Marvin OnumonuPoor leadership was the main barrier to getting ahead in the arts, research from Arts Professional’s Arts Pay Survey found.
Over 70% of people said they faced obstacles to moving up in their career, with nearly two-fifths pointing to bad management as the biggest problem.
Nepotism, favouritism and a lack of transparency in hiring and promotions were also common complaints.
Just one in five agreed decision-making was very clear in their workplace, with pay, salary bands and promotions being especially unclear.
Fewer than 10% said leaders showed sustainable working patterns.
The research also found only 5% thought their workplace managed new projects and workloads well, with close to 45% saying there was little attention paid to existing workloads or staff capacity.
Middle-level staff were the most likely to say their job roles were unclear, with around 70% pointing to a lack of defined responsibilities or grey areas.
Three-fifths of entry-level workers and half of senior staff said the same.
Roughly a quarter said talking about problems at work was discouraged or certain subjects were off limits.
