Bullying and Sexual Harassment in FB, FD, FFI and FMA – results from a survey

In June 2022, we conducted a survey on bullying and sexual harassment in the Defense Ministry and its underlying agencies: the Norwegian Defense Estates Agency (FB), the Norwegian Defense Materiel Agency (FMA) and the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment (FFI). The purpose was to provide a knowledge base that can contribute to more targeted work to combat bullying and sexual harassment in the defense sector. The survey was sent to 4,171 employees. It had a response rate of 55%. The survey contained two scales that measure prevalence and forms of bullying and sexual harassment. In addition, the survey contained questions relating to the perpetrators of bullying and sexual harassment; where these situations happened; and questions about the respondents' knowledge of, and experience with, the reporting system. We found that 6% of respondents had experienced some form of bullying in the past six months. Women experienced more bullying than men, 8% and 5% respectively. “Exclusion and work-related bullying” was the form of bullying that most people experienced. "Personal bullying”, such as negative remarks, was the second most prevalent form of bullying. The bullying took place primarily in the workplace. No difference was found between the agencies in bullying. Although we cannot compare directly with other Norwegian studies, the results suggest that there is no more bullying in the defense sector than in other sectors or industries. In the past year, 10% of the respondents had experienced some form of sexual harassment at least once. There was a large difference in incidence between women and men, with 21% of women and 5% of men having experienced it. The youngest experiencing more than the oldest. As many as 30% of women under the age of 40 had experienced sexual harassment. "Gender harassment" was the most common form of sexual harassment, followed by "unwanted sexual attention". The incidence of sexual harassment was roughly the same in FD, FMA and FB. The proportion was lower at FFI. The results indicate that personnel in the defense sector probably experience less sexual harassment than what has been uncovered in other workplace studies in Norway. About half of those who had experienced bullying had reported it, while only 17% of those who had experienced sexual harassment reported it. Among those who had reported bullying and sexual harassment incidents, most had reported it to their immediate supervisor. For incidents of bullying that had not been reported, the reasons given were that: they thought it would not lead to any change; many were afraid of the consequences; and some mentioned that it would be too burdensome to report. Among those who had not reported sexual harassment incidents, most stated that they were unsure whether the report would lead to anything and whether the incident was serious enough.