A total of 106 reports were submitted to the ombudsperson between July 2023 and December 2024. Of these, 58.5 percent came from support staff and 41.5 percent from academic staff. This marks a 20.5 percent increase compared to the same period before. This does not include reports by students, as they have their own ombudsperson.

In response to the increase, spokesperson Ivo Jongsma says on behalf of the Executive Board (CvB) that “it’s a good thing that people are increasingly able to find their way to the ombudsperson. Since last year, we’ve also had the Integrity and Social Safety Desk as the first point of contact for employees with complaints about the organization. We hope that this desk will develop into a clearly visible and accessible first stop, and that cooperation between the ombudsperson and the desk will continue to improve. This will allow the ombudsperson to focus more on trends, shaping processes and the organization’s learning capacity.”

Call to account

“Almost all reports can be traced back to problems with a supervisor, the quality of management in combination with the hierarchical structure of the organization,” writes the ombudsperson in the annual report, regarding the nature of the complaints. In the previous report, she also drew attention to problems with supervisors, as well as the “culture of accountability,” which she says is not yet common practice at TU/e, even though it is necessary.

“Calling someone to account can have negative consequences for the person who speaks up, especially if a hierarchical relationship exists. As a result, people refrain from taking responsibility where it is needed, which can lead to a structurally unsafe working environment,” she writes about (the risks of) addressing undesirable behavior.

The annual report also states that the ombudsperson considers it unacceptable that when the university claims to have a file concerning an employee’s improper behavior, that file is not shown to the employee in question.

Learning organization

The ombudsperson is critical of the term “learning organization” which TU/e regularly uses in press releases and meetings. “For some time now, it has not been uncommon to explain mistakes by stating that TU/e is ‘a learning organization’. However, when it concerns matters that someone, by virtue of their position and responsibilities, should have known, should have been capable of handling, and should have acted upon, then the statement that TU/e is ‘a learning organization’ is irrelevant and certainly not a valid excuse. ‘Being a learning organization’ is only a relevant excuse when it comes to mistakes made in situations that are new and unfamiliar, and where learning is indeed required because of the unique nature of the circumstances.”

In line with the notion of being a learning organization, employees are regularly offered learning trajectories for self-improvement. On several occasions, the ombudsperson has observed that improvement and learning trajectories are used as a means to get rid of “difficult” employees. “For example, in an improvement trajectory, no objective standards are stated that employees must meet and there is no objective evaluator involved. As a result, the outcome of an improvement trajectory can lead to a decision that is not objective, yet has serious consequences for the employee in question.” The ombudsperson also mentions that improvement and learning trajectories are rarely imposed on supervisors higher up in the hierarchy.

With regard to the term “learning organization,” the Executive Board maintains that the university continues to be one, even in light of the ombudsperson’s criticism. “The process of ensuring integrity and social safety has made significant progress in recent years, and that development is ongoing. As a result, we are continually moving toward better facilities and an improved culture. We are taking steps that may not always be perfect right away. We recognize this and remain keenly aware of it.”

Gaslighting

The ombudsperson has observed that TU/e engages in various forms of “gaslighting,” a form of manipulation that involves distorting the truth. She provides ten examples to clarify the concept. For example, she cites “making false claims despite written evidence to the contrary,” and “failing to correct those false claims”. As well as: “portraying a request as a demand,” and “waiting so long to provide a requested response – or responding so inadequately and without substance – that the ongoing frustration provokes a heated reaction, after which the person is labeled as unreasonable.”

On behalf of the Executive Board, Jongsma states that the Board rejects the allegations of gaslighting. “We strive to act as transparently and with as much integrity as possible towards everyone.”

Comments

The unions FNV, CNV and AOb were approached to provide a comment, but did not respond to Cursor’s questions. The Executive Board has issued a statement regarding the ombuds report, which has been posted on the intranet.

University Council member Martijn Klabbers, speaking in a personal capacity, says he recognizes the increase in reports. “The issues surrounding leadership, protection of vulnerable groups and accountability are consistent with the Employee Experience Survey, which also shows a slight increase in social safety problems – despite significant investments. This pattern points to the need for a fundamental culture change that may go beyond current structural measures.”

The annual report is expected to be discussed during the next University Council meeting on June 16. This meeting will be open to the public.

Recommendations

The ombudsperson also offers recommendations to improve the organization. For example, there should be a much greater emphasis on prevention and good intentions alone are not enough. Supervisors who consistently fail in their duties should face consequences and improvement trajectories should become standard practice for supervisors as well. Employees should explicitly commit to TU/e’s code of conduct and values. This should also be explicitly included in the employment contract and not as an appendix, according to the ombudsperson.

Furthermore, accusations about a person should always be supported by evidence and for discussions about problems, the agenda should always be clear in advance to avoid a socially unsafe situation. All 22 recommendations made by the ombudsperson can be found in the annual report.

The Executive Board states that it is grateful to the ombudsperson for the report. “We are going to combine the annual reports of the ombudsperson (for employees and students) and the confidential counsellors into one annual report. That will allow us to take a comprehensive look at the further improvements we will initiate. Previous recommendations from the confidential counsellors and the ombudsperson, as well as results from the Employee Experience Survey, have been used in shaping the current TU/e program for “Integrity and Social Safety”. The most important measure that emerged from this is the establishment of the ‘Integrity and Social Safety Desk’.”

The ombudsperson, Anna Soedira (main photo), was asked for a comment, but said that the annual report speaks for itself. Therefore, all quotes attributed to the ombudsperson in the article are taken from the annual report.