It just got a little bit easier to call out toxic work environments — and for workplace harassers and bullies to be held accountable — across the pond. A new anonymous reporting app, “Call It!,” is now being tested in select organizations in the U.K. film industry, with plans for a formal roll-out later this year and an eventual expansion to Hollywood and beyond.
As Variety reports, users can anonymously report mistreatment, as well as good experiences, at work using Call It!’s simple interface. The app “asks the staff of companies and productions that sign up to the initiative three questions every day for the duration of a project, the main one being ‘How were you treated at work today?,'” the source details. “A traffic light system gives users three options to answer, with green indicating they were treated well, orange for ‘okay,’ and red for those who felt they were treated badly.”
Call It! does not include a field for specific feedback. Anyone who wants to elevate a complaint will be able to access their employer’s “Dignity at Work” guidelines for formal reporting through the app.
An easy-to-use tool that empowers people to call out unsafe work environments seems to be sorely needed: the Film and TV Charity found that 84 percent of workers in the U.K. industry have experienced or witnessed bullying or harassment in the workplace, per the source.
The idea is for producers or higher-ups to “immediately take steps to check in with staff” after noticing a bunch of red buttons in one day. Companies and productions also have the option to have a third party oversee their staff check-ins to further ensure accountability.
Producer Jules Hussey (“My Mad Fat Diary”) and director Delyth Thomas (“Victoria”) developed the idea for Call It!, and producer Kate Wilson (“Sounds Like London”) joined the team this spring.
“What we need to achieve is a system that allows for an individual responsibility and accountability, but also collective accountability where, if we’re aiming for behavior change and cultural change within our industry, we need to all take responsibility for better ways of treating one another,” Wilson said. She also believes positive feedback collected by Call It! could make an impact: “It’s really important that producers recognize the days where they have a lot of green lights, as we’re calling it — the days where everyone feels like they are being treated well and where communications are good.We have a tendency in our industry to fingerpoint and show where a practice is at its worst, but we don’t have very good examples of best practice,” she explained.
While designed with the film industry in mind, Call It! has the potential to be used in any sector. Its execs also want to ask companies to anonymously share their data with Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity at Birmingham City University, “with a view to identifying industry-wide pattens.” Reportedly, “data can’t be traced back to the production, company, or project.”
Companies interested in adopting Call It! for their workplace can find out more about the app here.
