Majority of creative industry workers say sector tolerates bad behaviour: Bectu’s Big Survey

Bullying and harassment of workers is still rife across the creative industries, with Bectu’s Big Survey revealing 7 in 10 women in the creative industries have experienced bad behaviour.

Bectu has released the findings of its survey of over 5,500 creative industry workers in non-performing roles – from theatre to live events, film and TV, and fashion – giving a unique insight into the perspective of workers in the sector.

Key findings include:

• More than seven in ten (71%) creative industry workers say that behaviours that would be considered toxic and inappropriate in public life are often tolerated in the creative industries – this increases to 8 in 10 workers in unscripted TV (79%) and 76% of global majority respondents.
• And more than six in ten creative industry workers (61%) have personally witnessed or experienced bullying or harassment in the workplace.
• 69% of women in the sector said they had directly experienced workplace bullying and harassment in the last 12 months, while 72% of disabled workers and 63% of global majority workers said the same.

These shocking figures show that the creative sector still has a significant job to do to tackle bad behaviour, following a series of scandals such as the sacking of former MasterChef host Gregg Wallace.

The survey also found that only around half (55%) of those who have experienced bullying or harassment had reported the incident to their employer or engager. Just 12% reported the incident and were satisfied with the response – 42% said the response when they reported was insufficient.

Low levels of awareness about reporting processes are compounding poor responses from employers. Only around half (49%) of full-time employees and only 46% of freelancers said their contract contained information on how to report bullying and harassment.

And these issues add to the inherently precarious nature of employment in the sector and the very real fear creative workers face of losing work if they speak out against harassment.

Recent initiatives, such as the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority (CIISA), are important signs of progress but more must be done to compel employers and engagers to cooperate and fund the body long-term. Read more in this Guardian piece.

Commenting on the results, Head of Bectu Philippa Childs said:

“The creative industries may be a jewel in the crown of the economy, but they have a dark underbelly which is driving skilled workers out of the sector and leading to untold misery and exploitation.

“Our survey makes clear that recent scandals are just the tip of the iceberg, with the majority of workers in the sector having seen or experienced this toxic behaviour in the last year.

“Behind these statistics are thousands of stories of often young freelance workers who live in fear because of the power and impunity of powerful men in the industry.

“We welcome recent initiatives to clean up the sector, but the initial funding commitments from employers, while welcome, are far from universal and are indicative of the lack of seriousness with which many still view this issue.

“Industry needs to understand that getting its house in order and dealing with harassers isn’t something they can opt in to, it is an essential condition of doing business in Britain.

“Government, too, must lend its full weight to tackling these issues to ensure there is real and sustained progress.”