Workplace sexual harassment is just as detrimental for employers, as it is for employees.

A new study has found about a third of the New Zealand workforce have experienced it, with around 36 percent of females and 30 percent of males targeted.

It shows employees may be more likely to suffer burnout, stress, or act counterproductively at work and call in sick.

Massey University Professor Jarrod Haar says they're also more likely to quit, which is just as bad for employers.

"They take the knowledge and the insights from the organisation with them and leave- they're less likely, if they haven't quit, to stay there and not perform as well as they used to."

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