Nearly three-quarters of council staff have experienced or witnessed inappropriate behaviour in the workplace, according to a new survey.
The survey, conducted by Local Government News, revealed that 73% of staff have either been the victim or have witnessed unacceptable behaviour at work. Of these, 89% had been the victims of bullying, with a quarter of those surveyed being confronted with threatening behaviour.
One on five staff had also been the victim of sexism, with 11% having to deal with racism in their day-to-day job.
The increased use of social media in local government has also presented problems for council staff, with one in ten people receiving verbal abuse or threats via social media.
Less than half (47%) of those who had experienced or witnessed the inappropriate behaviour had officially reported the incident, with many saying the bullying had actually come from their line manager.
For those that did highlight the behaviour to their manager or HR department, 56% said management failed to tackle the problem, with another 8% saying it actually made the situation worse. Only 16% said reporting the behaviour had stopped the problem.
For those that did not report the problem, 41% said they were concerned it would escalate the problem. Just under a third also said they feared they may lose their job as a result of the complaint.
When asked about the impact austerity measures have had on workplace behaviour, 52% said they thought budget cuts had increased the amount of bullying and inappropriate behaviour at work. The majority (83%) said this was due to increased stress and uncertainties in the workplace, with more than half agreeing managers are more preoccupied with other priorities.
Read a selection of our readers comments about bullying here.
Read our comment piece from Unison on how to tackle bullying in the workplace.
