A new warts-and-all investigation into workplace culture by the Architects Registration Board (ARB) has laid bare what many already feared about the profession it is often a brutal and abusive environment, especially for women and those from ethnic minority backgrounds. The regulator surveyed nearly 900 professionals at different stages of their careers as part of the proposed revamp of its Code of Conduct. Sadly, the findings echo problems highlighted by the AJ over years (AJ survey reveals 1 in 7 women architects have experienced sexual harassment). Yet they still make grim reading and are described by the ARB as alarming.A jaw-dropping 41 per cent of those surveyed said they had faced bullying and harassment; a third had been subject to some form of discrimination; and one in four female professionals had experienced unwelcome sexual advances.The ARBs 83-page report highlights how excessive workloads and hierarchies that create power imbalances are not only having a negative personal effect but also having an impact on the quality and due diligence of architects work. While some of the issues, causes and solutions fall outside the ARBs remit, given that the regulators role is explicitly about policing professional competence and protecting consumers, the board says: This makes workplace culture an issue for ARB.AdvertisementAs well as informing its new code, the ARB wants the research to provoke an industry-wide debate to help find potential solutions. Here the AJ reveals the headline findings.Bullying and victimisationIt is against this backdrop that a significant proportion four in ten of those polled had experienced bullying or harassment in the workplace.This ranged from intentional undermining, which had been experienced by 45 per cent of all respondents, to having work unfairly or overly scrutinised something reported by half of those surveyed.Bullying overwhelmingly related to abuses of power by senior staff, the research states.It is also more likely to be experienced by women (55 per cent), those with disabilities (61 per cent) and those working in larger practices (small practices 38 per cent, practices with over 50 staff 45 per cent).AdvertisementPurple: Part 1 & Part 2 students and apprentices | Black: Architects with less than five years' experience, Part 3 students | White: Architects with more than five years' experienceThe anonymous testimonies quoted in the report are equally damning of the profession. One said: In my previous position at a large practice, it was part of the culture that cliques would form around more senior staff members. This would lead to bullying or demeaning behaviour by members of other cliques.Another respondent said: I experienced harassment and bullying daily via WhatsApp. I was constantly put down, belittled and blamed for things out of my control. My employer would guilt trip me and Id feel pressure to work on weekends and public holidays.One young architect said harassment extended from unfair and unexplained criticism of their work to being expected to help with the upkeep of the directors house [and] never to leave the office before them.Excessive workloadsTheres a key line in the report: Despite the creative aspects of the job, professionals strongly feel they are underpaid, overworked and undervalued.A huge 38 per cent of all respondents said they had an unacceptable workload; nearly half (48 per cent) claimed they felt pressurised to work long hours and nearly two-thirds (63 per cent) said that the profession exploited architects passion for the work in order to pile heavy loads on employees. Many felt the resulting workplace culture was stressful, leading to mental burnout, unhappiness and disillusionment with 59 per cent of all professionals claiming their workload was detrimental to their personal wellbeing. Breaking that data down, the impacts were felt most strongly by female professionals (men 55 per cent, women 65 per cent) and those from an ethnic minority background (white British 53 per cent, ethnic minorities 66 per cent).Whats more and of particular concern to the ARB more than a third (35 per cent) said they lacked the time to finish their work to an appropriate standard.DiscriminationA third (33 per cent) of all professionals surveyed said they had experienced insults, stereotyping or jokes relating to protected characteristics, rising to more than half in some demographic groups.Again, female professionals (53 per cent), those from ethnic minorities (46 per cent) and those with disabilities (46 per cent) were significantly more likely to report experiencing discrimination. It is also more prevalent in larger practices and those in London and the southeast.Comments made anonymously by respondents are, once again, revealing. One experienced architect said: [There have been instances] where clients have been minimising or belittling staff members, owing to their race or English-speaking skills, and senior [practice staff] have not defended [junior employees] nor called out [the] behaviour.The ARB reports that a lack of representation, particularly