Up to 12% of staff members experience “bullying and harassment” at College
HR report shows wage disparities growing between sexes and ethnicities.
An investigation by Felix has revealed that “11 to 12%” of staff who filled out 2024’s staff survey “had experienced bullying and harassment” at Imperial. Similarly, according to the 2024 Annual Staffing and Organisation report, which aims to “outline the work” of the HR division, both gender and ethnic minority pay discrepancies had increased over the course of the year.
According to the report, the most common types of complaint on Imperial’s Report and Support tool were under the “other”, “racial harassment”, and “hate crime” categories. The report and support tool is available to both students and staff to report any experiences of bullying and harassment.
An Imperial College London spokesperson said: “No forms of bullying or harassment are tolerated at Imperial and the university takes all allegations extremely seriously.
“We are committed to making our community an environment which is respectful and inclusive. This includes eliminating all forms of discrimination, especially direct and indirect forms of harassment, bullying and victimisation.”
Pay disparities rising
Both the gender pay gap and the ethnicity pay gap had increased. The gender pay gap increased from 6% to 10.3%, and the pay disparity between ethnic minorities and their white colleagues had increased from 9.5% to 13.2%. The College HR department had also undertaken an analysis of the disability pay gap, which was recorded as 7.6%.
Whilst the proportion of ethnic minority professors at Imperial (15%) was higher than the proportion sector wide across the UK (12%), and London (13%), Imperial has significantly lower proportions of female professors at 20%, compared to 31% across the UK higher education sector, and 33% across London.
Imperial has recently updated its sexual misconduct policy and is working on closing the gender, ethnicity, and disability pay gaps. According to its website, Imperial is “rolling out a College-wide mentoring scheme” and has made Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion training mandatory. In 2021, the College introduced a new pay review framework, aiming to ensure “equity and consistent application of achievement pay review awards.”
