WASHINGTON, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. working environment could be really hostile and stressful as nearly one in five workers reported recent abuse or harassment at work, according to a newly released survey.
Those workers would be subject to verbal abuse, humiliation, unwanted sexual attention, or bullying or harassment, often from their customers, said an in-depth survey released by RAND Corp., a U.S. global policy think tank, earlier this week.
The survey, based on over 3,000 responses of workers aged 18-71, said that Americans' jobs could be hectic as about half of the respondents said they had to work on their own time to meet the workplace demand.
Ten percent of the workers had to do so nearly every day, said the report.
The study also showed that about 61 percent of American workers performed repetitive or intense physical work, including heavy loads or maintaining painful positions.
More than half of the heavy workers were exposed to hazards such as loud environments, extreme temperatures or unhealthy air.
"I was surprised at how physically demanding jobs were," Nicole Maestas, the leading author of the survey and an economist at RAND, told media.
The findings were based on research conducted by RAND, Harvard Medical School and UCLA.
