Rise in reports of sexual harassment in public service during lockdown – SMH 17/11/2021
17 November 2021
Reports of sexual harassment in the public service have slightly increased despite months of COVID-19 lockdown when many people were working from home.
The NSW Public Service Commission鈥檚 annual聽聽which was open to 400,000 workers from August 23 until September 17 suggests that the four months of lockdown failed to lower the proportion of people who had experienced sexual harassment or bullying.
It found that of the 179,801 (44 per cent) of public servants who completed the survey, 4 per cent said they had experienced sexual harassment, a one percentage point increase compared to 2020. Reports of threats or physical harm also increased slightly to 7 per cent. One in 10 respondents said they had experienced discrimination and 4 per cent said they had experienced racism.
Public Service Association general secretary Stewart Little said he was concerned that 4 per cent of the public sector workforce was experiencing sexual harassment.
鈥淚t鈥檚 unacceptable not only that it happens, but that people don鈥檛 have confidence in the grievance process,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t shouldn鈥檛 take two years of someone鈥檚 life to resolve a sexual harassment matter at work.鈥
The survey found 14 per cent of respondents said they experienced bullying in the past 12 months, the same figure as last year. And 22 per cent said they had witnessed bullying in the past two surveys.
NSW Health workers reported the highest levels of discrimination and racism among public sector workers.
A NSW Health worker who spoke to the聽Herald聽on the condition of anonymity to protect her job said she and other colleagues had felt bullied by executives in a stressful environment during the pandemic.
鈥淧eople are shattered and exhausted and prevented from taking leave,鈥 she said.
鈥淚鈥檓 doing the work of two people. My leave was finally approved the night before I was due to take it.鈥
NSW Public Service Association president Nicole Jess said during the lockdown workloads increased and 鈥渂ullying went from face-to-face to constant micromanaging鈥.
She said front-line workers who couldn鈥檛 work from home were under increased stress which 鈥渂roke down communication, which increased bullying鈥.
Ms Jess said grievances and investigations took a long time to be completed and managers were not trained properly to deal with them.
Only 35 per cent of teachers agreed they had enough time to do their job well and 38 per cent said they were paid fairly for the work they do. Fewer than half of respondents (47 per cent) said they could keep their stress at an acceptable level – a 2 percentage point increase on last year.
Labor鈥檚 industrial relations spokeswoman Sophie Cotsis said the public sector should set the gold standard for workplace behaviour.
鈥淚t is unacceptable that one in seven NSW government employees endured workplace bullying in the past year and that one in 10 experienced discrimination,鈥 she said.
鈥淚t is concerning that 7 per cent of staff in secondary schools experienced sexual harassment in the past year.鈥
鈥淐onfidence in the handling of grievance processes has increased year-on-year since 2018,鈥 the spokeswoman said.
Lifeline 13 11 14
https://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace/rise-in-reports-of-sexual-harassment-in-public-service-during-lockdown-20211112-p598eb.html