psychological and sexual — during their working life.

The survey was mainly conducted by telephone and the questions were formulated so they could be understood by as many people as possible.