"Shocking" allegations of public servants bullying other employees, stealing drugs from hospital trolleys and asking staff for sex have been reported to South Australia's Independent Commissioner Against Corruption (ICAC).

Key points: The report described employees working in fear of being sacked if they spoke out

The report described employees working in fear of being sacked if they spoke out Nearly half of the 12,000 respondents had encountered bullying and harassment

Nearly half of the 12,000 respondents had encountered bullying and harassment The report also detailed the prevalence of racism and sexism

The ICAC Public Integrity Survey has uncovered widespread allegations of "toxic" workplace cultures within the public service where staff were "too scared to report" misconduct and corruption for fear of losing their jobs.

The survey found nearly half of the 12,000 participants had encountered bullying and harassment in the public service in the past five years — with SA Health, the Department for Child Protection and the Department for Correctional Services the worst departments for bullying claims.

Financial mismanagement, misconduct, theft and fraud were also common issues raised with public servants claiming people were falsifying overtime sheets, failing to submit leave forms when taking time off work and senior staff removing drugs from a trolley in a hospital resuscitation room.

In another department, the executive team allegedly asked for a list of workers aged over 50 to target during a restructure.

Anti-corruption commissioner Bruce Lander QC described the allegations as "sobering" and "in many cases shocking" and said he had written to a number of agencies requesting they look into the claims.

In the "In Their Own Words" report he noted that more than 50 per cent of public servants would be worried about their jobs if they spoke out.

Many had experienced negative consequences for reporting corruption — something they were legally obliged to do.

"Reported once … got absolutely flogged for it … will never do it again," one public servant told the commissioner.

"I reported criminal activity, I was told to shut up or I could be sacked, so I will not be reporting criminal activity again, I'm sorry but I have financial responsibility," another said.

The most frequently reported misconduct was bullying and harassment, with 353 respondents specifically mentioning those issues.

Others noted racism and sexism had become acceptable in their workplaces.

"My manager asking me for sex", was the comment of one employee, included in a section of the report on inappropriate conduct.

"Bullying is rife in this organisation particularly from managers. At this level I'm hesitant to report this as I think it would probably make matters worse not better," another stated.

In the same section of the report another claimed a colleague made racist comments such as "towel head" and made derogatory comments about Indigenous women.

SA Health worst offender, nepotism also a concern

Mr Lander said the majority of staff who lost their jobs after making a complaint were from SA Health.

The number of survey responses received from SA Health employees was more than triple any other department.

He also heard public servants felt there was little accountability for senior staff.

Anti-corruption commissioner Bruce Lander went into detail about workplace culture. ( ABC News )

Across all of the departments, nearly 300 allegations of workplace favouritism and poor practice in regards to employment and hiring were also highlighted with many claiming jobs were not being advertised and instead given to friends and relatives.

"Mates of managers are put into management positions who are useless and cannot do that job; this makes the whole place a joke," one employee claimed.

"People with far better education, certificates are passed over for mates," another said.

"Conflicts of interest were hand-waved away, or managed in a way that suggested that senior staff didn't feel that the issue was improper," another claimed.

"Survey responses indicated that there is a perception that, for the perpetrator at least, there were no consequences for inappropriate conduct," Mr Lander said.

The commissioner said he was surprised to find public servants did not feel comfortable raising an issue internally with human resources because it was seen to be "protecting management" and would likely "investigate" the complainant instead.

"People in our organisation have lost out on jobs they have gone for, lost their job entirely and had their reputations tarnished as a result of raising genuine concerning issues," one said.

"At times this role may be seen to conflict with the desires of management," Mr Lander said.

"Human resources play an important role in helping support an agency's integrity."

Some individuals seen as 'protected'

Allegations of government departments falsifying audits "so as not to fail" were also made to the commissioner, with one complainant claiming the finance team covered up "millions of dollars of variations being transferred to projects and sites that were not allocated funding".

Some public servants also raised concerns about managerial staff looking at workers' personal health files and sharing that information.

"It stands to reason that if nothing changes as a result of making a report or if certain individuals are seen as 'protected', then willingness to report will be low," Mr Lander wrote.

"It is gratifying to note some participants, without prompting, described positive work cultures, strong integrity, appropriate integrity controls and processes for ongoing improvement in regards to promoting integrity.

"All public officers are required and should feel supported to be able to speak up if they have genuine issues with conduct in public administration.

"It is unacceptable that some public officers have experienced negative consequences for doing what they are legally obliged to do and what is in any event ethically right."

Mr Lander said he had not investigated the truth of the allegations raised in his report, but that non-mandatory questions and surveys were more likely to elicit responses from people who had negative experiences or grievances.