In the public sector vacant posts are not just a result of poor pay and overwork but of poor treatment of staff due to institutional apathy towards staff subject to bullying, racism and misogyny. And a perceived lack of support from HR.
Recent reports about the NHS, the London Met police force and the London Fire and Rescue service have highlighted a disturbing and persistent culture of bullying, racism and misogyny. Certain characteristics were prevalent in all three, senior management unaware of the extent of the problem, awareness training failing to have a discernible impact, employees lacking confidence in the grievance process and Human Resources seen as failing to provide support to those who experienced bullying ,harassment and discrimination.
What is surprising about these reports is that senior management were surprised. Such cultures have been well documented in the past. Yet senior management seems to have though that the introduction of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policies plus awareness training was addressing the problem. They seem to have forced on recruitment targets as the gauge for the effectiveness of their polices and dismissed the experience of some staff as “a problem with a few bad apples”.
In some parts of these organisations there is clear evidence of a higher turnover of staff from Black and Minority Ethic groups. Anecdotally this is due to frustration with the gap between the organisation rhetoric and the reality as experienced by these staff. Interestingly this reason for leaving rarely appears in the annual HR employee report. And yet in the report into the London Fire and Rescue service current employees were willing to give graphic details of incidents of abuse and discrimination. Perhaps this is because they were being interviewed by independent researchers anonymously. There was nothing stopping organisations commissioning this type of large scale independent survey in the past unless of course they suspected what the out come would be. This is what makes it so hard to be believe that senior management had no idea of the extent of the problem. A more likely explanation is the past behaviour of boards and senior management teams where they have placed the public image of the organisation above recognising problems with the culture in the organisation. We have had numerous examples of secrecy exposed by whistle blowers and justified by those at the top as necessary in order not to undermine public confidence! The irony seems to have been lost on those in charge.
The evidence of the extent of the crisis in the culture of these services should not be seen as a problem unique to this part of the public sector or just a problem in the public sector. All large organisations have unofficial cultures which can damage and undermine even the most well thought out strategies.
Most boards and senior management teams are extremely reluctant to ,”open a can of worms” seeing their role as protecting the image of the organisation and pushing for it to be shown in the best possible light. It is very revealing that the London Fire And Rescue service only commissioned their independent reviewed following the high profile suicide of an officer, who it was revealed at the inquest, had been subject to extensive and persistent bullying and harassment.
Blair Mcpherson former Director author and blogger www.blairmcpherson.co.uk
