Washington (AP) — The American workplace is grueling, stressful and surprisingly hostile.
So concludes an in-depth study of 3,066 U.S. workers by the Rand Corp., Harvard Medical School and the University of California, Los Angeles. Among the findings:
— Nearly one in five workers — a share the study calls “disturbingly high” — say they face a hostile or threatening environment at work . . .
If nearly one in five US workers finds their workplace hostile or threatening, that means more than 4 in 5 workers do not find their workplace hostile or threatening.
Assuming these two groups are not in completely separate workplaces, does this finding say something about the workplace or about the people who perceive a hostility that a large majority of their colleagues do not perceive?
Another finding:
— Telecommuting is rare: 78 percent say they are required to be present in their workplace during working hours.
Notice that in this case, 22 percent of workers doing something — telecommuting — is considered “rare,” while less than 20 percent perceiving a hostile environment is considered “disturbingly high.”