Discrimination and bullying rampant in Amsterdam municipality

According to the latest report carried out on behalf of the municipality of Amsterdam, 55% of city workers have experienced bullying, humiliation and/or exclusion over the past 12 months. For employees with a non-European background or with a practical educational level (mbo), that figure increases to some 60%.

Another six percent say they have experienced sexual harassment.

The findings of independent research by the Verwey-Jonker Institute released this week are based on the answers to a questionnaire filled out by almost 6,900 workers, about 30% of Amsterdam municipal employees. The city says they were representative of the workforce in terms of gender, origin and age and include everyone from interns to managers.

Managers, in particular, were found to be guilty of misconduct, with the report finding them among the most often mentioned (60%) as sources of discrimination, which the researchers say is worrying.

“At the same time, managers bear a responsibility in this regard to bring about change,” wrote deputy major Hester van Buren in a letter to city council members earlier this week, yet “they also experience undesirable behaviour themselves. The investigation is late therefore in seeing the increasing pressure on managers in the organisation.”

Third report

The Verwey-Jonker study is the third independent report commissioned by the municipality to look into the issue, and it backs up the findings of the first two (carried out by KIS and Muzus and made public last year).

“The results of the Verwey-Jonker study complete the picture: the research shows how often discrimination and other undesirable behaviour take place within the municipality of Amsterdam,” wrote van Buren. Since 2020, she wrote, the city has been working on social safety improvements, inclusion and diversity.

When it comes to discrimination, 14% of respondents say they have experienced it over the past 12 months, with the most common grounds being racism (ethnicity, skin colour, religion), age and gender/sex. “That share increases if you focus on, for example, respondents with a European background and colleagues with a disability and/or chronic illness (25%),” wrote van Buren.

She says this research will be used as a baseline to measure future improvements.

For now, the study’s recommendations focus on “establishing responsibilities within the inclusion and diversity policy, creating and maintaining measurable goals, more clearly defining discrimination and other undesirable behaviour and involving experienced experts in the approach.”

Other advice, she says, will follow after the summer. “It is clear: we have to do better,” wrote van Buren. “The council is convinced that we can also do better.”