Updated 1.05pm
DESPITE CONCERNS OVER how bullying and harassment are tackled in their workplace, 84% of staff at the Department of the Taoiseach are proud to work there.
That’s according to a staff consultation initiative 2014, which was published last month by RA Consulting and put on the department’s website on Tuesday.
The 95-question survey looked at a number of areas in the department.
It can be read in full here. In its conclusion, it says:
Results should be seen against a background of cuts, media criticism, corporate memory losses and increased workloads. Department should be seen to have made progress while ‘swimming against a particularly challenging tide’.
It showed that just 3% said they were not proud to work for the Department of the Taoiseach, which is up from 2% in 2007 and 1% in 203. Overall, 84% are proud, which is also up by 1% on the previous survey.
Bullying
Just 34% gave a favourable response to the phrase “I am confident that the anti-bullying and harassment policy is supported in practice”, and 59% gave a favourable response to “I have not experienced bullying or harassment of any kind in the Department”.
It showed that 75% said they are satisfied with the leadership displayed by their immediate manager, while 53% said the department is focused on effective leadership.
Just 29% agreed that good performance is recognised by the department.
The report recommended a requirement to “enhance commitment to dignity and respect (anti-bullying and harassment) through refresher training/awareness programmes”.
However, in an information note published in response to media reports today, the report’s author, RA Consulting’s Peter Ryan, said:
It should also be emphasised that the extremely positive findings were largely absent from the media reports and importantly, these findings could not coexist if there was a culture of workplace bullying.
“In particular, the survey revealed that 84 per cent were proud to work for the Department, 72 per cent said that they trusted their managers (only 8 per cent disagreed) and 95 per cent said that they were able to work on their own initiative (only 2 people (individuals) disagreed) which would not be the case if bullying was an issue.”
Good place to work?
Asked if they would recommend the Department to others as a good place to work, 68% said they would.
Just over half, 58%, said they consider the culture within the department to be generally good. The same percentage said that they are encouraged to speak up “where we disagree with a decision”.
Just a quarter – 25% – said that employee morale has improved over the last number of years, with 35% giving an “unfavourable” response to this question.
When asked about communication, 52% said that communications within the department have improved over recent years.
Just over a fifth of staff surveyed – 21% – agreed that workloads are fairly distributed within the Department.
Some of the lowest favourable responses were in the development and career progression section, with just 12% giving “I am encouraged to proactively identify my T&D needs” a favourable response.
In addition, 30% said that the department provides good opportunities for career development.
Overall, the document concluded that work undertaken over recent years has “had a positive impact upon the workplace culture”, but that some improvements have been more modest, and satisfaction has fallen in other areas.
The department said that in response to the report a new human resources strategy is being prepared along with a new Civil Service-wide ‘Dignity at Work’ policy.
- additional reporting from Hugh O’Connell
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