A report released today into the working environment and atmosphere at S4C paints a dire picture of the culture and mood within the Welsh language broadcaster. The report, by the firm Capital Law, says "the overriding theme of the evidence we received was centred around the behaviours and actions of S4C’s chief executive officer, Sian Doyle, and (but to alesser extent) the chief content officer, Llinos Griffin-Williams, how they went about their work and how it unsettled the organisation".
The law firm says that as it compiled the report "the welfare of some of the participants became a concern" and says "10 of the participants broke down crying, mostly while discussing their experiences in the S4C workplace". It says: "Sian Doyle and her behaviour was a prominent theme brought up again and again."
The report says it heard "numerous reports of the chief executive being rude or disparaging about colleagues in internal meetings or in public". Among them were "disparaging comments about S4C programmes and their presenters", including "in one example, in relation to a specific programme, the chief executive was reported as saying 'Who the fuck are [redacted]? Who is watching this rubbish?'"
Releasing the report, the S4C Authority said: "We would like to say sorry to those who have had to tolerate unacceptable behaviours in the workplace and for the upset that this has caused. We would like to thank you for your openness and honesty in sharing your experiences, enabling the failings highlighted in today’s report to be identified."
The report was asked for back in May by S4C chairman Rhodri Williams after the union BECTU raised concerns that members were expressing concern about the working environment. It is understood the report cost £350,000 to produce.
The report says many of the examples provided were not proven by documentary evidence, nor evidence from more than one witness, but says "there was a clear theme".
The broadcaster has been in the midst of this crisis for months, which has included both Ms Doyle and Ms Griffin-Williams alleging that they we sacked with no due process in place for alleged bullying, while Mr Williams also had a bullying grievance upheld against him.
Former S4C chief executive, Sian Doyle has issued the following statement:
I am so saddened to read the Capital Law report into the working culture of S4C. I do not recognise or accept the allegations made and they do not reflect my 30-year career in business.
I was appointed as CEO with a mandate from the board of S4C to deliver a bold programme of transformation. I know from experience that organisational change isn’t easy and whilst measures were put in place to support employees, it is clear some continued to feel uncomfortable at the required pace of change to deliver the best service for the audience in Wales.
This report was commissioned and delivered by the chairman so it is no surprise that of the 92 people who participated in the investigation, the report has focused on the views of a small minority. For clarity, I had no notice that the report would be published today, have not been offered a right of reply by S4C and first read the report in the media.
S4C is a remarkable organisation delivering a vital service for the people of Wales and I will look back at my time as CEO with pride. I called last week for an urgent investigation by DCMS into the leadership and governance of S4C and the nature of the way this report has been presented – I restate that call today; S4C’s employees, and the people the organisation serves, deserve better.
Plaid Cymru's spokesperson on culture Heledd Fychan MS said that the people of Wales 'deserve reassurance' that the channel takes their unique role as a public broadcaster 'seriously'.
This report is shocking and needs to be a turning point for the channel. I would like to commend the S4C staff who spoke out against bad behaviour under extremely difficult circumstances.
S4C is a national organization that is an integral part of our Welsh culture and creative economy, and we deserve reassurance that the channel takes their unique role as a public broadcaster seriously.
We look forward to engaging with S4C during parliamentary scrutiny in the Senedd and in Westminster to seek assurance that the appropriate steps are being taken to restore confidence in our channel.
In a statement issued by her lawyers, former chief content officer Llinos Griffin-Williams said:
As the report makes clear, it was commissioned by the chairman of S4C Rhodri Williams and he has been the key decision maker in all aspects of the report. I made a complaint against him in July which was upheld following an independent external investigation, he made a unilateral decision to sack me in October and I am bringing an employment claim which is highly critical of him. Capital Law who produced this report are instructed by S4C in relation to my employment claim.
There is no evidence of bullying by me in this report. The criticism of me in the report relates to poor communication and cancelling meetings by a small number of people. It has been published to the world in yet another attempt to undermine and humiliate me.
I was not given notice of the publication of this report by S4C and not given a chance to respond to its contents. As the report suggests the chairman himself has been implicated yet remains in post, DCMS must now intervene to preserve the future of S4C. The idea that this is an independent, fair and rigorous report is a fallacy.
