At Western Australia’s Parliament House, departments are using their resources to engage in “pointless” and “infuriating” competition, most of its staff believe. Almost half its workers say they have seen or experienced “inappropriate behaviour”. Almost a third have seen or experienced discrimination.
This is the take-home message of a confidential staff survey sighted by WAtoday. It found almost half of respondents had witnessed or experienced inappropriate behaviour in the past 12 months — and one-quarter said it was management behaving badly. The survey was commissioned by the heads of department at Parliament House to improve workplace culture, flexibility and employee well-being.
Credit: Composite Image/Marija Ercegovac. About 27 per cent had witnessed or experienced discrimination by a colleague or management. Of those who reported the behaviour, less than one-quarter were satisfied with the response.
Almost half of the respondents did not believe parliament was a mentally safe workplace and one-third believed there was inadequate support available. The survey, by Nedlands-based consultant Data Analysis Australia, was commissioned by the heads of department at Parliament House in late 2022 as part of a pledge to improve workplace culture. About 62 per cent of parliamentary staff (126 people) responded to the survey, which was released to those working for the Legislative Council, the Legislative Assembly and the Parliamentary Services Department and form.
