40% of WorkCover staff felt bullied

Saffron Howden

March 3, 2011 - 1:28PM

Well over one-third of staff at WorkCover NSW feel they have been bullied or harassed, a government-commissioned report has found.

The investigation was sparked in September last year by revelations in the Herald that the government agency responsible for investigating workplace bullying was itself harbouring a serious bullying problem.

The PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report, released today, found 40 per cent of WorkCover staff felt they had been bullied or harassed in the workplace. Half of those felt the source was a manager.

"Bullying and harassment by a manager or supervisor most commonly occurred in the form of nit-picking, unjustified criticisms or inequitable treatment compared to other employees," the report said.

There were also "a number of examples" of bullying complaints being "poorly handled".

PwC found that, in the case of five specific allegations, WorkCover "failed" to investigate in time and failed to clarify the complaint at the time of reporting.

It noted that there was a lack of grievance training for managers responsible for investigating allegations and that management had failed to communicate properly with the people involved.

Among the PwC recommendations were improving communication with staff, revising the internal bullying and harassment policy, an overall structural review of leaders' roles in WorkCover, implementing clear guidelines for performance management and increasing the transparency of hiring and promoting.

NSW Finance Minister Michael Daley said WorkCover had accepted PwC's six central recommendations.

“There were reports of behaviour described as bullying and harassment, and many felt that the leadership team had historically not demonstrated leadership capability in this area or had not handled specific complaints appropriately," he said in a statement.

“However, the report also noted that significant changes have been implemented in the last 12 months in respect to organisational, structural and cultural changes," he said.

"WorkCover has accepted and will implement all these recommendations.”

In September last year, the Herald revealed the findings of an internal WorkCover report into allegations of bullying within the agency's Licensing Solutions Unit.

That report found there was a "pattern" of bullying within the unit, the agency's money-spinning department that approves workers to drive forklifts, operate cranes and work on construction sites.

It concluded bullying had been "occurring for a prolonged period of time and that various factors, including selective supervision, multiple chains of command, workload equity, continuous negative feedback and a somewhat autocratic management style ... have contributed to unintended bullying".