One in seven Britons bullied at work: survey

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Middle-aged men earning between 20,000 and 60,000 pounds in Britain's sprawling public sector are most likely to get bullied at work, said a survey on Friday which showed one in seven workers have faced abuse.

The YouGov survey for the Trades Union Congress (TUC) showed more than a fifth of workers say bullying is a problem where they work.

"Every organization needs to have an anti-bullying policy, and every manager should ensure that there is zero-tolerance of bullying either by line managers or workmates," said Brendan Barber, TUC general secretary.

Nearly a fifth of public sector staff say they have been bullied, compared with just over one in ten in the private sector and eight in every hundred doing voluntary work.

"It is not the low paid who are most likely to say they are bullied," the survey said. "Those earning less than 20,000 pounds ($35,590) report much less bullying than those earning between 20,000 and 60,000."

And 16 percent of men, compared to 12 percent of women, say they have had to put up with abuse in the workplace, with 45 to 54 year olds most often targeted.

(Editing by Matthew Jones)