Dr. Michelle O'Sullivan:

On bullying, research in a number of areas suggests there are benefits to surveillance in respect of, for example, bullying, productivity and the idea of having a more accurate measure of an employee's performance. We asked people about those things in the survey but low proportions agreed with the statement that there were benefits. Less than one fifth agreed that technological surveillance provides an accurate measure of performance that leads to more fair decisions and helps with bullying. Bullying was not the focus of this research so I do not know its prevalence. Mr. O'Connell might have a greater sense of it in banking. In other studies we have done, for example, in nursing, it is quite significant.

My colleague, Dr. Sarah MacCurtain, did a larger study on incivility and bullying in Ireland that showed quite significant levels, in certain sectors more than others. For example, financial services and the health sector are two such areas, especially where there are customer interactions, because these can be quite difficult jobs. It is an unknown area, particularly as regards remote working. On the one hand, it could be argued remote working could help with bullying because there is less contact with people who might be the source of bullying but, on the other hand, people are more isolated in remote work, which might lead to increased bullying because of their isolation. We do not know enough about that area yet.