20% of city staff claim harassment

Complaints process ‘broken,’ auditor says in new report

Edmonton’s auditor is adding his voice to calls for a review of the city’s internal complaints system after nearly one-fifth of city employees said they have experienced harassment.

Eleven per cent also said in a citywide employee engagement survey in September 2016 that they had experienced discrimination.

But only 36 per cent said they told someone about it.

“The reporting process is broken,” said David Wiun after releasing his audit Thursday. He urged the city to ensure employees and union officials are given a say in finding a solution and restoring trust.

“Employees need to have a voice. The unions need to be a part of this process. They need to be listened to and respected,” he said.

The audit will be discussed at council’s audit committee meeting Monday.

City employees, councillors and union officials have told Postmedia employees don’t trust the internal human resources system for reporting abuse because it is not confidential — the accused reviews what’s written even if that person is a direct supervisor.

They fear retribution against those who complain and don’t see aggressors being punished appropriately even after an investigation.

The anxiety, stress and demoralization drives many to quit, while others suffer in silence, trying to keep their heads down.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” said Coun. Bev Esslinger, shocked at the figures around harassment as the audit circulated through council offices.

“Obviously, we have work to do,” she said, comparing it to genderbased and domestic violence, which also often go under the radar.

“You need to believe people. We have no evidence not to believe all the stories we’re hearing. We have to change the culture so it’s safe to tell people.”

“Every large organization needs to do the same,” she added. “We’re not alone in this challenge, but we can only be responsible for ourselves.”

The city has more than 14,000 full-time equivalent employees. Edmonton’s most recent engagement survey had a 72-per-cent response rate. The number of people reporting harassment was 19 per cent. The auditor did not include the Edmonton Police Service or Edmonton Public Library staff.

Since Postmedia first broke the story about city hall workplace harassment Tuesday, more than 60 additional current and former city employees have reached out to share their stories and say thank you for writing about the issue.

Wiun’s report on corporate culture does not break down results by branch or say whether harassment and discrimination are worse in some departments than others.

He said some of his results came out in 95 interviews his team did with randomly selected employees, but making a public allegation against a specific department would require additional, intensive investigation.

“We have enough data to make a strong recommendation (on the complaint process),” he said. “There’s going to be changes, clearly.”

Coun. Tony Caterina said this has been an issue from more than a decade, through two city managers. That’s come up before around high attrition rates and a lack of exit interviews. People are scared to come forward, worried they’ll be the ones punished, he said.

City administration is now pitching a new complaint process, still internal to the city, but reporting to the city manager with a panel of trained employees to review cases.

That’s not going to solve this, said Caterina: “People are looking for an independent panel.”