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REPORT RAPPORT |
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REPORT RAPPORT |
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DATE:
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17 February 2012 |
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TO/DEST:
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Executive Director, Ottawa Police Services Board |
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FROM/EXP:
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Chief of Police, Ottawa Police Service |
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SUBJECT/OBJET: |
POSITIVE WORKPLACE: 2011 ANNUAL REPORT
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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, specifically:
“Recommendation 12: Establish processes and a framework to support supervisory accountability to address inappropriate employee behaviour with respect to workplace harassment and discrimination."
The Respectful Workplace Program is the culmination of a two-year project headed by a project team, and former Deputy Chief Sue O’Sullivan was the champion. The project and its deliverables were seen as a positive step to help employees deal with situations of conflict. 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. A training program was developed to familiarize employees with the expectations of working in a respectful workplace and all employees attended Respectful Workplace training. The position of Manager, Respectful Workplace was created and staffed shortly after. An active program is in place at OPS to help employees deal with harassment and discrimination as it occurs.
This is a sharp contrast to the limited approaches of the past when employees were reluctant to bring forward issues. When it did occur, long and costly investigations or reviews would be launched, rarely leading to satisfactory outcomes. The end result was usually bitter employees and high cost.
This report provides a general overview of the OPS Respectful Workplace Program portfolio from beginning of January 2011 to end of December 2011. It is 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.
For the sake of clarification and ease of understanding, Assisted Response refers to the action taken by the Respectful Workplace Program Manager when dealing with issues and the work involved moving towards resolution. Self Initiated Response refers to the person who is affected (the Complainant) speaking directly to the person with the offending behaviour (the Respondent), requesting that the offending behaviour cease. Although this may occur, this report can only deal with those cases that have been brought to the attention of the Respectful Workplace Program Manager for statistical purposes. Single Based Case refers to a case with one Complainant and a Group Based Case refers to a case with multiple Complainants or Respondents.
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.
Summary of Cases
In total there were 41 cases of Respectful Workplace issues, involving 90 employees. These numbers appear to be on the decline from previous years, as in the past the report was based on all cases being worked on in that calendar year. However, this year and going forward, the reporting format has changed to only highlight cases opened in the specific calendar year. Cases that are on-going from the previous year will be documented later in this report. This new reporting format will provide a more relevant snapshot of the issues without skewing the statistical date. There were 33 single based cases opened in 2011 and 1 group based case. There were also 7 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 sworn or civilian supervisor. It involved them requiring consultation and guidance in order to deal with the Respectful Workplace issue prior to it becoming larger and something that could have potentially had a negative impact on the OPS had it not been dealt with accordingly.
For the purpose of reporting and for the sake of explanation, 11 single based cases that were opened in 2010 and were unresolved at the time of the last annual report have been dealt with in 2011 and closed accordingly. These cases involved 19 employees in total - 11 complainants and 8 respondents. This was comprised of 10 women complainants and 1 male complainant, 9 civilian and 2 sworn members. There were 2 group based cases from 2010 that were dealt with in 2011 and are still ongoing. These groups are comprised of 24 employees - 12 male and 12 female, 23 sworn and 1 civilian. When combining these numbers with the newly opened cases for 2011, there are a combined total of 54 cases, involving 133 employees, which puts this year’s number of cases more in line with previous years.
The composition of the 33 single based cases are as follows: 15 were male complainants, 18 female complainants, 17 civilian, 16 sworn. All cases were Assisted Response. There was 1 group based case involving a group of 5 employees and all were civilian employees. In total 3 case conferences were convened regarding Respectful Workplace issues, however, other meetings were convened to discuss 4 other Respectful Workplace issues, where there was an overlap in disciplines. The Manager of Respectful Workplace collaborates and consults with the Manager of Health, Safety and Lifestyles, Manager of Labour Relations, the Director of Labour and Employee Relations and the Director of Human Resources.
Table 1 below encompasses all employees involved in a Respectful Workplace issue: both complainants and respondents, and is broken down further by gender and classification to include all involved. In total, 90 employees were involved in some sort of Respectful Workplace Program issue, which is 5% of the organization. Table 2 shows that of the 5% of employees, 40% were males and 60% were females. Finally, Table 3 compares the percentage of employees involved in single based cases to group based cases and to miscellaneous cases.