Once again there is a substantial lack of any duty of care or due process.
The Senedd’s culture committee has invited the chair and a member of the S4C board to give evidence to them on Thursday, December 14.
Delyth Jewell MS, chair of the Senedd’s culture committee, said:
24-The continued allegations in the media related to S4C are deeply worrying. With rumours and speculation circulating, the committee is keen for these questions to be answered in public. We are inviting the chair and a member of S4C’s board to give evidence next week to bring clarity for the people of Wales.
To restore public trust in the broadcaster it is essential that they are open and transparent in this process. To this end, we welcome the publication of the report today and will consider its contents ahead of speaking to S4C next week.
We know how important the success of S4C is for the Welsh language and Wales as a country and we will be doing all we can to get answers from the channel’s leadership over the coming weeks.
Teledwyr Annibynnol Cymru (TAC), the trade association for TV production companies in Wales, commented:
TAC notes that the report on alleged bullying incidents at S4C has now been published and we hope that this marks the point where S4C can once again move forward to focussing only on delivering high-quality content to Welsh-speaking audiences and beyond, working closely with our sector.
We would like to recognise the efforts of the current staff of S4C who we know have done their best in trying circumstances to keep the service on track and deal with our sector, despite losing some people in key positions in recent months.
Production companies across Wales, large and small, are keen as always to engage with S4C and deliver the best ideas, stories and talent to audiences. As a trade body TAC has not received any significant fundamental complaints about S4C’s commissioning strategy or approach and we look forward to working together to ensure the sector and S4C are strong and sustainable, as we face future challenges.
According to the report, one witness disliked the chairman dealing with the media about the investigation by Capital Law "before or at the same time as staff were finding out".
They said:
The chair’s internal decision to characterise the nature of the complaints of BECTU’s letter as not making comfortable reading, if true would cause us worry, and not thekind of things that any one responsible for any kind of body would like to read, were unwise, and no specialist body would advise making such statements publicly in such circumstances."
This was a feeling echoed by five witnesses who felt that the BECTU letter should have been handled more delicately. One said:
It's just the way the letter from the union.... just exploded in the news and so on. I'm not a member of the union so I didn’t know anything about it. It came as a shock to me. We didn't know... an email came after hours work from the chairman; I believe.
I saw it but there were a lot from the office that hadn’t seen it, just seen the story on the news."
This theme continued with four witnesses speaking in one way or another about the way the Chair had taken charge of communications throughout this period and what he said.
One believed he had been briefing the media behind the scenes and that this had made the situation worse.
One said:
The chair has repeatedly gone out and briefed the press without letting us know and we've had to read in the press what he said about this. … even though we have a comms specialist, we asked for crisis comms to be brought in, he put himself in charge of all the communication, which again is something that I've never experienced in any other organisation."
The report said that some individuals raised concerns about Rhodri Williams and alleged he intensified the pressure on some by negatively affecting the working atmosphere andenvironment within S4C for them. Whilst some of these concerns relate to the chairman personally, others could be described as directed at the authority and some of its decisions.
One witness expressed concern about Rhodri Williams' behaviour during a meeting between the non-executive members of the board and the management team in June. This issue relates to a grievance raised by Llinos Griffin-Williams about the chairman’s behaviour.
One witness alleged that the chair raised his voice on a telephone call and alsoalleged that he repeatedly "berated" them for not making progress in removing a staff member.
Another witness said that the chair knew of the issues in the workplace at S4C before the BECTU letter was received and had therefore been misleading in a media interview in May.
The report said that many participants expressed significant dissatisfaction with the working environment and the atmosphere at S4C, and, very often, their reasons for feeling dissatisfied are based on examples of alleged behaviour by Sian Doyle and/or Llinos Griffin-Williams. However the reports authors then added:
It became clear to us that the feelings of some participants were based on stories or gossip from colleagues and that they did not witness these events themselves.
It can be seen from the evidence, therefore, that the spread of stories, especially about Sian Doyle and Llinos Griffin-Williams, contributed negatively to the working environment and the atmosphere in S4C causing disorganisation, dissatisfaction and disfunction."
