Inside the air traffic control 'boys club'

Female workers at Airservices Australia, the federal agency responsible for ensuring safe air travel, have revealed the extent of the “boys club” culture inside the nation’s air traffic control towers.

Their accounts of comments by male managers such as “are you hanging around because you want to f…me”, “Grumpy - are you going to be happier after you have a shag on the weekend” or “too many men get blamed for rapes” helped inform Friday’s devastating review of Airservices Australia’s workplace culture by former sex discrimination commissioner Elizabeth Broderick.

In its submission to Ms Broderick, air traffic controllers' union Civil Air said: “Hostility to women is ingrained in Airservices.”

After a nine month inquiry in which almost 200 staff were interviewed, 81 written submissions received and 2171 employees - nearly 60 per cent of the workforce - completed an online survey, Ms Broderick found Airservices Australia has a big problem.

“The levels of bullying in particular, as well as sexual harassment, are unacceptable. They need to be addressed as a matter of urgency,” she found.

Ms Broderick quoted examples from staff where the boys club culture spilled over into career progression, including: “It’s a very ingrained male-dominated culture. There is not always merit in positions and promotions.”

Up to 20 per cent of Airservices employees who participated in the review reported sexual harassment.

But it is not just females that have been affected by vindictive and abusive management however. Half of the more Airservices Australia employees who cooperated with Ms Broderick’s review reported experiencing bullying in the past five years and many staff felt intimidated into not applying for leave.

Staff described the workplace as being akin to Lord of the Flies or Animal Farm.

Perhaps the most troubling finding by Ms Broderick was the extremely low levels of reporting of sexual harassment to senior management. Up to 20 per cent of Airservices employees who participated in the review reported sexual harassment.

But this was not reflected in complaints to management and Ms Broderick said this spoke “to a culture that is not psychologically safe”.

“People do not feel safe to disclose an issue relating to unacceptable behaviour. This theme featured frequently in focus group discussions and interviews and was a key issue in many of the submissions,” she wrote.

“Many participants felt extremely let down by their managers and, of even greater concern, by people services in the organisation’s responses to their formal complaints.”

Airservices Australia has accepted that it does have a workplace culture problem and chief executive Jason Harfield on Friday promised staff there would be changes.

"The levels of bullying in particular, as well as sexual harassment, are unacceptable. They need to be addressed as a matter of urgency."Elizabeth Broderick

Ms Broderick commended Mr Harfield and his team for already having made considerable improvements during the course of her inquiry.

The one area where Airservices Australia is understandably most sensitive is the issue of public safety. It maintains that for all its workplace issues, nothing has ever put the travelling public at risk.

In its submission to Ms Broderick’s, Civil Air provided a different view. It claimed the workplace was “rife with division” and sexism, harassment, bullying and victimisation were “proliferate”.

“Airservices’ workplace culture is detrimentally impacting employee health, organisational productivity and may affect public safety,” the union’s submission stated.

Ms Broderick did find some positive elements about working life at Airservices, noting how hundreds of employees were enthusiastic about their work and contribution towards safe air travel in Australia.

But she said the agency would need courageous and strong leadership if it was to make the necessary changes.

A key change she recommended was establishing a gender-balanced cultural reform board to be chaired by Mr Harfield.

Mr Harfield has committed to adopting the vast majority of Ms Broderick’s recommendations by the end of 2020.

“We are strongly committed to fostering a culture that is diverse, inclusive and respectful,” he said.

Executive secretary of Civil Air Peter McGuane welcomed Ms Broderick’s findings but called for new management at Airservices.

“Members feel let down. The current management team has committed time and time again to resolve the issues and there is a real risk that the new ‘action plan’ to address the recommendations may be little more than another hollow commitment to change,” he said.

“To effectively address the broken culture, senior management must be held to account. It is essential that he composition of senior management change. New approaches require new management. Otherwise, there is a real risk that Airservices will continue to be weighed down by the baggage of the past.”