Table 1
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Total Number of Cases |
Male |
Female |
Self Initiated Response |
Assisted Response |
Civilian |
Sworn |
Total Number of Employees |
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Singled Based Clients |
33 |
30 |
38 |
0 |
33 |
36 |
32 |
68 |
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Group Based Clients |
1 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
1 |
5 |
0 |
5 |
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Miscellaneous |
7 |
6 |
11 |
0 |
7 |
16 |
1 |
17 |
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Total |
41 |
36 |
54 |
0 |
41 |
57 |
33 |
90 |
Table 2 Table 3
Breakdown of Issues
The 33 single-based cases involved four (4) categories of disrespectful behaviour:
1) Personal Harassment;
2) Abuse of Authority;
3) Lack of Respect;
4) Sexual Harassment.
Specifically, 21 cases of Personal Harassment were in the form of bullying, intimidation, yelling, swearing, rumours, and conflict.
There were eight (8) cases of Abuse of Authority, in the form of supervisors (both sworn and civilian), abusing their authority based on rank.
There were two (2) cases of Lack of Respect. This was in the form of disrespectful communication relating to inappropriate language, spreading of gossip and general lack of respect.
There were two (2) cases of Sexual Harassment, in the form of touching that made the individual feel uncomfortable and suggestive sexual behaviour.
The one group-based case involved Personal Harassment in the form of bullying. This could be defined as “offensive, intimidating, malicious, insulting, and humiliating behaviour, which attempts to undermine an individual or a group of employees which causes them to suffer from stress”. The resolution comprised of a modified Facilitated Dialogue which involved the 5 employees plus members of their management team.
Specific Location Where Incidents Occurred:
The incidents occurred at various Police Stations/Buildings, as well as the Provincial Court House, and at work related conferences. The incidents occurred during working hours.
Status of Cases
Of the 33 single based cases, 25 cases have been resolved in 2011, and 8 remain open or 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 solicited advice on how to proceed, but then decided to not take action at the time. Some other cases were put on hold as the employees are currently on sick leave or long term disability. The one group based case has been resolved however two group based cases from 2010 are in the process of being resolved in 2012, as there were delays due to a PSS investigation and a change in management.
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 3 case conferences involving the Respectful Workplace Program during 2011 and 4 informal meetings. The issues discussed included the following:
- Toxic work environment
- Intimidation and threats (this was the theme in 2 cases)
- Bullying
- Disrespectful communication
- Personal harassment in the form of derogatory communication, epithets and slurs
- Feelings of isolation and social withdrawal.
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, such as Health, Safety and Lifestyles and Labour Relations.
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. Ottawa Police Service is a pioneer with the Respectful Workplace Program. The hiring of a permanent Manager only occurred at the end of October 2008. The Respectful Workplace Program was then 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 the hiring of a Manager, 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.
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. This included a number of presentations given to:
The RWP Manager provided numerous mediations and facilitated workplace solutions to numerous conflict situations. The RWP Manager attended meetings with Calgary Police Service, Revenue Canada and City of Ottawa, for education, enhanced awareness, and best practices in the field of Respectful Workplace. This will be continued in 2012 and beyond with different police services and organizations.
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. Respectful Workplace is focused on achieving resolution through face-to-face discussion, increased self awareness, and learning about the perspectives of others. While noble endeavours, this approach can bring other challenges. The organizational culture combined with human nature, is such that people are often uncomfortable, if not resistant to, navigating the waters of conflict transformation without the framework of blame and consequences as a guide. It was with this in mind, that conflict resolution and providing related skills training were viewed as Respectful Workplace Program priorities and have been the focus of the Program Manager in the past year. The Program Manager earned her Chartered Mediation designation (C. Med). This allows for the successful resolution of work related issues utilizing an internal mediator as opposed to hiring an external resource. Aside from the obvious monetary savings involved, knowledge of the police culture and the establishment of trust are all beneficial to the role. The Program Manager increased her skill set by being trained in alternative group conflict resolution techniques. This has allowed for broader methods of resolution such as Facilitated Dialogue and Transformational Conferencing.
Going forward, Respectful Workplace will maintain its visibility by writing articles and updates on a quarterly basis for “The Broadcast”. This will be an increase from the annual article written in past years. Respectful Workplace would like to provide skills training in support of conducting difficult conversations and resolving conflict. The objective would be to educate supervisors and managers in how to help resolve respect concerns effectively, efficiently and respectfully. Also from a Career Development perspective, Respectful Workplace plans to work to improve processes and collaboration between stakeholders to ensure consistency of respect messaging throughout the organization. The Respectful Workplace needs to be the change champion for respect in the workplace, strategizing and spearheading behavioral and cultural change across the organization, working with management to address concerns and also bring about a cultural change.
This report provides a summary of the cases, issues, resolutions, case conferences and other activities undertaken by the Respectful Workplace Program in 2011, 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 2012. 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 overall mission and values.
(Original signed by)
Vern White
Chief of Police
