|
|
REPORT RAPPORT |
|
|
REPORT RAPPORT |
|
DATE:
|
22 February 2011 |
|
TO/DEST:
|
Executive Director, Ottawa Police Services Board |
|
FROM/EXP:
|
Chief of Police, Ottawa Police Service |
|
SUBJECT/OBJET:
|
POSITIVE WORKPLACE: 2010 ANNUAL REPORT |
RECOMMENDATION
Section 31(1)(c) of the Police Services Act states that a board shall establish policies for the effective management of the police force. The Ottawa Police Services Board has adopted a Positive Workplace Policy (#CR-1) to provide direction with regard to creating and maintaining a positive work environment for members of the Ottawa Police Service.
It is the Board’s goal to ensure a positive workplace that exemplifies the organization’s vision, mission and values. In this workplace members can expect an environment that promotes and offers:
a) Personal and professional support;
b) Equal and accessible treatment;
c) Valuing the contribution of members;
d) Safety;
e) High ethical and professional standards;
f) Diversity and non-discrimination.
The Board’s policy requires annual reporting on the usage and outcomes of the Respectful Workplace Program.
The Respectful Workplace Program was launched by the Police Service in 2007. It fulfilled a key recommendation of the Outreach Recruitment Project Research Findings and Recommendations: Making the Ottawa Police Service an "Employer of Choice for All” report. A comprehensive policy was developed to guide employees on respectful behaviour in the workplace and to outline the avenues open to them when they encountered disrespectful behaviour. All employees attended Respectful Workplace training. The position of Manager, Respectful Workplace was created and staffed shortly after.
This report provides a general overview of the Respectful Workplace Program portfolio from beginning of January 2010 to end of December 2010. This report provides an update and also includes a status report on issues that fall within the mandate of the Respectful Workplace Program, including statistics on the number of cases opened, resolved and ongoing, case conferences and workplace issues.
Due to the confidential nature of the information, neither names nor specifics will be used, in order that the parties involved remain anonymous and the information confidential.
1) Summary of Cases
In total there were 60 cases of Respectful Workplace issues, involving 247 employees. There were 47 single based cases, and 7 cases that involved multiple clients or groups. There were also 6 miscellaneous cases that were brought to the attention of the Respectful Workplace Program Manager, for purposes of consultation and eventual action. Most of these cases were brought forward via a Constable or Sergeant and involved them requiring consultation and guidance in order to deal with a Respectful Workplace issue prior to it becoming larger and something that could have potentially had a negative impact on the OPS, had they not been dealt with accordingly.
The breakdown of the cases is as follows: Of the 47 single based cases, 17 were male complainants, 30 were female complainants. All 47 cases were Assisted Response. There were 28 cases initiated by civilian employees and 19 cases initiated by sworn officers. There were 7 cases that involved multiple clients, ranging from groups of 3 employees to 40 employees. Of the 7 multiple client groups, 3 were comprised of civilians, and 4 were comprised of sworn officers. In total, 6 case conferences were convened regarding Respectful Workplace issues. The Manager of Respectful Workplace collaborates and consults with the Managers of Health, Safety and Lifestyles and Labour Relations on many cases.
Table 1 below encompasses all employees involved in a Respectful Workplace issue: both complainants and respondents, and is broken down further by gender and rank to include all involved. In total, 247 employees were involved in some sort of Respectful Workplace Program issue, which is a little more than 12% of the organization. Table 2 shows that of the 12%, 54% were males and 46% were females. Finally, Table 3 compares the percentage of employees involved in single based cases to group based cases and in miscellaneous cases.
Table 1
|
Total Number of Cases |
Male |
Female |
Self Initiated |
Assisted Response |
Civilian |
Sworn |
Total Number of Employees |
|
|
Single Based Clients |
47 |
48 |
73 |
0 |
47 |
66 |
55 |
121 |
|
Group Based Clients |
7 |
77 |
36 |
0 |
7 |
50 |
63 |
113 |
|
Miscellaneous |
6 |
8 |
5 |
0 |
6 |
8 |
5 |
13 |
|
Total |
60 |
133 |
114 |
0 |
60 |
124 |
123 |
247 |
Table 2 Table 3
2) Breakdown of Issues
The 47 single cases involved 4 categories of disrespectful behaviour:
1) Personal Harassment;
2) Abuse of Authority;
3) Discrimination;
4) Sexual Harassment.
Specifically, 29 cases of Personal Harassment were in the form of bullying, belittlement, intimidation, yelling, swearing, rumours, conflict, and general lack of respect.
There were 14 cases of Abuse of Authority, in the form of supervisors (both sworn and civilian), abusing their authority based on rank.
There were 3 cases of Discrimination, in the form of derogatory and racial slurs that made people feel uncomfortable
There was 1 case of Sexual Harassment, where the employee was accused of desiring another employee.
The 7 multiple client group cases involved the same category of disrespectful behaviour:
1) Personal Harassment
Specifically, the 7 cases of Personal Harassment were in the form of bullying, belittlement, intimidation, yelling, rumours, conflict and overall lack of respect. These took place in group settings, and therefore, the resolution included the groups. Each of the group cases required a different form of resolution, all of which were facilitated by the Manager, Respectful Workplace Program. These resolutions comprised:
a) Guided Change Process – 24 employees;
b) Workplace Review – 13 employees-in conjunction with an external consultant
c) Management and RWP Intervention – 3 employees;
d) Group Work to deal with team conflict issues – 8 employees;
e) Group Support to deal with difficult team issues – 4 employees;
f) Group Work and Team Meetings to deal with conflict issues – 21 employees;
g) Committee Meetings-40 employees.
