Seven out of 10 British employees claim to have been bullied at work but 30% are too worried about reporting the problem for fear of repercussions.

A survey of 934 employees by recruitment website www.hirescores.com shows 68% of those who had witnessed inappropriate behaviour in the workplace thought it had been dealt with properly by management and HR staff.

More than a third (34%) are reluctant to stand up for themselves or others for fear of losing their job and 18% did not report an incident of bullying because they knew of instances where no action had been taken for similar situations in the past.

Staff reported the main reasons for bullying were personality clashes (39%), attempts to be funny (31%), clashes between high and low income staff (17%), appearance (11%) and disability (2%).