For anyone who has dismissed controlling bullying as excessive correctness or thought perfunctory adhesion to protocols would make it go away, the BHS investigation will make sobering reading. For anybody who themselves has been bullied it will hold many grim revelations and some vindication. Each damning page of the investigation hints at the enormous human cost of neglect.
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BHS is one of the most esteemed and vital services not only in Ballarat but the whole of western Victoria. The services they perform for an ailing public and the professionalism of its thousands of staff are not in question here. What we do know is that a supportive workplace is vital to fostering the best from any organisation’s best asset; its people.
The reports indicate the atmosphere in some units in BHS were far from supportive, in some cases they verged on destructive. Moreover they show rather than being just individuals it was a culture> This deeply affected both HR and mental health services.
Our initial expose of this “Toxic Culture” led to a flood of respondents who contacted The Courier in the wake of the October exclusive indicating it was far-wider and more deeply entrenched than first feared. The human cost has repercussions and the first worrying one is how this atmosphere affected the delivery of services. This may be hard to quantify but it would be fair to say one cannot possibly expect the best delivery of outcomes from a workplace where bullying was categorised as “harmful”. Particularly worrying in these reports is the ineffectiveness of HR, the very arm commissioned to guard against bullying and help staff.
Furthermore it raises serious questions about recruitment. Not only were nepotism and favouritism named as problems, a sample group from 200 interviewed reported 93 per cent staff members citing bullying as a reason for leaving. The legacy of this word-of-mouth is potentially appalling. In the circle of health professionals how long would it take before it became known that BHS was not the employer of choice? The consequence to the very highest calibre of recruits, whom the services needs, would inevitably be for them to think twice about a role in Ballarat.
The gravity of this issue has troubled the minister and seen a major staffing shake-up at the service, so it is appropriate both the board and new chief executive have targeted cultural reform as one of their highest priorities. All Ballarat depends on their success.
