From Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science
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This report presents the findings of an anonymous online survey examining the prevalence and impact of workplace bullying among staff in 20 publicly funded Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Ireland. This survey study was commissioned by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. The survey included five sections covering:
A total of 3,835 HEI staff (11.5% of employees working in the HEIs that were invited to participate in this study) aged between 18 and 65+ (65.1% female, 31.7% male, 0.5% non-binary, 2.7% did not disclose their gender identity) engaged with the online survey. Data were collected during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thirty-point-five-percent (30.5%) of staff engaging with the survey was working remotely at the time of the data collection.
Findings showed that:
Overall, enduring negative acts at work and cyberbullying had a negative impact on respondents’ mental health and wellbeing, with a slightly higher rate of female respondents and respondents belonging to minority groups reporting negative mood end emotions.
Incidents of negative acts at work were witnessed occasionally (“now and then”) by 34.5% of respondents. Over one third of respondents (35.3%) indicated that they had witnessed bullying at work in the past three years, with 50.5% reporting that they had taken action when witnessing bullying. Witnessing bullying was detrimental for the mental health of respondents, with 36.6% of bystanders reporting that witnessing bullying had a negative impact on their mental health and wellbeing.
On a positive note, the majority of survey respondents (64.5%) were aware that their institution had an anti-bullying policy. However, only 20.8% of respondents agreed that the anti-bullying policy and procedures at their HEI contributed to effectively protecting all staff members.
Finally, this survey assessed some organisational factors that might contribute to bullying, including pressure to produce, work-life balance and team psychological safety. Heavy workloads constituted an issue for a consistent proportion of the sample, with 35.8% of respondents agreeing that their workloads were very demanding and 34% reporting that their personal life suffered because of work. On a positive note, over a third of respondents (36.2%) reported that they felt valued in their work team and 47.6% agreed that members of their team can bring up problems and difficult issues.
Overall, findings of this survey study provide an overview of the bullying experiences endured by staff within HEIs in Ireland. Providing HEI staff with awareness raising initiatives and training opportunities, along with a sustained effort towards a more inclusive organisational culture are among the recommended strategies to tackle workplace bullying in HEIs.
