The National Museum
‘Over 40pc of staff at the National Museum of Ireland are at risk of developing anxiety or depression;
One in five employees at the institution are ‘often’ or ‘always’ subjected to bullying;
Another 20pc are “sometimes” the victims of bullying;
One employee complained of having to deal with ‘bullies and perverts’;
Over 40pc of employees at the institutions are deemed to be at risk of developing anxiety or depression;
Almost 70pc of respondents feel employee morale is poor to very poor;
70pc of employees want mental health support to help deal with stress and depression;
Staff contentedness at NMI is in the bottom 20pc of Irish companies.’The results of a report released on Friday on the National Museum in Kildare Street, Dublin 2 ‘The Work Positive Profile Management Report was completed by 96 members of staff at the institution, which employs between 140 and 150 workers.
Niall writes:
This is extremely disturbing. I think it might be time for a Dignity in the Workplace Bill…
Rollingnews
…will nobody think of the poor senators…moved into such a dysfunctional environment…
c,mon , its a handy number if your an established employee and not some poor OPW 8 months on 4 months off- -then re-interview for your job over and over again because loads of long term cushy number malcontents/drunk baby boomers with cleared mortgages wont retire and cant be kicked out.
Bullying and harrasment of seasonal OPW staff is endemic as well. Speak out and you can kiss your seasonal position goodbye!
Indeed this sort of behaviour is endemic in irish society
Baroness Hale put forward a Dignity in the Workplacs Bill in 2007 to properly regulate ‘Corporate Bullying’ – unfortunately it didn’t progress. No equivalent bill has been introduced in Ireland, even though there is clear need for statutory clarification. Bullying in the workplace is pernicious and destroys lives, as we can see from the comparative case involving Maurice McCabe. Put simply, there is a clear and unequivocal need for comprehensive legislation in this area.
There already is legislation (Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005) and a Code of Practice by the HSA, it just hasn’t been implemented by many companies beyond a token policy and it hasn’t been enforced beyond “is there a policy”.
There is one point on this story that might be missed too in that the Work Positive tool isn’t a “report” as such. The employer instigates it and surveys their employees, the aim being to gauge where they are and introduce measures to tackle problems.
The results are deeply concerning, but the survey would have been at the instigation of the NMI, so it looks like they at least planned to develop something.
“Over 40% is staff at the National Museum are at risk of developing anxiety or depression”.
Huh? Who says? How do you measure that? And finally, so what? They’re not in charge of the nuclear codes. Half the country are on antidepressants. These people are just “at risk”.
It’s unlikely that is just the NMI. The NLI and local libraries and other places run by the OPW too. So many people get temp contracts as alluded above, have to constantly reinterview, they get told they have to train or upskill for promotion. They apply for workplace funding to do so and get denied by the new person in the door who may or not be related to someone in DCC, or Fingal etc etc.
People get promoted not because of talent, or expertise, but because they stick around long enough or they knew the right people at the right time.
There are tremendous people in these places, smart, engaging, people focused people but there are some who the sooner they are out the door the better. People who would not have lasted beyond probationary stages in private sector.