City employee ‘pain’ prompts apology
City manager Linda Cochrane apologized directly to those city employees suffering harassment, bullying and discrimination, saying she knew of the issue and didn’t treat it seriously enough.
“To the staff who came forward in obvious pain, I am sorry,” Cochrane said during a presentation to city council’s audit committee Monday. “We will work hard until we get this right.”
Cochrane said her team knew about the issue because they had access to engagement survey results, which clearly illustrate departments with low morale, tracking harassment and discrimination by branch. But media coverage last week proved to her efforts to fix things were not enough.
“We are listening to the people ... We very much believe their pain,” she said, pledging to bring in thirdparty experts to help the city understand what it needs to do.
Postmedia began reporting on harassment and bullying within the City of Edmonton last Tuesday after several current and former employees spoke about how intimidation, discrimination, verbal abuse and other elements of a toxic work culture were driving good employees to quit.
City auditor David Wiun confirmed such issues are widespread, with nearly one-fifth of city employees reporting harassment in the 2016 employee engagement survey.
In an audit that went to committee for debate Monday, he also found “pockets of absenteeism” that could be related to harassment or low morale.
He found only one-third of employees who experience harassment and discrimination report it, and urged city officials to review the way they handle complaints as a way to restore trust.
“Corporate culture is one of the biggest risks in any organization,” Wiun said, describing how an unhealthy workplace culture destroys teamwork and prevents an organization from achieving its goals.
Councillors asked the city to create a clear and consistent process for exit interviews and an immediate new external third-party process to handle harassment complaints, at least until a new policy that employees trust can be implemented.
They also asked Cochrane to report back in May 2018 on her progress, including a demographic breakdown if possible on harassment and morale, preliminary findings from the external review, an analysis of turnover statistics and a sense of how the city compares to other organizations.
They asked her to look at doing an employee engagement survey every year, rather than every two years.
It costs $180,000 for a third party to administer.
“Leadership is about taking full responsibility,” said Mayor Don Iveson, promising as the chairman of council and some committee
This needs to be a respectful workplace ... Psychological safety is critical.
meetings, he will be less permissive when councillors fail to set a respectful tone at the top.
“Public servants are under an incredible amount of stress at the best of times,” said Iveson after the meeting.
“Citizen expectations of the city are and should be high. We’ve had a tough couple of years,” he said, adding it’s not surprising to see heightened uncertainty among staff.
But regardless, he said, “this needs to be a respectful workplace ... Psychological safety is critical.”
Linda Crockett, founder of Alberta Bullying, said she is happy to hear the city manager taking accountability.
“I heard some understanding that they made some mistakes. That is the first step to repairing some trust and respect that has been severely damaged over many, many years,” said Crockett, a social worker who retrained to specialize in workplace bullying, then started the non-profit as a resource for victims, perpetrators and organizations.
She’s counselled several City of Edmonton employees.
This issue costs the city “multiple millions of dollars” a year in lost productivity, sick leaves and turnover, she estimated.