‘Earth-shattering’ report finds gaps in City of Winnipeg workforce reviews, accountability

Posted on June 12, 2024 by Peggy

The City of Winnipeg has released what one councillor called an “earth-shattering” report on workforce management that found the city lacks adequate processes for reviewing staff performance and measuring progress toward key goals.

The workforce management audit, written by city auditor Jason Egert, found 67 per cent of the city’s 10,400 workers had not completed a formal job performance assessment that was recorded in the city’s human resources management system.

It also found 10 out of 12 leaders interviewed for the report did not have formal documented performance measures for evaluating their staff.

“These gaps have resulted in a deficiency in reporting on results, and there is limited accountability for effectively documenting how leaders are meeting organizational goals and objectives,” Egert wrote in the report, which is on the agenda for council’s executive policy committee’s June 18 meeting.

The report also found many positions, including senior management roles, have no or outdated job descriptions.

“It’s just earth-shattering,” Coun. Janice Lukes (Waverley West), who is also deputy mayor, said in an interview after a briefing on the report Wednesday morning.

“I’m going to be working with the elected officials to make some serious changes, because this is not acceptable. We are working around the clock … to deliver results for citizens, and we need the support of the public service.”

The report recommends the city’s chief administrative officer and other top civil servants come up with formal documented processes for tracking the performance of employees and measuring progress.

It comes nearly a year after councillors called for a formal job performance evaluation of the city’s most senior employees, something that had been discussed for years but never acted on.

Under former mayor Brian Bowman, city council first approved the performance review committee in 2016, but a formal review was never conducted. The committee dissolved in 2018.

City chief administrative officer Michael Jack told reporters many city staff work in the field and may not receive regular reviews

He also said leaders may do informal reviews with their staff, but without documentation, the city has no way of knowing.

“We’ve got some barriers to ensuring we are getting on the same page with all of this. That’s what we’ve committed to in terms of our responses in this audit report. But yeah, we clearly need to do better,” he said, adding the city has committed to implementing all 13 of the report’s recommendations.

The head of the city’s largest union says the lack of feedback is hampering efforts to recruit and retain workers.

“You want to have a workforce that’s feeling that they’re being heard and listened to. You want to create opportunities for your workforce, but that comes from leadership.”

Mayor Scott Gillingham says he and the executive policy committee will debate next steps at their meeting next week.

“The people of Winnipeg work very hard and pay taxes, expect services, and so we need to make sure that we are optimizing our employees and their opportunity to grow and the services that they’re delivering.”

Lukes said she isn’t calling for anyone to lose their job over the report — yet.

“I’m not calling for anything right now,” she said. “I’m very upset.”