Moderates are working on new organization after scandal: "We have been in all corners"
DR-Politics in Politics
Thursday, October 17, 2024 • 7:00 PM UTC - in Politics
A directive from the Danish Labor Inspectorate now stands as the preliminary point in the case of poor working conditions at the Moderate Party.
This case, which has thrown the ruling party into a violent storm and cost Moderates an entire team of ten employees, including the party's organizational head and the prominent Folketing member and co-founder Jeppe Søe.
However, criticism of the working conditions in the party's secretariat, which is outlined in the Labor Inspectorate's ruling that DR has obtained access to (
- We take it very seriously and are working on it, he says.
Henrik Frandsen notes that Moderates have known about the Labor Inspectorate's assessment for some weeks, as the same tone was present in a hearing document that the party received at the end of September.
- We have already begun to take steps to address the criticizable things, he says.
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The Whole Palette
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The party has, among other things, initiated a collaboration with an industrial psychologist, started a so-called Workplace Assessment (APV), and brought a labor environment organization on board in the secretariat, explains group leader Henrik Frandsen.
> We are in the process of looking at the organization of our entire secretariat and how it works.
> Henrik Frandsen, group leader for Moderates
Latest January 15, Moderates must have rectified the criticizable conditions and reported back to the Labor Inspectorate on how the party will ensure that "disrespectful actions in the form of bullying and other demeaning behavior do not diminish employees' security or health in the short or long term," as it reads in the directive.
To the question of what the concrete solution is, Henrik Frandsen's answer sounds like:
- It's about using the whole palette and all the tools we can.
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New Organization
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So far, the message from Moderates has been that the problematic culture with bullying, "tyrannical leadership," and disrespect has been limited to a single department in the party's secretariat. More specifically, the political department, which digitalization minister Caroline Stage (M) headed up, briefly before she was recruited to the ministerial team.
- We have had to acknowledge that we have a department in our secretariat that we do not believe can function with the current staff, and therefore we are giving it a fresh start, Henrik Frandsen said in connection with the fact that three employees in the department - the only ones who had not taken up a voluntary resignation offer - were fired.
But according to the Labor Inspectorate, "there are currently disrespectful actions in all parts of the secretariat." This is clear from the ruling.
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Excerpts from the Labor Inspectorate's reasoning
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The Labor Inspectorate has based its directive on a 13-page ruling. Here are some key passages:
"There are currently disrespectful actions in all parts of the secretariat."
"Disrespectful actions manifest themselves in the form of backbiting, derogatory comments about others' professional competencies and contributions, appearance, demeanor, age, personal/private matters, and clothing. Disrespectful actions also show up as excluding, ignoring, devaluing, mocking, and intimidating behavior."
"There are employees who have experienced being trivialised and not taken seriously when they have approached a leader with experiences of bullying and mobbing."
"There are employees who have taken sick leave, as well as employees who currently have stress symptoms such as insomnia, both as a result of the psychological working environment." Furthermore, several employees are receiving psychological counseling.
The tone has also taken on a different sound from the party now.
- We are in the process of looking at the organization of our entire secretariat and how it works, Henrik Frandsen says.
- I hope, and I am also quite confident, that it will ensure that we will catch these kinds of signals much earlier in the future, he says.
In the video below, you can hear Henrik Frandsen speak about how not just one department, but the entire secretariat has been affected by the problematic culture of bullying and disrespect.
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Been in all corners
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In total, ten employees have left the Moderate Party's secretariat after the case gained public attention. Party secretary Kirsten Munch Andersen has also resigned. But all other employees are still present, according to Henrik Frandsen, who is confident that the current team can cool down.
- We have had a process running where we have had an industrial psychologist on board who has interviewed all the employees in confidence, and she has had the opportunity to ask the questions that were necessary to find out if employees have trust that they will be there in the future, and also if they have experienced some things that they should not have experienced.
- I am quite convinced that we have been in all corners, but of course, you can never be a hundred percent sure, Henrik Frandsen continues.
Professor of Work Environment at SDU Peter Hasle has called the reports of disrespectful behavior, bullying, and mobbing that the Labor Inspectorate has received from both leaders and employees at Moderates, "some of the most serious" he has seen.
The scope has also surprised Henrik Frandsen, but he considers the Labor Inspectorate's directive a "milestone" that can help the party deal with the problems.
- I have a clear expectation that it will help us, when we get to the other side of this, to have a really good workplace where people can feel safe, he says.
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