A quarter of bank staff have suffered bullying or harassment at work, according to a study for the Irish Bank Officials Association published today.
The survey, carried out by marketing group Red C was presented to the IBOA's biennial conference in Dublin. General Secretary Larry Broderick said: "The degree of bullying/harassment evident in banking has surprised even ourselves."
He said a quarter of members had personally experienced some form of bullying or harassment, with four in ten of them having suffered in the past 12 months.
"A further 43 per cent have witnessed bullying/harassment of a colleague and over a third felt they couldn't report this to management," me added. The study found that over 75 per cent of bank staff find their job stressful, citing staff shortages and pressure to achieve targets as the cause.
It found that almost three quarters were concerned that when staff left they were not adequately replaced .
Mr Broderick said alarm bells should start ringing in the boardrooms of certain banks at the finding that 87 per cent of IBOA members agreed that 'profits were the driving force behind decisions at senior level' and that 56 per cent agreed that the bank was forgetting its customers in their drive for profits.
Mr Broderick said: "IBOA has noticed in recent years the increased priority given by all of the banks to 'employee engagement surveys' and the pressure put on staff by management to complete these surveys and provide the 'right' type of answers.