at senior levels across the profession, continues to limit the understanding of others experiences.As a result, junior architectural staff are having to take care of themselves. One early career professional said: [When] looking for a job Ill see if there are other people of ethnic minority backgrounds [] to avoid the same discrimination and sexual misconduct [happening again].Sexual misconductThe ARB report is clear: architecture professionals suffer from higher levels of discrimination and sexual misconduct than employees in other professions that publish similar research including academia and parts of the medical profession.The research team at Thinks Insight & Strategy, who ran the survey on behalf of the board, found that 10 per cent of the architectural respondents said they had experienced sexual misconduct. This is double the percentage (5 per cent) of civil servants who said they had experienced sexual misconduct in a similar 2023 survey.Female professionals are far more likely to have experienced unwelcome sexual comments (38 per cent) and unwelcome sexual advances (24 per cent) than their male colleagues (6 per cent and 5 per cent respectively).The testimonies from the respondents are shocking. A female senior architect at one major practice reported that there had been a sweepstake among male staff to see who could get me into bed.Meanwhile, one early career professional reported that a client had requested a lush young [girl] with [a] tight skirt to be sent to survey his house: The director let me know I [would] be doing the survey the day I was wearing a tight skirt. The request [was] later revealed in an email chain.Another senior architect who had been on the receiving end of sexual comments said the matter was not escalated properly because a conversation under the radar was deemed sufficient.Hugh Simpson, chief executive and registrar at the ARB, described the levels of discrimination, misconduct and harassment as alarming.He told the AJ: [We have] to set clearer and stronger standards of conduct for the sake of architects and the clients and communities they work with. Were consulting on a new Code of Conduct and Practice, but making a positive cultural shift within the profession will require leaders across the sector to work together to take action.Barriers to reporting misconductKnowing how, when and where to complain will be vital to any shift in behaviours. The investigation, worryingly, found that architects overwhelmingly lacked confidence to raise concerns about problems within practice, with many calling for greater regulation and enforcement.One respondent said: I just feel like you cant complain. The partners are treated like gods. Another said: Ive never worked in a company that had HR. So my boss is jury, judge and executioner.The ARB acknowledges there is work to be done. It says in the report: Professionals are often unclear on how they can escalate complaints of workplace misconduct, and how ARB relates to misconduct. ARBs existing processes are often perceived as only relevant to client-related misconduct [not colleagues].The regulator has set itself an action list in response to the survey which, as well as the new Code of Conduct (consultation closes on the draft code on 12 December 2024), includes supplementary guidance on leadership and inclusion, together with providing tools to support how to raise concerns and challenge unethical behaviour.It is also writing to those providing ARB-accredited qualifications to highlight the research and a new condition on sexual misconduct being introduced by the Office for Students, the education regulator in England.However the ARB can only do so much.Tackling the long hours for low pay culture highlighted will need industry-wide action. The profession must not ignore these troubling findings.*Overall figures reflect number of category respondents: future professionals (89), early career professionals (293), experienced professionals (516)** Future professionals - Part 1 or Part 2 students or apprentices; Early career professionals - currently taking Part 3 or with less than five years' post-qualification experience; Experienced professionals - architects with more than five years post-qualification experienceAnonymous testimony from a recently qualified architectIn terms of bullying, there were things like [feeling pressured to] work over the weekend or even on Christmas holidays. I remember at one of the jobs it was pretty normalised to work the weekends. On Friday night [a colleague would say]: 'OK, so tomorrow this is what we have to do.'I said I had a history of kind of anxiety and had to prioritise my mental health [and had to rest weekends]. But I was told I had to get a doctor's note for this.I've done a few late nights here and there, because [if you don't] you feel like you're letting your team down. But there is zero paid overtime in architecture, unfortunately.A lot of my friends are architects and we literally sometimes just say how much we feel scammed. But [many] people won't even know where to start pushing back.