Editorial: ‘Toxic culture’ at top uni must be stamped out

Workplace bullying accusations at one of Queensland’s biggest universities are worrying and must be acknowledged and dealt with at the highest level, writes the editor.

Workplace bullying is a cancer on society, resulting in a toxic culture that breeds insecurity and affects the health of employees.

Today’s workplace bullying accusations at one of Queensland’s biggest universities, QUT, are worrying and must be acknowledged and dealt with at the highest level.

For too long, we have heard stories about bullying and entrenched bias at our universities.

Now, it is the turn of the teachers themselves to speak out publicly. And it comes as society is changing its attitude to workplace culture.

Only in the last few days have we seen the high-profile case of former Australia Post chief executive Christine Holgate, who claims she was bullied out of her role, taking aim at Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s comments in Parliament.

We have seen the Queensland Government introduce terrific reforms around cyber bullying, especially for teenagers, who do not have the resilience or coping skills like adults to deal with bullying.

The Courier-Mail has also led the way in recent months in giving women a platform to speak up and call out intimidating behaviour from their male colleagues that left them feeling vulnerable and silenced.

High-profile women, from Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll to judges and even the Premier, all bravely came forward to tell their stories of harassment and bullying in the workplace.

Their collective message was a powerful one that resonated with all women across Australia.

But more needs to be done and clearly our universities have become a hotbed for alleged bullying and toxicity.

Today, our education reporter Stephanie Bennett reveals distressing allegations of a growing toxic culture of bullying and intimidation at QUT, with people afraid to speak up for fear of losing their jobs.

Queensland University of Technology insiders describe an “increasingly unhappy” workplace where as one staff member told The Courier-Mail she was frequently “snapped at and spoken down to” by her senior leaders, leaving her feeling stressed, intimidated and incompetent at her job despite her many years of experience.

Another described an “ivory tower” approach to management, alleging top executives make decisions “with no consulting, while being completely disconnected from the on-the-ground reality”.

Meanwhile in a letter sent to Chancellor Xiaoling Liu last month, QUT staff wrote of their concern “at the increasingly toxic culture that we are experiencing on a daily basis at QUT”.

These are serious claims, and they must be investigated fully.

“When staff raise concerns, we investigate them and address them utilising the processes for resolution set out in its Manual of Policies and Procedures, as appropriate,” QUT Vice-Chancellor Margaret Sheil said.

That’s a classic example of a textbook, lawyer-driven response to a problem that has clearly been festering for some time.

Leadership is all about bringing staff along for the ride and clearly at some of our bigger universities, this is not happening.

Those concerned about the toxic culture say QUT once valued freedom of speech, diversity of thought and empowerment of teams and individuals.

Not anymore, they claim.

That has now been replaced with a workplace where “we are scared to speak up, let alone raise any issues for fear we will lose our jobs’’.

That’s a damning indictment on the university and a reflection of a poor and substandard workplace culture. Universities should be setting the standard.

After all, they are the educators of our next generation of leaders.

We deserve better.