MORE than one in four calls to the helpline run by the National Trainee Solicitors’ Group related to bullying or harassment, according to the group’s recent survey.
Trainees complained of being humiliated in front of other employees: some said that they were asked to sit on the reception desk for days, park cars, clean toilets or even that they were bullied into a date with a superior. The survey found: “If they refused, they were threatened that their training contract would be signed off.”
Other trainees had concerns about being given unrealistic workloads and 6 per cent wanted to transfer their training contracts.
In all, some 26 per cent of calls came from trainees experiencing problems during training of bullying, bribery or harassment. The helpline took 2,241 calls in the 12 months up to March last year — an average of 187 a month. A high volume of e-mails were also received. Many calls were from people seeking training contracts (14 per cent wanted advice on this): concerns included whether a 2.2 degree result would be a bar to securing a placement.
Of 2,241 calls, two thirds were from women and one third from men. Nearly one third were from ethnic minorities. Nearly 60 per cent were from trainees, 9 per cent from paralegals and 28 per cent from students.
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Natalie Goff, a TSG Helpline officer, said it was aware that some trainees were still subjected to “poor levels of training and treatment” that should not be tolerated. “It is unfortunate that some trainees experience some form of problem during their training contract.” But it was important that individuals spoke out, she said, so that they could be given support and that their concerns could feed into policy, to help to raise standards and ensure best practice in law firms.
TSG free Helpline: 08000 856 131/helpline@tsg.org