17.11.16
Bullying and discrimination in Civil Service at record high despite HR efforts
Bullying, harassment and discrimination is getting worse in Civil Service departments, it has been revealed, as the latest staff survey shows a marked lack of progress in tackling the problem.
The results of this year’s annual People Survey, which gathers the views of staff across the Civil Service, revealed another year-on-year rise, with 12% of respondents saying they had been the subject of discrimination in the past year and 11% saying they had been bullied or harassed.
Both of these figures rose by a percentage point from 11% and 10% last year, making them the highest figures recorded since the survey began in 2009 – despite the launch this past summer of the Civil Service Workforce Plan, a Whitehall HR strategy which provided a new toolkit for departments.
Cabinet secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood called the figures “particularly disappointing” after the efforts the Civil Service has made to address the issue, adding: “I don’t think it’s acceptable that any civil servant should have to experience bullying, harassment or discrimination.
“Of those who experienced bullying or harassment, only a third reported their experience and just one in five felt that their issue had been resolved. There is a lot more that we need to do in order to give confidence to civil servants, wherever you work, that your concerns will be listened to and action taken”.
The survey results also found that 34% of officials who said that they had been discriminated against believed it was due to their “grade, band or responsibility level”, while 21% pointed to their “working pattern”.
Claims of discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity remained fixed from last year on 10%, as did claims of gender-based discrimination, which 12% of respondents stated.
These results will trouble the Civil Service after it made a concerted effort to improve its diversity and inclusion policies through the annual updated “Talent Action Plan”, and introduced dedicated diversity objectives for senior officials which incentivised performance with pay boosts if reached.
Staff also continue to be dissatisfied with their pay and benefits packages, with only 34% feeling “satisfied with the total benefits package” this year. This has dipped by 10% since the survey started in 2009, before the government introduced a public sector-wide pay freeze.
However, Sir Jeremy noted that the Civil Service had recorded “amazingly positive scores” in other areas, with staff engagement returning to its 2014 high-point of 59%. The survey also showed greater satisfaction with learning and development, staff feeling interested and challenged in their work, and manager support and motivation.
Almost 280,000 officials across 98 government organisations took part in this year’s survey, an overall response rate of 65%, the same level as in 2015.
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