ESA employees are allegedly getting bullied by the inter-governmental organization's management. Some staff shared their negative experience while working for the space agency.
For the past few years, the European Space Agency has been denying allegations about its work culture being a toxic one.
However, based on the documents reviewed by the media, bullying and other negative work happenings in ESA are longstanding problems that its staff experience.
ESA Employees Allegedly Getting Bullied by Management
Ars Technica was able to interview some of ESA's employees who experienced bullying. However, their names were changed since these staff requested anonymity.
One of them is Alex (not her real name), who said that she worked as a full-time ESA employee. However, she clarified that the space agency didn't employ her directly.
At first, all things were going pretty well. However, it didn't take long for Alex to notice the management issues of the European Space Agency.
"What I was not prepared for was the prevailing culture of fear, the extremely hierarchical structure, and the dysfunctional nature of management," said the ESA contractor.
The ESA staff's negative working experience worsened after a new manager was hired to handle their team; causing problems in tasks since the new boss wasn't assisting them properly.
"I witnessed my colleagues being subjected to similar mistreatment, which created a hostile and distressing atmosphere within the team. There were instances where the manager would physically intimidate and threaten employees," she added.
Although ESA denied the claims made by Alex and other employees, internal documents dating back until the late 2000s revealed that 30% to 50% of the agency's workers are/have experienced bullying and other kinds of harassment.
Most of the surveys answered by employees showed that they have suffered from the same management issues; threats to employment, undermining employees, ostracism, etc.
Read Also: NASA Says ISS Could Still Operate Beyond 2030—Is This Extension Safe for Astronauts?
Other Issues of ESA
Aside from a toxic working environment, the European Space Agency also has a transparency issue, as previously reported by Space.Com.
Critics said that unlike NASA (the U.S. counterpart of ESA), the European aerospace organization is far less transparent when it comes to disclosing critical information.
Although declining to provide important details is legal since ESA is governed by its own Convention—a 130-page document saying that the space organization is it has privileges and immunities—being less transparent is still a big deal for investors.
This is because investors and taxpayers who are funding the activities of the European Space Agency don't know how their financial assistance is being used.
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