Work-Related Aggression in Home-Based Working Environment: Experiences of Migrant Domestic Workers in Hong Kong

Abstract

Previous studies on workplace aggression and violence have limited their scope to the conventional formal workplace environment. Few have explored the possibility that an increasing number of people, especially females, who work in more informal settings may also face work-related aggression. Our research on a random sample of 2,017 migrant domestic female workers from the Philippines and Indonesia who work in Hong Kong focuses on a nonconventional workplace, the employer’s home, and examines how conditions specific to the home-based working environment are related to workers’ experiences of abuse. Findings suggest that both the working conditions (e.g., types of people served) and the workplace environment (e.g., the size of the home) are related to experiences of abusive behavior performed by employers in the domestic work setting. The findings extend our understanding of the concept of workplace and highlight new factors contributing to aggression and violence against workers when boundaries between work and home are blurred.