A new survey reveals that employees in municipal child welfare services are those who are most exposed to threats, harassment, and hate speech online in connection with their work.
The survey was conducted among members of the Common Organization (Fellesorganisasjonen – FO), which is the union and professional association for about 28,000 child welfare professionals, socio-occupational therapists, and welfare workers.
‘This is a serious burden within the working environment. In addition to the demanding work this is in its own right, that they should also have this is extra pressure,” said Mimmi Kvisvik, the chief executive officer at Dagbladet.
Almost every fourth (23%) employee working in municipal child welfare services states that they have been exposed to some form of net based harassment during the past year. Harassment, threats, and violations of privacy, occur the most frequently.
Additionally, it appears that 65% of employees in municipal child welfare services know of colleagues or managers who have been harrassed online. Almost every fifth employee stated that they’ve considered quitting their job because of this.
‘The ultimate consequence is that we lose the ability to recruit and retain employees. This is a profession where we are 100% dependent on having safe and experienced employees, said Kvisvik.
Of all those who’ve been exposed to net harassment, only 17.5% said that it had been reported to the police.
‘The reason may be that we have a work environment that accepts that you must just tolerate this, and that it is part of the nature of the work.
Some people may try to slow it down until it becomes so much of a psychological and social strain that they can’t take any more’, said Mimmi Kvisvik
© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today
