One in 10 staff at the Department of Parliamentary Services say they have been bullied or harassed at work, new survey findings show, but departmental leaders have hailed an improvement on previous results.
A survey in November showed 11 per cent of department staff reported experiencing bullying and harassment, compared to 16 per cent in 2020.
Department secretary Rob Stefanic told staff in an email in December the latest figure was far removed from "the aggregated information published in the Jenkins Review" into parliamentary workplaces.
He said it also validated the department's "efforts to distinguish ourselves from generalised media representations about culture in Parliament House".
"Notwithstanding that, the only real acceptable measure is zero per cent," Mr Stefanic said.
"While we cannot always control individual behaviour, we have mechanisms in place to report and manage instances where this occurs."
The survey, which received about 730 responses from a department of about 1000 staff, reflected efforts to improve workplace culture through a reform program started three years ago, Mr Stefanic said.
Call for transparency
The main public sector union called for the department, which provides Parliament with IT, security, library, broadcasting, Hansard, visitor and research services, to release more detailed results to grow transparency regarding teams or branches with cultural problems.
The Community and Public Sector Union, representing department staff, said while bullying and harassment had decreased slightly, all workers deserved a safe and respectful workplace.
CPSU deputy national president Beth Vincent-Pietsch said the Jenkins report laid bare how unacceptable behaviours can run rife where there were significant power imbalances.
"The CPSU will work with DPS to implement recommendations and ensuring workers are safe at work, once the government responds," she said.
A recent Senate inquiry report about the Parliamentary Services department found that groups of staff, including in the Security Branch and the Parliamentary Library, had a differing view to the department about the state of its workplace culture.
Ms Vincent-Pietsch said many departments released detailed breakdowns of staff survey results by section and branch.
"This is useful to help identify and focus on areas of concern, especially in departments like DPS where areas are siloed, and duties very specific to teams," she said.
"CPSU members would expect the DPS to do the same so there is transparency on areas of concerns."
Participants in the Jenkins review from the Parliamentary Services department told the commission they feared forms of retribution including being sidelined or denied opportunities; being ostracised socially; and being systematically pushed to resign.
"Participants highlighted the Department of Parliamentary Services as being particularly driven by fear," the report said.
"They told the commission that DPS employees feared senior leaders within DPS, who in turn feared parliamentarians.
"Participants told the commission that the result of this fear was a culture of 'cover up' and silence. Participants reflected on the consequences of not going along with this and described ostracism and targeted bullying."
'Zero tolerance'
A department spokeswoman said it had endeavoured to strengthen measures to both prevent incidents of bullying and harassment, and effectively address complaints.
It started a dedicated cultural reform program in 2018.
Department induction training programs included behaviour required for staff to work consistently with Parliamentary Service values and the code of conduct. Training also covered policies on workplace health and safety, the spokeswoman said.
Bullying and harassment training became mandatory for all staff in early 2021.
"The department has a zero tolerance for workplace bullying and harassment and the results demonstrate that the ongoing program to improve the department's culture is working," the spokeswoman said, referring to the survey findings.
"The culture program is ongoing and includes initiatives to mentor and develop women into leadership roles, face-to-face cultural awareness training, a values based culture program and training to assist our staff to be confident when serving people with disabilities."
The department's staff survey recorded improvements in several measures of internal culture:
- 81 per cent of staff were satisfied with the culture in their teams and work groups, an increase of 11 per cent on last year;
- 89 per cent said that across the department staff treated each other respectfully which was up by 9 per cent; and
- The number of staff who said their supervisor recognised their job performance rose from 80 per cent to 85 per cent.
Mr Stefanic told staff that a breakdown of results relevant to individual branches would be provided to assistant secretaries, who would discuss these with their teams.
"Workshops at the branch level will allow teams to look at where they may not align with departmental results and allow you to collectively identify areas for improvement," he said.
