More than one in seven UK employees have experienced some form of workplace abuse, according to a wide-ranging survey into the world of work.

This is one of the findings of the Skills and Employment Survey produced by academics from Cardiff University, UCL, Nuffield College, Oxford, and the University of Surrey, which is only carried out every six years.

Occupations facing the greatest risks of abuse include nurses (32%), teachers (28%) and others working in the public sector, the survey found. Risk is also elevated for night workers (24%) and it is much greater for women (19%) than for men (10%). Incidents included bullying, violence and sexual harassment.

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Professor Francis Green of UCL said workplace abuse has a lasting damaging effect on victims.

“Yet our survey finds that every year abuse at work is far too common, especially in the public sector. Sexual harassment is endured most by women and by LGBTQ+ workers,” he said.

“Employers need to be aware of the risks that stem from unequal power at work, to instil a culture of respect, and set up proper human resource policies to address problems.”

The report calls on the Office for National Statistics to monitor trends in each form of abuse.

The 2024 survey also revealed radical differences in how we work since the pandemic, with more than half of workers using spaces intended for other purposes to carry out their work.

Just over a quarter of workers (27%) work in their kitchen or dining room, a fifth (22%) have a workstation in a corner of a room, and 6% share an office with another member of the household. Forty-five percent have a home office to themselves.

The researchers concluded that employees who contribute more to the household budget or occupied larger homes would be more likely to have the resources and space to create a home office. They would also more likely be men.

They also found that the adoption of artificial intelligence is accelerating rapidly, increasing from 15% to 24% of those surveyed between the third quarter of 2023 and the second quarter of 2024.

Use of AI was concentrated in high-paying, high-skill occupations; also men, younger workers and those with a degree.

Demand for degrees up

Despite a focus on apprenticeships and other early career routes among many employers, demand for graduate-level qualifications continued to rise, the survey found.

In the 1986 survey, only one in five workers needed a degree for their current job – by 2024, this had risen to almost half (46%).

However, the number of workers who have qualifications at graduate-level or above has declined slightly, down to 35% by 2024 from a high of 39% in 2006.

Another key trend in the Skills and Employment Survey was the changing perception of unions. More than a third of employees (36%) working in non-unionised organisations said they would vote to establish a union if they were given the change. Younger workers, aged 20 to 29, were more likely to be in favour of unionisation, at 51%.

Six out of 10 LGBTQ+ workers, and the same proportion of employees with health issues that limit their work activity, would be keen to establish a trade union.

Other areas covered by the survey include job quality and gender – finding that there has been a gradual narrowing of the “job quality gap” between men and women; and the meaning employees find in their work.

The highest levels of meaningful work are found in health, education, and construction, while the lowest are found in accommodation, transportation, sales, and financial services.

Employee autonomy declines

Finally, the researchers found that the ability of employees to make decisions about job tasks has fallen since 2012, with only 34% of employees reporting that they have a great deal of influence over the tasks they do and how they do them.

Professor Duncan Gallie of Nuffield College at the University of Oxford, said: “The involvement of employees in decisions about how their jobs are done and about organisational changes affecting their work has vital consequences for their wellbeing and for work motivation.

“Yet, in recent decades, despite a crisis in productivity and rising work stress, British employers have reduced employees’ discretion over their jobs and their ability to influence organisational decisions.

“The decline in employee participation has affected both those in higher and in lower class positions. But the reduction in discretion at work has affected particularly female employees.”

Professor Alan Felstead of Cardiff University, who led the Skills and Employment Survey overall, added: “The world of work has changed much since our last survey in 2017. For example, where we work has changed, the use of AI has accelerated, task discretion has fallen, and there has been growth in industrial unrest.”

However, he warned of the pitfalls and inequality involved in many employees’ working arrangements.

“Even where working at home is possible, some employers have issued return to the office mandates and are on a collision course with their employees. Around two-thirds of homeworkers told us it is an essential or very important part of the employment package,” he said.

“But there are challenges with working at home, particularly for people who cannot create a home office such as those who live in smaller homes or shared accommodation.

“Overall, these survey results show that money and power matter in who gets the opportunity to work at home and whether these workers are subsequently able to create an office within the home. Policy, therefore, needs to focus on promoting all forms of flexible working and not just working at home which tends to favour the better off.”

The research was funded by Acas, the Department for Education and the Economic and Social Research Council.

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