BBC unions respond to workplace review

Media unions have responded to the publication of the BBC’s Workplace Culture Review.

The review was announced last August following scandals involving senior talent.

At the time of the announcement, the corporation said it was “concerned about the potential for inappropriate behaviour, particularly in creative and editorial environments”.

The review highlighted a number of areas for improvement, setting out six key recommendations.

These include resetting behavioural expectations and reinforcing standards for anyone who works with or for the BBC, as well as enabling a “more rounded feedback culture”. The latter would be designed to ensure employees feel comfortable calling out inappropriate behaviour.

The NUJ journalists’ union said it was “vitally important that the country’s largest public service broadcaster is a safe place to work and people can not only thrive and be creative, but feel able to call out bad behaviour, whether it be bullying, sexual harassment or an abuse of power”.

Philippa Childs, head of the Bectu entertainment section of the Prospect specialists’ union, said BBC staff and freelancers, as well as the wider public, “need demonstrable evidence that the BBC is fully committed to improving how it handles reports of inappropriate behaviour”.

She said the union would be “holding the BBC to account to ensure it follows through on implementing the report’s recommendations”.