Newi staff voice 'harassment' distress

Funding council officials investigating allegations of mismanagement at the North East Wales Institute on behalf of the Welsh Assembly may wish to consider the findings of the college's own senior personnel officer.

As part of a dissertation for an MA in strategic human resource management, Newi personnel officer Colin Grethe turned his attention to academic stress. A total of 172 academics were surveyed with a 74 per cent response rate. Fifty-seven per cent of staff indicated that they were suffering from work-related stress, with just 9 per cent claiming they were "definitely not stressed". Just over half said that their stress was caused by harassment and bullying, while 81 per cent said that "unrealistic" management expectations were to blame. Mr Grethe concluded: "My research clearly identifies a variety of practices within Newi that result in stress for a large number of staff."