Disharmony at work says survey on day of bullying conference
27 November 2008
On the eve of a central London bullying conference UCU today reveals that a culture of bullying and personal harassment in higher education is creating discord between work colleagues who complain of strained working relationships.
The UCU survey of 9,700 members working in higher education revealed that 6.7% of members said they were 'always' or 'often' bullied at work and 16.7% said 'sometimes'. Only half (51%) said they were fortunate enough to 'never' be bullied at work. The results are part of a wide-ranging survey of UCU members across the post-16 education spectrum that will be released next month.
Less than half of all respondents in higher education (only 45.1%) said they were 'never' subjected to personal harassment at work. 7% said they were subjected to it 'always' or 'often' and nearly one in five (18.8%) said they 'sometimes' suffered from personal harassment.
The survey further revealed that over a third of those surveyed (35.3%) 'agreed' or 'strongly agreed' with the statement that 'relationships at work are strained' and only 2.8% said that there was never friction or anger between colleagues.
Main findings from the survey:
I am subject to personal harassment at work | There is friction or anger between colleagues | I am subject to bullying at work | |
Never | 45.1% | 2.8% | 51% |
Seldom | 29.2% | 26% | 25.6% |
Sometimes | 18.8% | 43.7% | 16.7% |
Often | 5.5% | 20.9% | 5.1% |
Always | 1.5% | 6.6% | 1.6% |
Relationships at work are strained | |
Strongly agree | 9.6% |
Agree | 25.7% |
Neutral | 27.8% |
Disagree | 29.0% |
Strongly disagree | 7.9% |
UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'Bullying at work can take many forms and all of them create stress for the victim and do nothing to foster a good working environment. Everybody has the right to expect to work in a safe environment free from bullying; sadly these results suggest that is not the case and working relationships are increasingly strained. Good institutions are ones that are aware of the problems and proactively trying to tackle them. Poor ones are those who refuse to accept there may be a problem or try to place the blame elsewhere.
'We believe bullying to be a deep-seated problem in higher education and we want to know what organisations such as the Universities and Colleges Employers' Association (UCEA) are doing to tackle the problem. Our conference today is an ideal opportunity for our activists to share their issues, listen to experts in the field and help drive UCU's next steps in the campaign to stop bullying at work.'
The university with highest percentage of staff who said they are 'always' or 'often' bullied was the University of East London with 16.7%. In an alarming 19 institutions (table below) at least one in 10 respondents to the UCU survey reported being 'always' or 'often' bullied.
Higher education institution | 'Always' or 'often' bullied | Number of respondents | Academic staff among respondents | Survey sample academics as % of institution's total academic staff |
University of East London | 16.7% | 36 | 33 | 4.9% |
Kingston University | 15.9% | 69 | 51 | 3.0% |
De Montfort University | 14.3% | 77 | 70 | 5.7% |
University of Lincoln | 13.6% | 44 | 37 | 5.6% |
University of Salford | 12.8% | 86 | 53 | 4.3% |
University of Glamorgan | 12.5% | 48 | 41 | 3.6% |
University of Ulster | 11.9% | 143 | 103 | 5.7% |
Bangor University | 11.8% | 51 | 36 | 5.3% |
Manchester Metropolitan University | 11.7% | 77 | 68 | 3.4% |
Birmingham City University | 11.5% | 52 | 33 | 2.0% |
University of Greenwich | 11.4% | 35 | 32 | 3.0% |
University of Westminster | 11.3% | 62 | 56 | 3.0% |
Oxford Brookes University | 11.1% | 45 | 40 | 3.4% |
University of Gloucestershire | 10.9% | 46 | 40 | 6.8% |
University of Hertfordshire | 10.9% | 46 | 45 | 2.7% |
University of Dundee | 10.6% | 94 | 61 | 4.4% |
University of Portsmouth | 10.5% | 38 | 29 | 2.8% |
University of Bradford | 10.5% | 124 | 80 | 12.1% |
Queen's University Belfast | 10.1% | 148 | 124 | 7.7% |
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