The challenge

The scrutiny under which the BBC has always operated intensified considerably following the Savile scandal. This resulted in the Respect at Work review, led by Diana Rose and conducted by Change Associates in 2013.

The recommendations implemented from that report had a positive impact on the BBC’s culture. But more recently, more allegations of inappropriate behaviour and abuse of power have emerged. These incidents, involving prominent figures, amplified public and governmental pressure for genuine cultural change.

Samir Shah, the BBC’s newly appointed Chairman, committed to commissioning a transparent and independent review of the BBC’s workplace culture. He wanted to use the review’s findings and recommendations to implement changes that would materially improve the organisation’s culture. His commitment and objectives were fully supported by Director-General, Tim Davie.

Change Associates was appointed through a competitive tender process under the BBC’s Consultancy Services Framework Agreement.

What we did

Change Associates engaged with 2,580 BBC employees and freelancers. Our approach included one-to-one interviews, group discussions, an anonymous freelancer survey, written submissions, and speaking with BBC staff networks, professional bodies, and trade unions.

The review focused on four primary areas:

1. Embedding the BBC’s Values and Code of Conduct
2. Addressing consequences for inappropriate behaviour and abuse of power
3. Encouraging staff to speak up safely and confidently
4. Increasing clarity and transparency in how complaints are handled

We followed a dual-track approach:

• Reactive: Establishing secure and confidential routes for people to raise what was on their mind and share ideas and experiences.
• Proactive: Analysing internal data and identifying parts of the organisation with apparent issues to explore, or the potential to spread good practices. This included direct immersion and observation in high-pressure environments, such as live newsrooms, to observe how workplace culture plays out in practice.

We also collaborated with external organisations such as Equity, the Musicians’ Union, and Film & TV Charity, helping to build awareness and confidence among a large population of freelancers.

After understanding the initial key themes of what we’d heard, we ran test-and-explore sessions to validate these insights and determine whether potential recommendations would work.

“The report makes several recommendations that prioritise action over procedural change, which is exactly right. It also addresses some deep-seated issues: for example, the need to make sure everyone can feel confident and not cowed about speaking up.”

Samir Shah, BBC Chair, BBC Launch Event

Recommendations

1. Reset behavioural expectations and reinforce standards
   For everyone who works with or for the BBC – employees, freelancers and production companies – to draw a line in the sand and move forward.
2. ‘Call it out’ campaign
   Recognising when things are working well and dealing with them when they are not, enabling a more rounded feedback culture. If someone’s behaviour is shouty, aggressive, sexist, racist, disrespectful or abusive – call it out, log it and take appropriate action. If someone lives the values – recognise it. Ensure ‘call it out’ advocates are available to support people who raise issues.
3. Real-time visible, accessible culture data
   The BBC needs to easily access people and culture data to track patterns across the organisation and, where possible, use real-time alerts to drive fast local action. Introduce tools to enable BBC people to give feedback on-demand and/or at more regular intervals.
4. Develop leadership/management capability and HR support
   Accelerate leadership and management development activity to create a visible and tangible organisation-wide leadership brand. Agree the leadership skills that matter most across the BBC and invest in embedding them. Focus on face-to-face development to provide competence and confidence supported by HR and team coaching and mentoring to transfer and embed skills.
5. Succession planning and management
   Build on broader BBC succession planning by reviewing the approach to succession planning for on-air roles and create more transparent opportunities for people to get on-air experience and/or exposure early in their careers. Explore opportunities for job rotation, fixed term roles and secondments to deliberately bring fresh perspectives and ideas in some roles (e.g. commissioning). This will prevent the perception of some people as irreplaceable.
6. Respond Team
   Ensure there are fair, consistent and transparent consequences to unacceptable and inappropriate behaviours, holding everyone to account regardless of their role or perceived value to the BBC. Increase the risk appetite for quicker outcomes. Focus on informal resolution where possible and equip leaders and managers with the skills and confidence to do so. Provide independent audit across all aspects of the case management process. Rebuild trust and confidence in how issues are raised, addressed and anonymously reported.

These actions were presented as a coherent, interconnected strategy in the BBC Workplace Review. For example, investing in leadership capability supports the consistent application of behavioural standards, while transparency through data builds trust in the overall process.

The result

• Crucially, the BBC accepted all six recommendations and publicly committed to an action plan aligned with the report. This included specific policy changes and practical steps to address the issues raised. The organisation’s swift and public response provided a clear and tangible outcome to Change Associates’ engagement – a rarity in culture reviews of this nature.

• Initial actions, such as establishing the Respond Team and developing new mechanisms to track and report on cultural metrics, directly reflect the report’s recommendations.

• The review was positively received within and beyond the BBC. Stakeholders widely praised its clarity, independence, and empathy.

Image (c) Shutterstock | True Touch Lifestyle

“A really great piece of work… what it showed was that you have to have somewhere that is the go-to place where a person can take their concern or their complaint or draw attention to behaviour that is really undermining of staff.”
Baroness Helena Kennedy KC, Chair of Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority, BBC Launch Event