Internal investigation finds Town of Coaldale workplace “not toxic”

Many discussions and decisions made by town council being done during closed meetings
A lack of consultations and openness on major capital projects including the new town office known as Civic Square, along with others such as a new high school and a recreation centre
Residents feeling that their concerns are not being heard by the town
Businesses getting “blacklisted” by the town and losing opportunities to bid on projects for not working with the municipality in a specific way

While CFBC requested that a wide-spread municipal inspection lead by the province be done, Coaldale Town Council elected to hire the consultant for an “HR Culture Audit” instead.

Bartel spoke with 33 individuals including seven people who used to work for the municipality.

The key takeaway is that the auditor found that the overall work environment is “not toxic.”

Since some of the complaints that have submitted date as far back as 2015, the author of the report says they could reflect “how things used to be”, and not necessarily represent a full picture of how the workplace is now.

They found that some of the town’s strengths include:

The quality of the work undertaken at the town being high and fast-paced
Strong leadership with a collaborative focus
The majority of employees at the town office and fire hall described their morale as “very good”
Having appropriate policies, procedures, and training to address bullying, harassment, and intimidation
Hiring a safety officer

On the other hand, some areas for improvement include:

Improving morale at the shop. Many employees described their morales as being “poor” to “good”
Internal communication was often poor. There was also miscommunication around a recent restructuring
Inconsistent HR support
Not all employees received a copy of the employee handbook
No consistency in the requirements for performance evaluations
High turnover and staffing reductions due to a recent restructuring leading to fear among some employees of “who might be next”

The report made several recommendations for what is listed in the areas of improvement section above.

“There are a number of useful recommendations made. These recommendations had already been identified by management as process gaps and there were plans in place to address prior to this report being commissioned. As relates to the shop, the culture is improving and will continue to be an area of focus,” reads a statement from the Town of Coaldale.

The statement continues to say that any employee, now and in the future, is welcome to go through the grievance or complaints process, but they “will not, in any circumstances entertain further allegations from past employees.”

CFBC has previously told LNN that they would not be satisfied with an internal HR investigation and have continued their efforts to garner petitions to make a municipal inspection happen.

As of December 15, more than 2,300 people have signed, which is more than what they need to prompt the province to potentially pull the trigger.

The full HR Culture Audit report can be found here.

by David Opinko

Internal investigation finds Town of Coaldale workplace “not toxic”

What's Happening