Written evidence from Turner [MiM0006]

 

A lot of the music industry is made up of smaller boutique companies without HR departments and clear lines of practise around even gender normative situations like pregnancy, maternity, flexibility around motherhood and also sexism, sexual abuse and threats or harassment. Most of which I have experienced in my career.

When the perpetrator of such instances is the boss then without an outside department there is nowhere to go with your experience.

 

It should be the law to require companies to set out practices and codes of conduct around these areas and there should be a department of government to oversee report failures of companies to do so.

This may see utopian, but when considered with the amount of the labour force made up of woman that disappear after childbirth because there is the pressure to conform to the working practises found in the industry of long hours, travel and night events, things that could be solved through job sharing, flexible hours and the offer of part-time and or remote work all which could be remunerated in kind on an hourly basis, the experience built up before having a child could continue to have a benefit to the industry.

Right now in most boutique offices it hinges on the personality and flexibility of the person heading up the corporation.

 

Regarding workplace harassment and abuse, there doesn’t seem to be anything between reporting experiences to the police and not doing anything about it when there isn’t an HR department in place. In short, reporting or speaking out about such instances comes with the threat of immediate or future job loss, or at the least being held back from progressing in a company.

 

July 2022