Finnish Defence Forces survey finds harassment mainly targeted women

Harassment was reported by 0.5 per cent of respondents in a 2025 workplace survey by the Finnish Defence Forces, with women accounting for most of those cases, Yle reports. Bullying was reported at roughly the same rate as in Finnish working life overall.

The Defence Forces has measured staff wellbeing since 2024 using the SYKE workplace community survey. It replaced a workplace atmosphere survey that had been used for 25 years.

According to summary data provided by the Defence Forces personnel department to Yle, about 3 per cent of respondents in 2025 said they had experienced bullying. The number of people reporting bullying has been declining.

The Defence Forces employed 13,709 people at the end of 2025. Men accounted for 81 per cent of the workforce and women for 19 per cent.

Of those who reported bullying, 163 were men, or 49 per cent, and 129 were women, or 39 per cent. A further 38 respondents were in the combined category of another gender or did not wish to disclose their gender.

Civilians accounted for 56 per cent of those reporting bullying, or 183 respondents. Officers had the fewest reports, with 36 respondents, or 11 per cent of those who reported bullying.

In the SYKE survey, bullying is defined as repeated and continuous negative behaviour, oppression, or degrading or insulting treatment by a colleague, subordinate or supervisor.

Harassment was reported by 0.5 per cent of respondents. Of those who reported it, 26 were women, accounting for 68 per cent, while four were men, or 11 per cent. Eight respondents were in the combined category of another gender or did not wish to disclose their gender.

The survey defines harassment as unwanted, one-sided physical or verbal behaviour that causes consistently negative feelings for the person targeted. The Defence Forces said the small number of respondents made it impossible to assess the statistical significance of the breakdown by staff group.