2) Specific Location Where Incidents Occurred:
The incidents occurred at various Police Stations/Buildings, as well as the Provincial Court House and Professional Development Centre. The incidents occurred during working hours.
3) Status of Cases
Of the 47 individual cases, 36 have been resolved in 2010, and 11 remain open or are on-going. Some of these cases will be resolved in the upcoming year. However, others will remain open as the employees requested the incident(s) documented and requested advice on how to proceed, but then decided to not take action at the time, or they were opened late in the year and are in the process of being resolved. Of the 7 multiple client group cases, 3 have been resolved and 4 are ongoing as they were raised in the latter part of the year and the resolution is still in progress.
4) Respectful Workplace Program Activities
A number of key issues have been at the forefront requiring resolution and the effective management of employee issues and concerns. Although the Respectful Workplace Program was officially launched in April 2007, the hiring of a permanent Manager only occurred at the end of October 2008. The Respectful Workplace Program was then re-launched and Respectful Workplace was inundated with calls from employees who requested assistance with historical issues of disrespect in the workplace. Many of these issues were on-going for many years and with many successes the previous year, employees took the opportunity to find some resolution. Other requests came from employees who were bothered by the disrespectful behaviour of a co-worker, superior or subordinate, and took the opportunity to deal with the situation with the assistance and guidance of the Respectful Workplace Program. Many requests for assistance were due to an overall lack of communication and conflict resolution skills. The Program has met with success by being available for consultation to all operational managers and the Association on matters requiring guidance when it comes to issues of a respectful workplace and overall communication skills and conflict management.
5) Case Conferences
Case conferences are a management tool established to deal with significant and complex employee issues affecting the workplace. This approach involves bringing together the appropriate resources and expertise from various disciplines to discuss and implement an action plan and time frame, as it relates to resolving or deriving a course of action to deal with identified issues.
Case conferences promote positive employee relations, transparency and consistency in the management of workplace issues. There were 6 case conferences involving the Respectful Workplace Program during 2010. The issues discussed included the following:
· serial intimidation, threats and bullying;
· electronic harassment by use of social media;
· alleged discriminatory treatment and abuse of authority;
· feelings of isolation and social withdrawal;
· toxic work environment due to years of poor management; this theme was the basis of 2 case conferences;
These case conferences have provided a forum to discuss cases that have been brought to the attention of the Respectful Workplace Program, but often due to the nature of the complaint, complainant and/or respondent, may benefit from the combined expertise and knowledge of other disciplines.
Respectful Workplace Program Activities
While the Respectful Workplace Program Manager regarded all issues of Respectful Workplace as priorities, other initiatives were identified throughout the year for attention and completion by the Program Manager. These included:
Respectful Workplace Action Plan
While the Respectful Workplace Program Manager will continue to focus attention on the day-to-day needs of the members of The Ottawa Police Service, a number of key initiatives have been highlighted. One such initiative was the re-launch of the Ottawa Police Service’s commitment to the Respectful Workplace Program. This official re-launch took place on 16 November 2009, to coincide with the International Day for Tolerance. To continue with the re-launch theme, a Respectful Workplace article was written and appeared in the September 2010 edition of “The Broadcast”. Although visits during Block Training were planned for the spring, this initiative did not materialize due to the secondment during the spring and part of the summer of the Respectful Workplace Manager to work on Bill 168, the amendment to the Occupational Health and Safety Act. As part of the Business Plan for 2011, and in order to increase the visibility and approachability of the Respectful Workplace Program Manager, visits to Block Training will begin in the spring. As well, the Respectful Workplace Program Manager will write an article for the 2011 fall edition of “The Broadcast”. The re-launch was to culminate with a Chief’s Video in December 2010 highlighting the importance of respect in the workplace and the commitment to the Program, however, other issues took precedence.
As mentioned earlier, another important initiative was the Respectful Workplace Program contribution in the drafting of a policy for Ontario’s Bill 168. This legislation imposes new obligations under the Occupational Health and Safety Act for employers to develop, implement and annually review comprehensive policies and programs to address workplace violence and harassment. This legislation came into effect in June 2010. The administrative burden of complying with the new requirements under Bill 168 was significant. However, the Respectful Workplace Manager in conjunction with the Managers of Labour Relations and Health, Safety and Lifestyles accepted the onerous task and created a policy and training program and are presently in compliance with the law.
CONSULTATION
Consultation was not applicable for this report.
FINANCIAL STATEMENT
There is no financial impact associated with this report.
CONCLUSION
This report provides a summary of the cases, issues, resolutions, case conferences and other activities undertaken by the Respectful Workplace Program in 2010, thereby fulfilling the reporting requirements of the Police Services Board’s Policy #CR-1. This report also serves to provide the Police Services Board with the focus and direction of the Program for 2011. The continuous promotion of a respectful workplace, founded on principles of respectful communication, teamwork and the overall social and psychological well being of each employee is paramount. This, in conjunction with working together with management and the Association to bridge gaps and broker conflicts, will foster and promote respectful interactions and be in keeping with the Ottawa Police Service’s overall mission and values.
(Original signed by)
Vern White
Chief of Police
