International Labour Process Conference

Description

Bullying in the UK’s research and innovation ecosystem: Effects on EDI during and in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic

Workplace bullying and sexual harassment has attracted a sporadic amount of research, not least in the UK, where the current paper is set. Such research includes, for example, considering bullying in the public sector (Garvey and Mackenzie, 2024), human resource professional responses to such issues (Harrington et al., 2015), and how such acts can now be experienced in
cyberspace (Coyne et al., 2017). As such, there is evidently a wide-range of research gaps on the matter of workplace or work-related bullying.

The current paper seeks to address the lack of research on workplace bullying in the context of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on equality, diversity and inclusion in the UK’s research and innovation (R&I) sector. What is meant by the R&I sector are organisations (public or private) that have performing research and innovation as their main activity – this includes a focus on people who work (or recently worked) in R&I, whether they are directly involved in such activities (i.e., researchers, innovators, lab technicians, etc.), or perform a wider
managerial or administrative (research and innovation professionals) role in such organisations. The focus of the research is the lived experienced (direct and first-hand experience) of workplace bullying, with a wider aim of building policy and practice surrounding inclusive working environments.

The study draws on orthodox labour process analysis, in that the key issues at stake arise directly and indirectly out of structured antagonism (Edwards, 1986); that is; workplace bullying is symptomatic of attempts by the employer, via managers, to control the way work is organised and how value is extracted by performance management practices.

The findings are drawn from a wider survey on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on equality, diversity inclusion in the UK’s R&I ecosystem. Approximately 600 workers and employees completed a four-part survey on such matters, with around a quarter (n=141) attempting the section on workplace bullying. The survey also allowed for participants to comment freely on such experiences based around themes not captured by the survey questions. The broad aims of the survey were to explore, for example, attribution, reporting of such incidents, and satisfaction with organisational responses to the reporting of such behaviour.

Initial analysis of the findings revealed key differences between workplace bullying experienced and witnessed during and in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. Of particular note was how workplace bullying appeared to grow after the UK government began to relax lockdown laws and ended recommendations for employees and workers to work from home wherever
possible. Further workplace bullying appeared to be differently gendered during and in the aftermath of pandemic-related lockdowns. The findings are expected to have wider application as they have the potential to indicate how R&I organisations can adapt human resource policy and practice regarding bullying and harassment in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Period	23 Apr 2025 → 25 Apr 2025
Event type	Conference
Location	Santiago, ChileShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International