There were a couple of stories in the UK news this week that caught my eye, and served as a sobering reminder of just how much work still needs to be done in the world of employee experience and engagement.
First up McDonalds hit the news with allegations of harassment, bullying, racism and abuse from current and former employees. The stories are quite frankly shocking and it’s difficult to understand how, or why, employees are being subjected to this. Alistair Macrow, chief executive of McDonald’s UK & Ireland said in a statement given to the BBC
“There are clearly instances where we have fallen short and for that we deeply apologise,” and that there’s “simply no place for harassment, abuse, or discrimination’ at the company.”
He has said that more than 2,000 managers had completed full awareness training and that most restaurant teams were now working within the new protections, which aim to create “a safe and respectful workplace”. He added that the company has stringent rules to ensure its workplaces around the world are safe and respectful.
It’s simply not good enough.
First up… awareness training? Cultures are not changed via sheep-dip style ‘awareness’ training programmes. There’s a clue in the title, awareness does not equal change. Secondly, stating that ‘most restaurant teams were now working within the new protections, which aim to create “a safe and respectful workplace’ doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence. Most teams? How about all teams? And let’s not aim to create a safe and respectful working environment, surely there should be a zero tolerance approach to anything other.
The other story came from the Metropolitan Police in the UK.
They were recently described as institutionally misogynist in a review by Baroness Casey, who found that a “boys’ club” culture was rife, and the force was failing to protect the public from officers who abuse women.
Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has told the BBC that the force is undergoing its “biggest doubling down on standards” in 50 years, as it tries to address the issue of its internal culture. In a news story this week the BBC talked to a former special constable and a detective, both of whom have written books about their experiences. And it does not make for pleasant reading, in fact like the McDonalds story, it is shocking to read the allegations.
Clearly there are some incredibly toxic and unsafe workplace cultures still out there. I was optimistic and probably naive, to believe these behaviours were a thing of the past (I have my own personal experience but that’s a story for another time). There is no Maslow style hierarchy of employee experience needs, but if there was, the right to work in a safe and respectful culture would be paramount.
I’d love to get your views on this – why is this stuff still happening? And more importantly what do we do about it? What I do know is that this has to stop, it is completely unacceptable for employers to treat their employees in this way and then do little about it.
As ever, would love to hear your views on these stories and in the meantime I’m going to drop both companies a line to offer my help.
