Men at Edmonton city hall blind to harassment: expert
Women working for the City of Edmonton are witnessing harassment and discrimination far more than men — raising questions about how well those men recognize what’s happening in front of them.
That’s what gender-equity consultant Cristina Stasia first noticed while reviewing a new detailed set of workplace harassment data released late Wednesday.
In the community standards branch, for example, 29 per cent of women said they witnessed discrimination or harassment against another person at work within the last 12 months. That number was just 12 per cent for men.
Thirty per cent of the women said they were harassed.
“That really speaks to the #metoo movement.... That just can’t be true,” said Stasia, who was surprised how many men might see but don’t recognize what’s going on.
It’s proof the city needs to work at helping employees recognize harassment, sexual harassment and discrimination, she said.
Stasia works at the University of Alberta as director of instruction at the Peter Lougheed Leadership College.
Throughout the #metoo movement, which highlighted sexual assault and misconduct in the North American entertainment industry, many men have acted surprised at allegations against colleagues, saying they didn’t know what was happening.
Men need to be given the tools to recognize sexual harassment and discrimination is more than a dirty joke or grabbing someone’s bottom, Stasia said. It can take “insidious and subtle forms.”
Those who’ve experienced that harassment are often better at identifying it being done to others.
Overall, 19 per cent of the city’s workforce reported harassment. Of those, 8.7 per cent said the harassment was sexual in nature. The city did not ask, or at least does not report, if that harassment was sexual assault or unwanted touching.
Eleven per cent of City of Edmonton employees said they experienced discrimination. Race, age and gender were the most common causes.
The results don’t break down how many men and women from minority groups experience harassment or discrimination. That’s another issue, said Stasia. The city needs that information to effectively target the problem.
City officials released 811 pages of detailed employee engagement results at 5 p.m. Wednesday, responding to Postmedia efforts for the city to improve accountability and transparency on workplace harassment and discrimination.
The data breaks results down by branch and gender, as long as no subgroup has fewer than 50 employees.
It comes from a citywide employee engagement survey run by third-party consultants TalentMap in September 2016. It had a 72 per cent participation rate.
City officials previously said the answers relating to harassment were too “sensitive” to release.
In late November, they reversed course, committing to release branch-level data broken down by gender on or before Jan. 10. They formally dismissed a Postmedia access to information request and posted the information online.
Postmedia’s reporting sparked a citywide debate in November when it revealed pockets of harassment and low worker morale at the City of Edmonton caused many to quit.
Employees reported sexism and aggression, sleepless nights, debilitating anxiety and dysfunctional team environments.
Union officials reported one incident was so bad, the employee was still off on an approved workers’ compensation claim for posttraumatic stress disorder. They said the supervisor responsible kept his job.
No one from the city was available to comment Wednesday.
The data highlights certain branches where harassment is worst. Among those who take care of Edmonton’s roads and parks, nearly one out of three women said they were harassed at work within the past year, mostly from a co-worker or immediate supervisor.
Thirty per cent of women in fleet services, community standards and Edmonton transit also reported they experienced harassment in the last 12 months, as did 30 per cent of employees in the real estate and housing branch.
In comparison, eight per cent of men in fire rescue services had the same complaint.
Stasia celebrated the fact Edmonton did decide to make the information public. “It’s extremely important,” she said.