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2019 Ombud’s Report

I recently presented the 2019 Ombud’s Report to the CERN Management and then to TREF, and I’d like to outline the main points for you here.

In 2019, 74 of our colleagues (around 1.3% of CERN’s personnel) came to see me. Just under half were staff members, on both LD and IC contracts. As in previous years, the number of women who consulted me was two and a half times higher relative to CERN’s female population than the number of men.

As was also the case in previous years, disagreements with the hierarchy represented the majority of the cases discussed. Among other matters, my visitors complained that their supervisors don’t know enough about what’s going on in their section, that they “micromanage” or that they could organise the section more effectively.

In second place were cases relating to the work environment. Half of these concerned sexism or sexual harassment, with all such behaviour being reported by female colleagues.

In third place came conflicts between colleagues: lack of respect, communication problems and unresolved disputes.

Joint next in line were complaints about career progression and non-compliance with CERN’s Code of Conduct. In this last category, some of the people who came to see me reported abuse of power, conflicts of interest and withholding of information.

Conclusions:

I’m aware that my annual report is based on a small number of cases and, moreover, that it seems to contradict the results of the internal and external surveys carried out in 2019, which reflect a different reality, expressed by a representative number of surveyed individuals. However, what I hear in my office is also a concrete reality. Although the cases that people consult me about probably fall at the very end of the spectrum of problems encountered at CERN, it is important to be aware of their existence. The conclusions of my report take on their full significance when cross-referenced with the observations of the other support services over several years.

CERN’s support services are a safety net for all of its personnel, whichever type of contract they hold, and it’s partly thanks to these services, which include the Ombud’s office, that the Organization can remain competitive on the job market. Never hesitate to use them.

Pierre Gildemyn

If you’d like to comment on any of my articles or suggest a topic that I could write about, please don’t hesitate to e-mail me at Ombuds@cern.ch.