The report added that 19 participants commented on alleged bad behaviour by the CEO and CCO that was "not based on what they had seen, but rather, based on what they had heard second-hand from other members of staff."
The evidence included:
- The "shoot one and a thousand tremble" comment by the Chief Executive Officer, (reported first hand too).
- The management away day incident.
- Comments made by Sian Doyle about a former staff member to: "get rid of him"
- Micromanaging by Sian Doyle and Llinos Griffin Williams.
- The virtual staff meeting on 12th December 2022. One witness described an exchange between an individual and Sian Doyle where she was rude to a colleague who asked a question and the colleague was later referred to HR fordoing so.
- An event was held for S4C staff at Boom Battle Bar in Cardiff on April 19, 2023, where it was alleged that Llinos Griffin Williams called S4C staff "twats" and blew smoke in a colleague’s face.
In February the management team met at an away day where an employee suffered a "significant health event".
An employee described an animated conversation involving Sian Doyle and other senior staff members about the level of change that was required at S4C.
This included replacing many staff who were described as: "not worth worrying about" and that the chief executive allegedly suggesting a lot of the staff at S4C did not have the skills or knowledge to be able to justify being in their jobs.
She is described as saying about potentially losing "at least 50 of them". The witness said she was distressed and challenged the CEO about what she was suggesting.
She described how she believed that the stressful situation then contributed to the significant health event she suffered that day, for which she was taken to hospital to receive treatment.
The other four direct witnesses who were close to the leading of the event "didn’t consider the meeting to be abnormal".
CCO Llinos Griffin-Williams was dismissed during the Rugby World Cup after serious allegations were made about her conduct in France, including towards former Wales international player Mike Phillips.
In a statement Ms Griffin-Williams said she “categorically denies” that she made the comments to Mr Phillips that have been attributed to her and that “Mr Phillips did not make a complaint about her”.
The report said they heard from five participants from external companies that they knew of a breakdown in the relationship between the CCO and the commissioners at the channel.
These people said that this led to "disfunction and miscommunication" in the sector as rumours circulated about what the CCO wanted commissioned, with the commissioners believing that they didn't know what was going on such that the yhad to ask independent producers what they knew about what the CCO was up to.
There was also evidence from both present and former employees of S4C, and some external witnesses, talked oft he breakdown in the relationship between the commissioners and the CCO leading to them being negative and hostile towards her.
A participant reported that a commissioner had reacted negatively to the appointment of the chief content officer and raised their voice while challenging her expertise.
One person told Capital Law:
Everything went through Llinos, which is fine because she is in her job, but if you're going to do that you have to be available. If you want to micromanage that, you have to be available because things just come to stop.
Small things like deciding who is allowed to appear, or if I ask for advice in an email, you have to come in, and then when I have signed off a programme, she came in and changed it and said I want to see this and then made changes, just undermining my editorial eyes..."
In recent days, WalesOnline has repeatedly requested an interview with the chairman of S4C Rhodi Williams.
Mr Williams commissioned the report and is also facing serious questions himself after a grivence for bullying against him was reportedly upheld in July.
Following the publication of the report WalesOnline has against requested an interview with Mr Williams but this has been rejected.
The S4C Authority have issued the following statement:
Today, the S4C Authority publishes the report from Capital Law into the fact-finding exercise undertaken into the working environment at S4C, instigated following serious concerns raised with us by BECTU in April 2023. The evidence gathered reflects the views and experiences of more than ninety individuals who are current or former members of staff at S4C or are partners with whom the organisation works.
The report paints a picture of a very difficult working environment for many at S4C. Participants described an unsettling workplace, with some individual members of the senior management team behaving in an inappropriate way and with an approach that directly impacted the well-being of staff.
As members of the S4C Authority, we would like to say sorry to those who have had to tolerate unacceptable behaviours in the workplace and for the upset that this has caused. We would like to thank you for your openness and honesty in sharing your experiences, enabling the failings highlighted in today’s report to be identified.
Participants recognised that change is needed at S4C and that the senior management team were intent on delivering an ambitious vision for the channel’s future. It appears, however, that the way this was shared by some with staff and the approach to managing change across the organisation was insensitive. This often led to conflict and insecurity rather than creativity and a positive, inclusive transformation. It is clear that many S4C staff have been unhappy at work and that our organisation did not seem to have appropriate working practices in place to be able to deal openly and appropriately with staff concerns.
