Toowoomba Regional Council staff survey reveals hundreds of bullying, sexual harassment claims not formally reported

An internal survey of Toowoomba Regional Council has revealed numerous claims of sexual harassment and bullying within the organisation.

Toowoomba City Hall. Picture: Bev Lacey

Toowoomba Regional Council employees recalled dozens of instances of workplace sexual harassment and more than 320 cases of bullying across much of last year, but only three per cent of matters were actually reported.

Elements from a new staff survey has revealed issues with the organisation’s culture, which one union official said could be described as “a toxic workplace”.

The survey, which was conducted in November 2020 with hundreds of the TRC’s staff, revealed 39 employees experienced sexual harassment in the past 12 months, while 322 workers reported being bullied.

However, just 11 cases of bullying or sexual harassment were formally reported, a situation council CEO Brian Pidgeon said was “deeply concerning” and “unacceptable”.

“The 2020 staff survey identified there were 39 persons who experienced sexual harassment over the past 12 months and 322 who experienced bullying, with similar ratio results for both male and female respondents,” he said.

“The number of incidents formally reported in the same time were two cases of sexual harassment and nine cases of bullying.

“This is unacceptable — we need to understand why there is such a variance between what the survey has indicated and what has been reported so they can be investigated and appropriate actions can be taken.”

One councillor, who did not want to be named, said the findings were very concerning.

Mr Pidgeon said the council would use the result of the survey to create better outcomes for staff.

“Using the information from the 2020 staff survey, we will engage with external consultants to undertake investigations in this area to identify the reasons for such large variances and set up mechanisms for staff to engage with independent consultants when making complaints,” he said.

The survey was a follow-up from a 2018 report by Insync Surveys, which revealed nearly half of staff surveyed would not recommend the TRC as a place to work.

The results were slammed by Australian Workers Union executive officer Mark Raguse.

“Our members are advising us that bullying occurs and that it’s a fairly toxic workplace and it’s something that needs to be addressed,” he told the ABC.

“Bullying is unacceptable and it has a terrible impact on workers who are subject to it and it doesn’t just affect them, it affects their families.”

Mr Raguse was contacted by The Chronicle for comment.

TRC CEO Brian Pidgeon. Picture: Kevin Farmer

BRIAN PIDGEON’S FULL STATEMENT

The Toowoomba Regional Council cares about its staff, the contributions they make to the community and values the importance of providing them with a safe, healthy and nurturing environment.

We monitor this by undertaking consultation activities internally, such as the employee engagement and performance survey, which was first conducted in November 2018, a pulse survey in February 2020 and another staff survey in November 2020.

All three surveys have been facilitated by an independent company to ensure independence and confidentiality regarding individual responses from staff.

Following both staff surveys, the overall and individual branch results are communicated to staff however specific information is not given to protect individuals from being identified.

While we aim to give staff access to all information, it’s important they have trust and confidence in the survey so we can get the most honest answers possible.

I have presented results to the majority of staff, however presentations won’t be finished until the end of this week.

Since 2018, the organisation has shown positive improvements in performance while engagement levels have decreased.

It’s important to note that the harassment and bullying aspect identified in the survey is just one element of the staff survey, however we’re deeply concerned by the results in this area from the most recent survey.

The survey question asked staff whether they had “experienced bullying at TRC in the last 12 months”.

While the results to this question are extremely concerning and will be the subject of scheduled focused activity, it’s unclear whether the results have arisen solely from internal relationships and culture or whether staff interactions with the public during the course of their duties is also a contributing factor.

This is why I’ve focused on putting systems in place to improve the way bullying and harassment is reported in the organisation over the past two years and will continue to place further resources in these areas to ensure there is further development in the future.

Following the employee engagement and performance survey conducted in November 2018, we introduced a number of initiatives that were developed by our staff, for our staff.

In addition, we consulted with independent companies to understand how to make our staff feel safe when reporting bullying and harassment incidents.

This led to us increasing awareness as well as developing multiple channels for staff to report incidents, including an anonymous bullying hotline and email that all staff can access.

Despite our best efforts, we haven’t seen a significant increase in the formal reporting of bullying and harassment in the organisation.

The 2020 staff survey identified there were 39 persons who experienced sexual harassment over the past 12 months and 322 who experienced bullying, with similar ratio results for both male and female respondents.

The number of incidents formally reported in the same time were two cases of sexual harassment and nine cases of bullying.

This is unacceptable.

We need to understand why there is such a variance between what the survey has indicated and what has been reported so they can be investigated and appropriate actions can be taken.

Using the information from the 2020 staff survey, we will engage with external consultants to undertake investigations in this area to identify the reasons for such large variances and set up mechanisms for staff to engage with independent consultants when making complaints.

We’ve also invited an independent company to run confidential focus groups with our staff to give them the opportunity to talk freely about our organisation and any issues they have with our workplace.

Further action plans will be developed from this feedback.

The survey has indicated there is a problem that we need to fix. Safety and wellbeing will always be my highest priority and I am committed to working with council and our employees to stamp out any exposure to bullying or sexual harassment.