Irish Workplace Behaviour Study

Irish Workplace Behaviour Survey

Study
Launch event

Martin O‘Halloran
CEO
Health and Safety Authority

Welcome and introductions

Irish Workplace Behaviour Survey
Study
Launch event

Patricia Murray
Health and Safety Authority

An overview of Workplace
behaviour
Irish Workplace Behaviour Survey
Study
Launch event

Louise Hosking
IOSH Vice President

The role of OSH professionals

About IOSH

- Chartered body for health and safety professionals.

- Around 46,000 members in 120 countries – the world’s
largest professional health and safety organisation.
- Our role: Supporting safety and health professionals
- What we do: Support, research, advice, training
- Why we do it: Safer, healthier workplaces
- Objective: World where work is safe and healthy for every
working person, every day
- Work2022: Our 5 year strategy
- Influence
- Collaborate
- Enhance
Our research

- Started commissioning
research and
development in 2005
- 2014 Call for
proposals:
- Knowledge mapping
- Non-UK based studies
- Academics intending to engage
- Research into practice
with OSH practitioners
 Irish Workplace Behaviour Study

- Commissioned in 2014. One of 52 applications

- Why fund this research?
- Important area and topical
- Seen as HR and managerial issue. OSH practitioners
have a role to play.
- Potential to add to the evidence base, raise awareness
and chance policy and practice in workplaces
- What can be done by organisations?
- develop a robust policy
- develop awareness and more robust management
systems
- create and maintain optimistic and self-reliant
workforce. Good leadership and morale is important.
Research into practice
Other related IOSH resources
A range of resources and toolkits to help OSH professionals,
managers and other practitioners

- Occupational Health toolkit – www.ohtoolkit.co.uk

- Research:
- Unacceptable behaviour, health and wellbeing at work –
www.iosh.co.uk/bullying
- Return to work due to common mental health disorders –
www.iosh.co.uk/rtwmentalhealth
- A healthy return – A good practice guide to rehabilitating people at
work - www.iosh.co.uk/healthyreturn
- Working well – Guidance on promoting health and wellbeing at work
- www.iosh.co.uk/workingwell
- Developing managers for engagement and wellbeing -
https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/culture/well-being/developing-
managers-report
- Occupational health management in the workplace -
www.iosh.co.uk/ohguide
Working together
Irish Workplace Behaviour Survey
Study
Launch event

Dr Margaret Hodgins
NUI Galway

Research findings
 Irish Workplace Behaviour Study

• M Hodgins, L Pursell, V Hogan Health

Promotion Research Centre, NUI Galway

• P M McNamara. S, McCurtain, University

Limerick

• D Lewis Plymouth University

Irish Workplace Behaviour Study (IWBS)

- Ill treatment: includes a wide range of negative behaviours,

including but not confined to workplace bullying

- Many studies, many measures, many definitions…

- Consistently associated with compromised mental and

physical health, both direct experience and witness of

- A serious challenge for workplaces

 Irish Workplace Behaviour Study (IWBS)

• Study aim: to establish the prevalence of negative acts in the workplace

in a nationally representative sample of Irish employees, replicating the
British Workplace Behaviour Survey (BWBS)
• Survey and three case study organisations
• Educational sessions

• Survey (national probability sample)

– Gross sample 3,200 addresses, interviews completed at 1,764 homes
– With adults in employment currently or in last 2 years
– After adjustment, response rate of 74%

• 21 item checklist
• 5 indicators of ill treatment
• Direct, self reported experience, witnessing and
perpetration of ill treatment
Factor/Indicator Description Experienced Witnessed Perpetrated

Unreasonable Report of at least one of the 8

x x x
management items within this factor

Incivility or Report of at least one of the 11

x x x
disrespect items within this factor

Physical violence Report of at least one of the 2

x x x
or injury items within this factor

Report of at least one of all 21

At least one item x x x
items

Reported at least 2 weekly

At least 2 items
derived from responses to Q1 x
weekly
and confirmed at Q4 34

Reported at least 2 daily

At least 2 items
derived from responses to Q1 x
daily
and confirmed at Q4
 Survey
• Main demographics • Sub sample ‘3 or
• Gender, age, religion, disability, more’ - Troubled
ethnicity, province of residence Minority
• Work place characteristics – Perpetrator: status
– & gender
– Occupational sector, size of
organisation, occupational group, TU – Reason
presence in organisation/not,
managerial duties or not, job
permanent/not
• FARE items (10)
• Work positive items (31)
 Sample

Age • 76% White Irish, 10%

other White, 6% Asian
55+
16.80%
• 51% Female, 48% Male
• 84% Christian, 10% no
45-54
19.20% religion
35-44 • 54% Attained Higher
28.30% Education
25-34 • 6% reported a disability,
28.30%
2% of which was a
18-24 chronic illness
7.40%
Experienced ill treatment: at least one negative behaviour

Overall 43%

31.3% n=552
 Experienced ill treatment weekly and daily

50
45 43.06 43.74 42.37
40
35
30
25
20
15
8.96 9.73 8.16
10
5 1.98 2.68 1.26
0
At least one item At least two items weekly At least two item daily
Total Female Male
Witnessing ill treatment: at least one negative behaviour

