The Acting Executive Director of the Ministry of Labour, Industrial Relations, and Employment Creation,Otniel Podewiltz, says violence and harassment at workplaces are widespread phenomena around the world.

However, Podewiltz says this issue in Namibia is complex due to persistent social inequalities and power imbalances.

Podewiltz said this during a two-day meeting on variation and Sensitization in Fishing and Convention 190 with various stakeholders at Walvis Bay.

According to the final report conducted in 2019 by the International Labour Organization, about 72% of females agreed with the statement that sexual harassment in the workplace is a reality for most women in the country, with 11% disagreeing and 17% remaining neutral.

The report continues by stating that about 21% of victims of violence and harassment left their jobs.

Podewiltz says that sexual harassment at the workplace continues to plague workplaces across Namibia, compromising employees' safety, well-being, and dignity.

Harassment often goes unnoticed in the workplace because it is a slow process of emotional and psychological manipulation that is hard to prove and detect.

According to Podewiltz, some of the significant signs of workplace harassment include verbal abuse, offensive conduct, humiliation, intimidation, work interference, and sabotage, which prevent work from getting done.
 
"As far as the definition is concerned, it's a wider definition compared to the sexual harassment that we are used to. This is a broad range of unacceptable behaviour that covers things like bullying and actual physical assault. Sexual assault also talks about the impact of domestic violence on the workplace, so we have been debunking those various elements."
 
He further stresses that working alone can be very stressful, adding that bullying in the workplace elevates stress and creates a hostile working environment.
 
"There are some people that handle issues differently; some will probably keep it, but physiologically, in side they suffer, but you will be able to see from the productivity of the person, the interaction of the people, the whole behaviour at work usually when there is an issue whether you say it or not because you are different from what they know you as your personality changes, but with the open people you will see that abuse is very limited but it happens."
 
Harassment is a serious issue in workplaces across the globe and could cause depression, which ultimately leads to suicide, he says.
 
Therefore, he encouraged employees to immediately report any inappropriate behaviour, such as harassment at work, to management or the human resources managers.
 
Podewiltz stated the need to raise awareness about violence and harassment in the workplace to combat mental health issues among employees.