Robert Jackman

Why ‘nice’ workplaces can be the nastiest of all

For those of us who have experienced life in a ‘woke workplace’, Toby Young’s Spectator cover story this week makes grimly familiar reading.

My former workplace might even have a claim to be the worst of them all: Amnesty International. Some years before joining The Spectator, I worked a lowly communications gig at Amnesty’s London HQ. And while it’s true that many individual researchers were brilliant (constantly making life more difficult for some of the world’s ugliest regimes), the organisation itself was, well, a bit of a mess. And for the exact reasons Toby describes.

But perhaps the worst thing about these workplaces is that, for all their progressive language, they’re not actually terribly nice places to be. Hence why I wasn’t surprised when last month Amnesty issued a grovelling apology after an independent report criticised its ‘toxic’ workplace culture.

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in