ECB staff speak out against changes to internal survey

European Central Bank (ECB) staff have accused the institution of removing sensitive questions pertaining to harassment and discrimination in an internal survey.

Some staff said the questions seemed to have been removed to improve how the central bank is perceived.

“It is as if the ECB says it has tackled high inflation because it stopped collecting data on prices,” ECB staff union vice-president Carlos Bowles told Politico, which first reported the story on April 29.

The 2022 edition of the survey showed that 17% of staff reported that they had been “shouted at or spoken to in an aggressive tone” or faced “offensive gestures” at least a few times. A third of respondents said they experienced discrimination.

But questions on these themes were removed from the most recent staff survey, which staff can complete until May 3.

“In spring 2023 we conducted a survey which focused on dignity at work issues and have since followed up on the findings,” an ECB spokesperson tells Central Banking, adding that these are “complex issues that cannot be solved overnight”.

“We will continue to listen to our colleagues in our next surveys, as well as via our whistleblowing tool, at workshops, open hours, town halls during which we are addressing related concerns,” they say.

Around 60% of ECB staff complete the surveys. Staff turnover is around 1.4%.

The ECB first surveyed its staff in 2015 and 2018, but changed to more frequent check-ins with its workers during the pandemic. The survey this year kept more general questions that had previously had more positive replies, and added new ones on hot-desking.

The 2023 survey showed that 80% of respondents were “proud to work at the ECB”, 81% felt “personally connected” and 89% believed “in the ECB’s mission and purpose”, the spokesperson said.

The ECB’s staff survey is created by the central bank’s “HR working culture” team in co-operation with the HR analytics team, the spokesperson said. There are grievance processes in place, and staff members can also turn to the European Court of Justice after appealing outcomes internally, they added.

An increasing divide?

ECB staff criticised its leadership in January 2024. More than half of ECB employees said that president Christine Lagarde’s performance was “poor” or “very poor”, according to a survey by ECB staff union Ipso. Less than 10% of respondents had the same opinion of Lagarde’s predecessor, Mario Draghi.

Frank Elderson, who leads the central bank’s climate work, created further controversy in February, telling attendees of an internal meeting that he did not want people who “still did not know how to spell the word ‘climate’” to be hired.

“I very much regret that,” Elderson said at a town hall meeting in March 11.