Overall 48%
Unreasonable
Management
42.0% n=742

32.4% n=572
Incivility or
disrespect
All: 4.2% 38.1% n=673
4.3%

Violence 4.8%
5.0% n=88
Perpetrating ill treatment: at least one negative behaviour

Overall 17%
Unreasonable
Management
14.0% n=247

6.5% n=115
Incivility or
disrespect
All: 0.5% 9.5% n=167
0.5%

Violence 0.5%
0.6% n=11
 Ill treatment Experienced, Witnessed and Perpetrated
60

50 47.96
42.01 43.06
40 38.1 36.68
31.27
30

20 17
14
9.47
10
5.04
2.55
0.62
0
Violence or Injury Incivility & Unreasonable M At least one item
Disrespect
Experienced Witnessed Perpetrated
 Risk Factors

- Gender
- 4 items/behaviours sig. more likely to be
experienced by women, but no sig. gender
difference for each factor
- Women sig. more likely to experience daily ill
treatment (at least two items daily)
- 8 items significantly more likely to witnessed by
women, but no overall differences by factor
- No differences for perpetration
 Risk Factors - age

55+

45-54

Perpetrated
35-44
Witnessed
Experienced
25-34

18-24

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

 Risk Factors

- No differences for disability

- Having a third level education places one at higher risk
for experiencing and witnessing all three types of
negative behaviour

- Black or mixed ethnicity is a risk factor for experiencing

any kind of negative behaviour and Asian for witnessing
any kind of negative behaviour

- Asians seven times more likely to experience violence

 Occupational Sectors any one item
HSS

Education

PAD

Financial
Perpetrated
Transport
Witnessed
WRFA ExperiencedWitnessed

Construction

Industry

Agriculture

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
 Occupational Sectors any one item

Elementary

Plant & Machine

Sales

Personal Service
Perpetrated
Skilled trade
Witnessed
Admin Sec Experinced

Assct Prof Tech

Professional

Managers

0 20 40 60
 Occupational Sector, any one item experienced
-13.3 Unreasonable treatment 36.7%
Agriculture -5.4
-2.5

0.9 Incivility or disrespect 31.3%

Industry -2.5
-0.5

Violence or injury 2.6%

3.0
Construction -10.4
-2.5

Wholesale, retail, food -4.8

3.9
& accommodation -1.1

-2.4
Transport -5.1
-1.6

7.7
Financial services -1.9
-0.6

-1.6
Public administration -6.0
2.5

-3.0
Education 0.4
2.8

Health and Social 8.5

3.9
services 5.0

-4.3
Other services -1.9
-0.7

-20.0 -15.0 -10.0 -5.0 0.0 5.0 10.0 15.0 20.0

 Work characteristics, FARE, any one item
experienced
The pace of work in my job has 9.6 Unreasonable management
8.0 36.7%
increased over the past year 4.4
Incivility or disrespect 31.3%
The nature of my work has 13.4
7.5
changed over the past year 1.6
Violence or injury 2.6%
The pace of work in my present 22.4
18.9
job is too intense 3.9

I now have less control over my 31.0

work than I did a year ago 18.7
2.0

I do not decide the quality 22.4

29.6
standards by which I work 4.9

My manager decides the specific 16.2

9.5
tasks I will do from day to day -0.4

I do not decide how much work I 26.9

24.5
do or how fast I work 2.8

People are not treated as 43.0

37.8
individuals 3.2

You have to compromise your 32.3

principles 35.4
2.5

The needs of the organisation 32.8

always come first 26.1
0.9

-5.0 0.0 5.0 10.0 15.0 20.0 25.0 30.0 35.0 40.0 45.0
Work Characteristics, Work Positive, any one…

19.8 Unreasonable management 36.7%

High demand 16.6
3.4
Incivility or disrespect 31.3%
9.3
Low control 10.2 Violence or injury 2.6%
1.1

24.4
Low manager 23.9
support 3.1

21.7
Low peer support 21.3
2.3

9.8
Low role clarity 11.1
-0.4

22.6
Low control of 20.2
change 2.4

39.8
Poor relationship 37.5
5.1

-10 0 10 20 30 40 50
 ‘Troubled Minority’

- Respondents who experienced three or more negative acts (n=461)

- Perpetrators more likely to be men (45%) and to be managers (24%)
- Gender of perpetrator and ethnicity of (per followed up item)
compared to gender and ethnicity of respondent
- Those responsible for ill treatment 8 times more likely to be of the
same gender
- Those responsible for ill treatment 6 times more likely to be of the
same ethnicity
- Reasons for ill treatment
- ‘it’s just the way things are at work’, ‘attitude or personality of the
other person’ and position in the organisation’
- Who was responsible
- UM: superiors
- ID: co-workers/colleagues
- VI: clients/customers
 Qualitative study

- Three organisations; voluntary, public sector, health and

social services

- Policy documents checked against good practice

- 29 persons interviewed, including staff with and without
managerial posts, including trade union representatives

- Fours themes emerged across the data set

 Importance of…

- Robust policy, well implemented

- The role of the manager
- Support
- Training

- Context
- Culture
- Proactive, preventative perspective
Thank you!
Irish Workplace Behaviour Survey
Study
Launch event

Questions