Almost half of Chevron Australia's employees have experienced bullying and close to a third have been subjected to sexual harassment, an external report into inappropriate and harmful workplace behaviours at the oil and gas giant has found.
Compounding the problem, the report by consultancy firm Intersection said the rates of reporting of inappropriate workplace behaviour were "very low".
Only a quarter of employees who had experienced bullying, harassment or discrimination had reported it, while just 10 per cent of employees who had been subjected to sexual harassment filed a complaint.
Women reported experiencing these behaviours at higher rates than men.
Intersection's review of the corporate culture and its findings were based on the views of Chevron Australia employees and contractors through interviews, focus groups, written submissions and 570 responses to an online survey from the company's offices and sites in Perth and Western Australia.
The report comes after a WA parliamentary inquiry into sexual assault and harassment within the state's fly-in, fly-out mining industry released in June found women have been subjected to "an appalling range of behaviours".
Titled 'Enough is Enough', that parliamentary report detailed how sexual harassment was "generally accepted or overlooked" and described the "failure" of miners to recognise what was happening in their workplaces.
Intersection's report on Chevron reflected similar practices, but noted the prevalence of sexual harassment at the company was still below the industry average.
'Belittling, humiliating conduct'
According to the report, 47 per cent of the company's employees were bullied in the past five years.
That came in the form of "belittling or humiliating conduct, repeated undermining of work, and sustained unjustified criticism of work".
Thirty per cent of employees were sexually harassed in the last five years, often in the form of "sexually suggestive comments or jokes and intrusive questions about someone's private life or appearance".
There were other forms of harassment as well, namely "spreading malicious or hurtful rumours, and sexist or racist comments", that were experienced by 29 per cent of employees.
Bullying was experienced at all levels of the organisation, with colleagues at the same level, direct managers or supervisors and senior leaders identified as perpetrators.
Discrimination was experienced by two per cent of employees, but Intersection said its analysis of the data suggested the true figure could be higher than reported.
The report found the prevailing culture at Chevron was one where inappropriate workplace behaviours appeared to occur "out in the open" with a high tolerance for behaviours, particularly sexual harassment, that were often labelled as "joking" or "banter".
Pages of abuse documented
The report contains many pages of testimony from employees describing in detail the abuse they have experienced at work.
"I am so sick of the sexist language that I hear every day on site. Every day, you hear women being referred to as bitches," one employee said.
"If you pull someone up on it, they say don't be such a pussy, what a whinging bitch … one female leader on site was commonly referred to as 'the c***' by men in my crew."
One contractor explained how her underwear would be taken.
"I have had my underwear go missing. I have been deliberately excluded. I can't walk into the wet mess without being leered at. I have been followed to my room."
Another employee denounced the company's sexist culture.
"Don't encourage the narrative that she only got the role because she is female … Stop with the boys club," she said.
The report also said the experience of working at the multinational company was far worse for women.
"Female employees experience all forms of inappropriate workplace behaviours at greater rates than men. Casual sexism and being held to a different standard to men are common experiences for women at Chevron Australia," the report said.
One woman who recounted her experience said she was not believed when she made a complaint.
"It was very distressing,' she said.
"I believe that managers at Chevron continue to disbelieve the prevalence and insidiousness of sexism.
"I believe that most of the senior men I work with would be absolutely and deeply shocked if they heard that I had actually been physically molested during business hours in the office and would genuinely find it difficult to believe it happened."
Another woman talked about the impact sexual harassment had on her.
"Sometimes the comments you hear make it sound like sexual harassment is only a problem onsite," she said.
"Like it doesn't happen in the office. Well I can tell you it does happen. It's happened to me, and I know it's happened to others. It's horrible. It makes you question your self-worth'."
Culture of 'fear'
Factors increasing the risk of inappropriate workplace behaviours were broad.
The report identified a lack of leadership skills, accountability and transparency at the company, a lack of diversity and in particular gender inequality.
As well as a "very low" reporting rate of the inappropriate behaviours, most employees who did make a formal complaint said they were dissatisfied with the way it was handled.
Some spoke about a 'culture of fear' which prevents reporting, including a fear of negative repercussions like exclusion, being 'labelled a troublemaker', being dismissed or removed from roles.
On top of that, Intersections found "there was little appetite to address inappropriate behaviours" by the company, with people exhibiting inappropriate workplace behaviours not dealt with straight away or moved around.
Intersections made 24 recommendations, including measures to address any form of bullying, harassment and discrimination, increasing leadership accountability, and improving diversity.
Managing director apologises
Following the release of the report, Chevron Australia released a statement saying it was clear "bullying, harassment and discrimination occurs in our workplaces, and not everyone feels confident in reporting these incidents".
Chevron Australia managing director Mark Hatfield apologised to affected employees.
"Everyone deserves to feel safe, respected and included when they come to work," Mr Hatfield said.
"To anyone who has experienced inappropriate behaviour within our workplaces, I am truly sorry."
"We accept the report and are determined to take meaningful action so our workplaces are safe, respectful and inclusive for everyone."
Mines and Petroleum Minister Bill Johnston said he hoped Chevron would now implement the report's recommendations.
"In the end, it's the leaders of this company that are responsible for eliminating sexual harassment and I hope this report gives them a guideline on how to achieve that," he said.
