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

Abstract

Previous studies on workplace aggression and violence limit their research scope to the conventional formal working environment. Few recognizes the fact that there is an increasing number of people, especially female, working in more informal working settings. Our research on a random sample of 2,017 migrant domestic female workers from the Philippines and Indonesia in Hong Kong proposes to switch attention to one of non-conventional workplaces, the employer’s home, and examines how conditions specific in this home-based working environment are related to workers’ abusive experiences. Findings suggest both the workplace environment (e.g. size of the home) and characteristics of work (e.g. types of people served) are related to their experiences of abusive behaviors at work perpetrated by their employers in this domestic setting. The findings extend our understanding of the conception of workplace and highlight new factors contributing to aggression and violence against workers when work-home boundaries blur.