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This resource is from the News section. This section contains the executive summary of a survey of Metropolitan Police Service officers and staff.

Sections available here:

• Survey of Metropolitan Police Service officers and staff prepared for the Inquiry by the Work Foundation
  • 1 Executive summary

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Survey of Metropolitan Police Service officers and staff prepared for the Inquiry by the Work Foundation

1 Executive summary

The Morris Inquiry is an independent inquiry established by the Metropolitan Police Authority to look at professional standards and employment matters in the MPS. This survey was designed by the Morris Inquiry, in partnership with The Work Foundation, to provide some quantitative data to support other work being conducted by the Inquiry. [1]

The Work Foundation has a considerable experience of working police services, including a long established relationship with the MPS through our Campaign for Leadership, as well as a recent benchmarking exercise focusing on senior team effectiveness. We have also conducted work with Surrey Police on workforce planning, and conducted a review of internal communications with Cambridgeshire Police.

This survey was designed to focus on a number of specific areas relating to employment and workplace behaviour: job satisfaction; workloads and work-life balance; fairness; equality and diversity; learning and development; line management; resources and the physical working environment; and communication.

Overall, the results show that the MPS does not fare well against our benchmarks. The Work Foundation’s benchmark data is collected from all organisations that we work with in both the public and private sector and provides organisations with a useful contextual comparison against which to view survey results. The results show that in most cases, the results for the MPS fall short of our benchmarks, often by a significant margin. Furthermore, few results exceed 70% of respondents in agreement with a statement – this is considered to be a useful barometer of a ‘survey highlight’.

Job satisfaction

Levels of job satisfaction in the MPS are, on the whole, lower than we would expect to find. Respondents are most likely to say that their job offers a friendly working atmosphere and makes good use of their skills and abilities, but even these results are lower than our benchmarks. Over half of respondents also agree that their job provides them with flexible working opportunities, but less than half say their job gives them the scope for personal growth, the opportunity to use their potential, recognition for what they do, and opportunities for career development. However it must be noted that most organisations today are struggling to provide staff [2] with the career development they desire and the result for the MPS exceeds our benchmark.

Just over half of the survey’s respondents say that their workloads in the MPS are reasonable, and this result just falls short of our benchmarks. As we expect to find, the majority agree that it is important to them to strike a reasonable work-life balance, and the vast majority agree that they get the support they need from their line manager to help them achieve this. It is noteworthy, however, that the majority think that the MPS could and should do more to help all staff, regardless of caring responsibilities, achieve a satisfactory work-life balance.

Fairness

Overall the results show that the majority of respondents to this survey have heard of the Fairness at Work initiative and that of those who have heard of the policy, the majority know what it contains. However, there remains a sizeable minority who are not aware of the policy at all, and amongst those who have heard of it, who are not aware of what is contained in the policy. The majority of respondents who have heard of the policy are confident about what to do in the case of a grievance, but few are confident that their line manager would know what to do in such a situation. There is limited confidence that the policy will help to mediate and resolve disputes within the MPS.

Attitudes towards the fair and consistent application of policies and procedures across the MPS are poor. Few have confidence that remuneration, reward, and access to job opportunities etc, is fair or transparent. On the whole, people do not feel that their contribution is valued by the MPS. Just half say that they are treated with fairness and respect.

Equality and diversity

All results for the MPS on equality fall below our benchmarks, from perceptions of the MPS’ commitment to equal opportunities through to ratings against equality indicators. Just over half of respondents agree that the MPS demonstrates that it values the diversity of its workforce. Although most respondents say that they have a good understanding of what diversity is and why it is important to the MPS, there is little confidence that the MPS is embracing all aspects of diversity, rather than just focusing on ethnicity issues, and little confidence that diversity has yet become part of the MPS’s culture.

Learning and development

There is little confidence amongst respondents that the MPS is committed to training and developing its staff. Few feel that induction is effective, many lack awareness of what training/development is available to them, and many question the fairness of access to development opportunities. Perceptions of career development, although limited, are better than what we expect to find.

Facilities and resources

As we often find, particularly in some sections of the public sector, there is little satisfaction with resources, IT and the physical working environment. 62% think that improvements to the working environment would enable them to work more effectively, whilst others focus on improvements to IT and resources.

Line managers

Ratings of line managers in the MPS are extremely positive with most scores exceeding our benchmarks by significant margins. The majority of respondents are confident that their manager is managing them effectively. As we often find, line managers are more likely to be rated for their effectiveness in terms of the ‘people’ skills of management such as trusting staff, treating them fairly, and valuing their contribution, than for the ‘harder’ aspects of management such as dealing with poor performance. However, it should be noted that ratings of managers for their effectiveness in dealing with poor performance are better than we would expect to find.

Communication

Problems with communication in the MPS are mainly focused on downward and lateral communication, and consultation. It is interesting to note that the results from respondents in the MPS Strategic Management Group are significantly more positive than for other respondent groups suggesting that information is not being disseminated successfully and that the management group have little awareness that this may be a problem – although it is clear from the results that they are aware that problems exist with lateral communication. In terms of upward communication, staff feel encouraged to come forward with their ideas and suggestions and the majority feel that it is acceptable to do so without fear of recrimination; however, few feel that they are consulted on decisions that affect them. This is not surprising given that the majority of respondents say that they find out what is going on in the MPS through

e-mail, Intranet and MPS notices – channels of communication that do not encourage open, two way dialogue or information sharing. Hence it is little wonder that most respondents say that they would favour more information and two-way communication channels such as team/departmental meetings and face to face dialogue with their line manager.

Suggested improvements

Given these results, it is not surprising to find that respondents would most like to see enhancements to their environmental working conditions, particularly IT and resources, followed by changes to the ethos and culture of the MPS. They also place emphasis on enhancing communication, such as the greater sharing of information across the MPS and greater feedback. They also call for improvements to the treatment and recognition of staff, enhanced training opportunities and a more inclusive style of management.

1. The information in this document and all inclusions are presented in good faith but without prejudice and remain the property and copyright © of The Work Foundation. This document was prepared for The Morris Inquiry, August 2004, by The Work Foundation. Jane Sullivan and Ceri Diffley, The Work Foundation, Peter Runge House, 3 Carlton House Terrace, London, SW1Y 5DG, Telephone: 020 7004 7248. Ref: 518/JS/ref/The Morris Inquiry/040804 [Back]

2. Please note that in the body of the report, reference is usually made to either Police Officers or Police Staff. In some cases, reference is simply made to staff; in these cases, we are making a general reference to cover all employees and officers of the MPS. [Back]