A CULTURE AUDIT of gardaí by a British University has found high job satisfaction in gardaí but identified a lack of emotional energy and work pressures. 

Durham University was commissioned by An Garda Síochána to carry out an independent survey – it was responded to by 6,400 garda personnel.

The ‘Your Voice, Our Future’ audit was undertaken earlier this year and asked personnel of all ranks and grades for their views on a range of topics including wellbeing, job satisfaction, supervision, and openness to organisational change.

This is the second garda culture audit and was undertaken in 2017/2018 which was carried out by PricewaterhouseCooper which also canvassed the views of 6,500 personnel.

That found a culture of fear across the force as gardaí said they believed they would suffer retribution for speaking out about malpractice. 

The 2022 study found a number of positives including that gardaí were motivated to serve communities and protect people from harm. 

The study found pride in being a garda member and high job satisfaction with personal values and the values of individual gardaí “strongly aligned” with the code of ethics. 

There has been an increase in trust in senior leadership from the first Culture Audit.

Despite those positives a number of issues were identified regarding the work environment. 

The study said members said their emotional energy was at a moderately low average and there is a perceived lack of organisational fairness and justice.

It found that work-related demands that constrain performance are highest at garda and sergeant ranks.

Gardaí also said that their appreciation for how much the organisation values an individual’s contribution was below average.

Garda Commissioner, Drew Harris said that the cultural audit was “highly informative” for both garda management and the Commission on the Future of Policing.

He said it identified a number of positives and praised gardaí for their dedication but admitted there were a number of issues that needed to be addressed.

“However, it also makes clear that the organisation has more work to do to give our people the support and tools they need to do their jobs efficiently and effectively, to ensure people feel they are treated fairly, and they are being supported in their very challenging and pressurised work.

“We will now analyse these findings in-depth and conduct focus groups to gain further insights on particular areas. Based on this, we will introduce measures to address the issues raised by Garda personnel in the 2022 Garda Culture Audit,” he added. 

A garda statement said that the next step is a further analysis of the findings by the Garda Ethics and Culture Bureau and focus groups will be formed to develop more indepth findings.