Army welcomes fall in bullying complaints

A CULTURE change is under way in the Defence Forces, with less than 1 per cent of staff making complaints about bullying in 2007, a deputy chief of staff has said.

The introduction of human resource policies similar to those used in the “civilian world”, the development of a complaints procedure and the creation of the office of the Defence Forces Ombudsman have all been major factors, according to Maj Gen Dave Ashe.

“All our military regulations had to be updated and brought in line with Government and European Union legislation on equality and health and safety,” he said.

A survey of Defence Forces personnel conducted in 2004 found that 26.5 per cent had experienced bullying and a number of investigations were launched into complaints from individual soldiers.

The problems highlighted that the forces needed to look outward to solve the difficulties that existed among an organisation of 10,500 people and Maj Gen Ashe, who has been involved in the development of its new human resources charter, said the organisation has attempted to eradicate the problems in an “open, transparent and enthusiastic” manner.

“Given the robust nature of military training, harassment complaints within could be expected to be higher than in the civilian workforce,” Maj Gen Ashe said.

“We accepted the figures and that things had to change, but it has been challenging, because in addition to the normal law, we also have military law based on the Defence Act to follow. We have to ensure we can provide people who can carry out the operational capabilities expected by the Government.”

The latest figures on bullying from the Defence Forces show a major improvement, with statistics from the ombudsman and the internal complaints procedure showing that only 0.2 per cent of staff complained about bullying in 2007.

He said an important development and a factor in reducing the number of complaints has been highlighting to new recruits early on what is to be expected of them in their line of duty and explaining exactly what bullying is to staff.

“We identified that new people coming in were the key. If we start focusing on new people they’ll bring the culture change with them through the ranks. We see the initial training as critical.”

However, a recent report into the Defence Forces by the Independent Monitoring Group, which was appointed by the Department of Defence, found the pendulum may now have swung too far in favour of the trainee.

It said new recruits are placing an increased focus on “their rights”, which is forcing instructors to operate “softer” training regimes as they fear using corrective action when issues arise as they believe the complaints system is now weighted too much towards the trainee.

Maj Gen Ashe said the culture change is still in progress, but that there is “no doubt it has improved” life in the Defence Forces.

“The openness and transparency are definitely visible now. We’re not losing the values. We’re modernising and transforming ourselves and still training people who can drive the forces forward.”