According to a recent poll conducted by 19th News/SurveyMonkey, remote employees are less than half as likely as their in-person counterparts to encounter instances of sexual harassment in the workplace.Over the past three years, as the pandemic has transformed American workplaces, shifting some from traditional offices to remote settings, emerging evidence suggests that virtual work may indeed be contributing to a decrease in occurrences of sexual harassment.
Based on a recent 19th News/SurveyMonkey poll, remote workers, regardless of their gender or race, were less inclined to report instances of sexual harassment or assault in the workplace over the past three years compared to their in-person counterparts.
Only about 5 percent of women working remotely reported such incidents during that period, in contrast to the 12 percent reported by women working in traditional in-person settings. In the broader perspective, only 5 percent of remote workers reported experiencing such incidents over the last three years, while the figure stood at 9 percent for those predominantly working in physical workplaces.
Furthermore, the survey indicated a noteworthy decline in sexual harassment among nonbinary workers. Approximately 20 percent of nonbinary individuals reported experiencing sexual harassment in the past three years, as opposed to the 30 percent who had faced it before the pandemic.
Unfortunately, the poll didn’t have a substantial enough sample of remote nonbinary workers to draw specific comparisons.
Conducted online from August 24 to 31, the poll involved a national sample of 20,191 adults spanning various age groups, gender identities, races, and other demographics.
This extensive sample size distinguishes it from many previous surveys on sexual harassment, providing insights into trends across different industries and backgrounds.
