Staff survey pulls back curtain on culture of WA Parliament, prompts overhaul

At Western Australia’s Parliament House, departments are using their resources to engage in “pointless” and “infuriating” competition, most of its staff believe. Almost half its workers say they have seen or experienced “inappropriate behaviour”. Almost a third have seen or experienced discrimination.

This is the take-home message of a confidential staff survey sighted by WAtoday. It found almost half of respondents had witnessed or experienced inappropriate behaviour in the past 12 months — and one-quarter said it was management behaving badly.

The survey was commissioned by the heads of department at Parliament House to improve workplace culture, flexibility and employee well-being.

About 27 per cent had witnessed or experienced discrimination by a colleague or management.

Of those who reported the behaviour, less than one-quarter were satisfied with the response.

Almost half of the respondents did not believe parliament was a mentally safe workplace and one-third believed there was inadequate support available.

The survey, by Nedlands-based consultant Data Analysis Australia, was commissioned by the heads of department at Parliament House in late 2022 as part of a pledge to improve workplace culture.

About 62 per cent of parliamentary staff (126 people) responded to the survey, which was released to those working for the Legislative Council, the Legislative Assembly and the Parliamentary Services Department and formally delivered in August 2023.

The review shed light on the culture at parliament house, canvassing the issues facing employees and laying bare tensions between staff and management.

Poor or antiquated management practices were a common theme, with the dislike and distrust of parliament managers deemed among the most significant issue to emerge from the review.

The majority of respondents indicated they did not feel management behaved with integrity and were good role models, while less than half believed the workplace had clearly defined values.

The survey revealed some staff members believed their managers appeared “untrained”, did not listen to or respect staff views, did not deal with issues in a timely manner, had limited world experience as “career staffers” and that parliament was too top-heavy.

“Parliament is not diverse. It does not represent the community.”

Anonymous respondent, Parliament WA Workplace Culture Survey.

Data Analysis Australia concluded the lower house had a distinctly poorer culture, and staff believed members of parliament received “priority treatment”.

“The workplace culture is still like it was in corporations in the 70s,” one respondent commented.

“The culture can be quite old-fashioned,” another wrote.

“Parliament is not diverse. It does not represent the community,” said another.

Most staff members also did not believe there was a collaborative working relationship between departments, revealing there was often “pointless” and “infuriating” competition between the parliamentary chambers, which were operating in silos.

And more than half did not believe the appropriate people were consulted before decisions were made.

“Departments are not just separated, they are in some ways estranged,” one respondent said.

More than one in 10 staff believed the human resources department was more concerned with checking boxes than providing staff support and did not follow its own rules.

However, the overwhelming majority of staff still enjoyed working at parliament, with 80 per cent of respondents relishing being the frontline for WA’s public sector and seeing democracy up close. They would still recommend it as a place to work.

They cited their colleagues, professional development opportunities, flexible working conditions and facility perks among key drawcards.

And there was a clear sense of camaraderie among those of similar seniority.

But not all staff were convinced they could carve out a career there based solely on performance, with almost one-third believing job opportunities were handed out based on relationships, and less than half felt challenged or utilised to their full potential.

In a statement prepared by Parliamentary Services, a spokesperson said the survey was undertaken with the goal of creating a workplace of choice after COVID and had prompted a suite of changes, from a broadened wellbeing services offering to an overhaul of internal policies.

In the months since, Parliament House has established working groups to aid the improvement process, encouraged greater inclusion and diversity, increased the frequency of communication workshops, improved cross-department synergies and delivered leadership and mental health training.

“Although the survey results identified some areas of concern it showed that most of our staff were satisfied with their jobs, which we regard as significant,” the spokesperson said.

“We believe the high level of staff satisfaction is because of our working conditions including our facilities and flexible work practices.

“Additionally, the professional development opportunities, camaraderie with colleagues, dealing with matters of public interest and a sense that their roles contribute to something that matters, are factors, too.

“The level of satisfaction among our staff is not common for most workplaces and very few workplaces could attest to an average length of tenure of 12 years.”

It is understood key findings from six questions concerning members of parliament were excluded from the report and provided directly to the three heads of department.

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