Consultants recommend improved communications and changes in HR and management to address harassment

Consultancy company Ramboll has completed its study of the prevention, handling and follow-up of cases of harassment in the Foreign Service. The results were presented to the Ministry's personnel on Tuesday 26 March.

The report revealed that the prevention and handling of cases of harassment are impacted by shortcomings in management and communications. According to the report, the procedures relating to reporting of harassment and inappropriate conduct, handling of cases of harassment, and post-monitoring of the situation at the workplace should be streamlined.

The consultancy company gives 30 recommendations. To prevent harassment and to make it easier to expose and handle such cases, the Ministry should strengthen its organisational culture, such as a sense of security and feeling respected and trusted.   To foster these, the Ministry needs to examine and develop not only its structures and processes but also management and working culture.

To avoid conflicts of interest, the consultancy company recommends that those responsible for wellbeing at work, handling of cases of harassment, and job rotation should not take part in staff rotation and specialist staff should be hired.  Recommendations are also given on management and management responsibilities, on a more open working culture, on processes and procedures and on measures to reduce inequality.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini and Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Anne-Mari Virolainen urged immediate action to address the shortcomings. "Everyone must be able to rely on that the principle of zero tolerance materialises. This requires more resources for HR, better communications and management and diligent examination of some other administrative processes and structures in the Ministry. The recommendations of the report provide a good basis for concrete steps. The Ministry's senior management together with staff representatives need to go through the recommendations carefully and without delay. "

Independent study commissioned by the Ministers

The independent study, commissioned by Minister for Foreign Affairs Timo Soini and Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Anne-Mari Virolainen, was conducted between January and March.  It focused on how to prevent harassment and inappropriate conduct and how to discuss these openly, on how to deal with incidents more effectively and how to supervise the process more consistently.

The aim was to generate hands-on recommendations so the Ministry can develop its workplace activities. The study did not look into individual cases of harassment.

Foreign Service personnel in the Ministry and in its missions abroad were invited to express their views. Ramboll conducted an online survey and received 555 responses from the Ministry and the missions abroad. The Foreign Service employs approximately 2,350 employees, of whom 1,500 are working in the missions abroad.  Interviews and interactive workshops were arranged for the personnel, employee associations and representatives of the employer.

In 88 responses, it transpired that the respondent had experienced harassment or inappropriate treatment in the workplace in the past 12 months. Two responses mentioned experiencing sexual harassment.

Effective communications, discussion and confidentiality in workplaces were highlighted in the survey. Superiors were expected to show a genuine interest in creating a good atmosphere in the workplace and to safeguard their personnel's wellbeing at work. More resources for leadership training would be welcome. HR were expected to adopt a more professional approach and to distance themselves from the rest of the organisation. Personnel in the missions emphasised that they would like to experience less inequality and secure better understanding of local conditions.

Inquiries: Pekka Puustinen, Under-Secretary of State for internal and external services, tel. +358 295 350 228.

The Foreign Ministry’s email addresses are in the format[email protected]