Psychological Workplace Violence Against Older People in Lithuania

Abstract Changes in regulation and legislation place an obligation on employers to provide proper and safe working conditions for employees. In this context, it is important to determine if psychological violence prevention efforts are actually effective and whether the more vulnerable employees, older workers, are exercising their rights to defend themselves against the psychological violence they experience without fear of losing their jobs. This article presents theoretical and empirical data which sheds light on the nature of the psychological violence experienced by older people, the positions of people who exercise psychological violence in the employer’s organization, and the prevalence of, reasons behind, and forms and consequences of this psychological violence. The study behind this article was conducted by giving questionnaires to employers and employee representatives – i.e. trade unions – with identical questions. The responses of employers and employee representatives on the topic of psychological violence experienced by older workers are fundamentally different, which means that there is not enough social dialogue in this area between employees and employers.