A major SEW/OGBL survey on mobbing in the higher education and research sector

As part of the SEW/OGBL awareness and prevention campaign on mobbing in the higher education and research sector, the staff delegations of the three public research centres (LIST, LISER and LIH) and the Max Planck Institute have asked the staff of these four institutions to take part in a survey on their knowledge, perceptions and experiences of mobbing in the workplace.

The purpose of the questionnaire, entitled “Survey on Mobbing in the Higher Education and Research Sector”, was to gather initial information on the current situation in the sector and to raise awareness of the issue of mobbing in the workplace.

Of the approximately 1,350 people contacted, 360 responded to the survey, representing more than a quarter of the staff at the four participating institutions. Even if the possible existence of certain biases could influence some of the results, the conclusions of the survey underline the reality of moral harassment through these testimonies and point to some interesting paths for reflection.

The full quantitative and qualitative results of the survey will be published in a thematic dossier that will soon be made public and distributed to SEW/OGBL members in the sector and to the employees of the participating companies. This initiative is of course in line with the legal news concerning the new law on moral harassment in the workplace adopted in March.

Summary of the quantitative survey results

50% of respondents somewhat or strongly disagreed that they were adequately informed by their employer about moral harassment.

One-third of respondents do not know or have no opinion on whether the institution where they work has adequate policies and procedures to deal with situations of moral harassment.

Nearly 60% of the respondents felt that they were not aware of the legal aspects of moral harassment at work in Luxembourg.

30% of the respondents have been victims of mobbing at work, either currently or in the past. That’s one in three, far too many!

49% of respondents have never been a victim of mobbing at work.

For almost 30% of people who are currently or have been victims of mobbing in the workplace, the actions continue or have continued for more than two years, according to their answers…

Respondents who consider themselves victims of harassment most often name their direct supervisor as the harasser. Co-workers and members of management come in second and third place.

50% of those who feel they have been harassed do not report it to their employer.

74% of employers who have been informed have taken no action to protect victims.

Among the actions taken to protect victims, employers transferred the victim to another team in 43% of cases.

We also wanted to know whether respondents had directly or indirectly (through conversations with victimized colleagues) witnessed acts of mobbing in the institution where they currently work. 48% of respondents had witnessed such behavior. Once again, the facts are spread over a long period of time, with 46% of cases lasting a year or more. The most common perpetrator is the direct superior, followed by members of the management and then colleagues.

Specific mobbing situations suggested to survey participants

Irrespective of whether respondents considered themselves to be victims/witnesses of workplace mobbing or not, we provided all participants with a non-exhaustive list of situations they had experienced or witnessed. Less than one percent of the participants ignored this question. For the remaining participants who did respond, here are some interesting numbers.

Participants responded that they had been victims or witnesses of the following situations very often or often:

  • 28%: being criticized for the quality of their work
  • 27%: having their ideas or decisions questioned
  • 23%: being treated as if they didn’t exist, being ignored
  • 22%: being asked to work after working hours
  • 21%: being excluded from discussions
  • 17%: being the victim of false rumors
  • 16%: being excluded from team work
  • 16%: not allowed to talk or not allowed to speak at all
  • 14%: openly or subtly threatened
  • 14%: forbidden to speak to colleagues
  • 13%: being given demeaning tasks
  • 9%: being subjected to jokes about intellectual abilities and skills
  • 5%: insinuations about physical disabilities

If we isolate the proportion of participants who feel that they have never been a victim or witness of moral harassment, either in the past or at present, there are still a number of people who claim to have experienced some of these situations:

  • 26%: often or sometimes questioned about their ideas/decisions
  • 11%: very often or often asked to work outside of working hours
  • 5%: often or sometimes criticized about their personal life
  • 9%: often or sometimes excluded from conversations
  • 5%: sometimes the victim of false rumors
  • 5%: sometimes ignored, treated as if they didn’t exist
  • 3%: sometimes openly threatened

In conclusion, even if some people claim never to have been victims or witnesses, some of these respondents confirm having experienced situations that could be qualified as moral harassment, depending on the systematic nature and duration of the acts.

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