Is this a blow for equality? It transpires that in the UK, the office sex pests are most likely to be ladettes.
According to research by Peninsula, a Manchester law firm, 77 per cent of over 2,000 male employees surveyed had been sexually harassed by a female colleague — and had suffered in silence, unsure if discrimination laws applied to them. Two thirds of those surveyed felt that the office was no place for innuendo and banter, either.
Tellingly, 85 per cent of employers admit they are less likely to take a harassment complaint as seriously if it’s come from a man.
On the plus side, this surely spells the end for those nauseating Diet Coke ads.
Still, unless the girls are getting really out of hand, harassment fears alone cannot account for Britons’ waning job satisfaction. BNET1 already identified the ‘crummy job’ phenomenon’s transatlantic crossing.
Recruiter has more dour news from up north. A report from the Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks identifies the least happy employees as those working for small and medium-sized enterprises in the north west and the West Midlands. Meanwhile, 40 per cent of their EastMidland neighbours were the most satisfied.
Looking at the regions, it’d be easy to assume dissatisfaction stems from the stricken manufacturing sector, where the Purchasing Managers’ Index for June showed a contraction in the sector and new orders at their lowest for five years.
But the job satisfaction survey revealed that the solution lay in employees’ own hands: nearly half of those polled took less than 20 days’ holiday a year and over three quarters kept in touch on days off.
This is job insecurity of a different kind and an easy pattern to fall into, especially in a downturn.
How do you learn to switch off — does anyone find it easy? Is it a skill you’re born with, or can you acquire it? Let me know if you have any fool-proof tips for switching off after work.