The reports authors said that during the meetings "ten of the participants broke down crying, mostly while discussing their experiences in the S4C workplace".
11 participants reported on the detrimental effects that they considered the work environment at S4C had on their health.
Examples included:
I left because I didn't feel for any reason that I had a choice but to leave the causeof the situation. The chief executive had put me in a very nasty position, many other staff too, I was aware of that.
But my friends and my family worried a lot about my mental health at the time. I had become very tearful. I couldn't sleep. And the atmosphere at work during the last few months of employment at S4C were very difficult and I didn't feel like I had a choice but to leave.
One participant described how the "atmosphere had changed completely" following the appointment of the chief executive. They felt that the "impossible work requirements" and the subsequent pressure contributed to them be ingunable to work due to depression and anxiety."
Witnesses spoke of frustration with how Sian Doyle conducted herself during meetings saying that she would ignore people or use "negative body language, such as rolling her eyes to cast disdain".
The report says that the evidence was encapsulated by this quote:
So, for months this conversation went on and every time we did it, there was a period for three, four months where I don't think I finished one sentence because the moment I started talking in any meeting, she would interrupt, she would look sarky.
If I was making a point that she disagreed with she would roll her eyes at me and at other people around the table in quite a public way in order to try to undermine the point I was doing."
The report authors said they had heard that participants felt that Sian Doyle disregarded experience, expertise and past successes.
One witness said:
I've worked under five chief executives, a good relationship [sic], a number of chairmen, with an interim chief executive and I have never felt so worthless as I was working for Siân."
Participants had reported that Sian Doyle's leadership style was "dictatorial creating a culture of fear".
Many of the participants described the negative impact of this on them and their work, with many being reluctant to challenge the chief executive and afraid to state their own ideas or views to her.
The reports authors say they were told that this caused many S4C staff to feel generally scared in the workplace. There were "many reports" of people considering that they had to do what the chief executive said, whether they agreed or not, with her saying:
- "Are you with me or not, are you with me or not?" and: "It's me or the chair, you have to choose who you are loyal to, me or the chairman"?
- A participant reported that when attempting to provide feedback to the chief executive it was made clear that their opinion was neither welcomed nor valued.
Sian Doyle and her behaviour was a prominent theme “brought up again and again” according to the report.
It reads:
We received examples of her behaviour from former employees, third parties and current employees of each of the three S4C offices, from different levels within the organisation and from different departments.
Considering the number of participants who commented, and the number of examples given, Sian Doyle’s behaviour was highlighted as having the most significant negative impact on the working environment and atmosphere within S4C.”
16 pages of the evidence report quote examples of bad behaviour whilst two pages quote examples of good behaviour.
The report states:
- We received 116 examples of Sian Doyle's behaviour, 101 of which have been categorised as alleged bad behaviour.
- There are 15 examples categorised as alleged good behaviour.
- The 101 alleged examples of Sian Doyle's bad behaviour were provided by 29 participants.
- Of the 29 participants who provided examples of Sian Doyle’s alleged bad behaviour, 18 were current S4C employees, nine were former S4C employees, and 2 had left the organisation since the start of the process.
- The 15 examples of Sian Doyle's alleged good behaviour have been provided by 12 participants.
- Of the 15 examples of Sian Doyle's alleged good behaviour, four were from the participants that also provided examples of Sian Doyle's alleged bad behaviour.
- Of the 12 participants who had provided examples of Sian Doyle’s alleged good behaviour, three were former S4C employees and nine were current S4C employees.
- Of the 12 participants who had provided good examples of Sian Doyle's behaviour, six of them were appointed whilst she was chief executive.
95 individuals volunteered to take part but three changed their minds and didn’t do so.
Of the 92 participants.
- 46 of them were current employees at S4C.
- 14 of them were former employees of S4C.
- 28 were independent of S4C but had previously worked with S4C.
- Three had left their employment with S4C since the process started.
- One did not reveal their name.
Of the 92 participants, 79 were met in person and 13 provided written contributions only.
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