Richmond City Council
March 22, 2022

March 22, 2022

City Council

DATE: March 22, 2022
TO: Mayor Butt and Members of the City Council
FROM:

Councilmembers Melvin Willis and Claudia Jiménez

Subject:

Improve Staff Morale
FINANCIAL IMPACT: There is no financial impact related to this presentation.

PREVIOUS COUNCIL
ACTION:

None

STATEMENT OF THE
ISSUE:

Over the past few years, employee morale has been declining for a number of reasons. After conducting several
conversations with various employees, I have learned that many employees have concerns about communication,
working conditions, staffing levels, and treatment from elected officials and senior staff. The purpose of this item is to improve staff morale, not to place blame on one source or group.

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

RECEIVE a presentation on ideas to maximize
communication, raise employee morale, and to acknowledge the dedication of staff; and PROVIDE direction to staff.

Councilmembers Melvin Willis (510-412-2050) and Claudia Jiménez (510-620-6565).

AGENDA
REPORT

March 22, 2022
DISCUSSION:

The issue of declining staff morale has been happening for the past couple of years.

This item is an attempt to acknowledge and address the concerns of staff. The City of Richmond cannot best serve its residents and clients if the staff feels that they are not supported, appreciated, respected, or heard.

For several reasons, the morale of our employees has dropped for both causes under our control and out of our control. The administration has been unstable for the past few years with the revolving door of city managers and the departure of department heads.

In addition to the continued change in administration, the City Council hasn’t always demonstrated confidence in the expertise of staff or respected the level of work generated by City Council directives. The most apparent reason is the uncertainty and impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic, the shelter in place orders, and the inconsistency of the telecommuting process.

Over the course of three months, I have listened to employees, observed their temperament at City Council meetings, reviewed the findings from the Race and Equity Team’s Healing Circles, and held conversations with staff. The following items are direct responses from employees.

Data Gathering from November through early March 2022:
 Held 30 scheduled conversations with various staff members over the course of two months.

 Received 10 written submissions from staff who wished to remain anonymous Note: During the development of this agenda item, some of the concerns were addressed administratively. Footnotes have been used to identify said changes.

Concerns:
 Lack of timely communication throughout the organization

 Staff directory needs updating. Staff is unaware of outgoing and newly hired staff. The information is needed for staff working onsite and remotely to ensure that the correct contact information is provided to the community.

 Staff are leaving the organization due to morale issues. Institutional knowledge is leaving the city. Succession plans are needed.

 Need an all-city staff meeting once or twice a year to receive the status of city services, upcoming changes, and budget highlights.

March 22, 2022
 Staff is overworked and many are working out of class due to understaffing or budget cuts. Burnout has occurred for many employees, including department heads.

 Department heads will accept projects without understanding the scope of work before assigning the projects to staff or preparing/training staff.

 Due to understaffing, many community service calls are delayed

 There is fear of retaliation from supervisors, if staff reports issues to supervisors, union representatives, or Human Resources. Staff shared experiences of retaliation from supervisors.

 Decorum at City Council meetings has set a less than professional example for the organization as a whole and instilled fear in employees.

o Staff is fearful of presenting at city council meetings due to the potential of being torn down and/or their integrity being challenged o Staff has experienced personal attacks that can ruin their professional reputation - this type of behavior hinders efforts to recruit new employees o General hostile work environment - staff feels brow beaten o City Council sponsored agenda items often are agendized without staff having sufficient time to prepare, to research the current/proposed policy, the history, to identify red flags, or vet the item
o City Council doesn’t respect or acknowledge staffs’ experience or skills in their respective departments or units.
o City Council doesn’t trust staff
o City Council doesn’t routinely speak with staff about their questions prior to City Council meetings or work with staff to address some concerns administratively.

 Security

o Only one guard onsite
o Security guards aren’t onsite at 8:30am
o No universally known protocol with security threats or emergencies o Need to resume and practice emergency drills to refresh the staff and department/unit coordinator of their duties during an evacuation of the buildings
o Unhoused people are sleeping and causing disturbances in the courtyard o RPD doesn’t respond within the hour when security guards request assistance with disturbances at or around the Civic Center Plaza.

March 22, 2022
Solutions:
 RPD should re-evaluate the beat to increase response time to emergencies at or near the Civic Center Plaza, including calls from the security guards.  Monthly “All City Staff” communication to inform staff of policy and organizational changes.

 Reinstate semiannual or annual “All City Staff” meetings to inform staff of policy and organizational changes. The “All City Staff” meetings provided staff an opportunity to provide input and ask questions.

 Intensive effort to promote in-house prior to recruiting externally. Address barriers to advancement within the department or a promotional move to another department. Many long-term employees feel stifled from upward mobility. Staff could provide input on barriers and ideas that will help to improve outcomes.

 Create career paths and plans to professionally develop staff to prepare them for promotional opportunities. Staff doesn’t believe there is equity in promotional opportunities.

 Create uniformity in ability to telework. The ability to work remotely varies from department to department.

 Release the Classification & Compensation Study and adjust salaries and wages accordingly.

 Acknowledge staff: annual holiday celebrations, annual picnics, years of service recognition (methods used prior to the pandemic). Staff would also appreciate work anniversaries being acknowledged.

 Bring back the health fair and Public Works week to help residents understand what the City does and the resources available.

 Staff would like an opportunity to evaluate their supervisors without retaliation to help them improve their management skills.

 Supervisors, senior and executive staff should participate in regular training to improve their management and people skills and to learn best practices.

 Team building activities to help the city’s work environments to return to a community environment instead of silos or one department pitted against another.

 Be aware that it's an emotionally tumultuous time for all, but more so for communities of color. Let staff take time off and support self-care. Support staff in taking breaks, time off, walks around the building, and joining GARE or

March 22, 2022
extracurricular events. Allow staff to heal, grieve, feel what they feel, or educate themselves.

 City Council should ask staff the amount of time needed to complete their research or policy analysis requests.

 Free access to City-owned pools for employees to increase physical activity and well-being.

 Limit the use of the staff break rooms as storage spaces.

 The City Council should listen to and consider the experience of staff in their respective areas when making decisions.

The concerns and suggested solutions in this report were provided by staff. Additional suggestions from supervisors, senior staff, and the City Council should be submitted to the Human Resources Director and City Manager.

The staff members that accepted the invitation to chat with Councilmember Willis were not interviewed. They were only asked to share their experiences and suggestions to improve morale. Even though staff expressed their gratitude for the opportunity to chat, many of the staff members asked if their comments would make a difference.

Councilmember Jiménez and I commit to doing our best to stress to our fellow councilmembers, the mayor, executive and senior staff that our behavior and treatment of subordinates has a strong impact on the morale of our employees.

The purpose of the item is not to place blame, but to bring awareness to the City Council and the executive staff of the impacts of our behavior, divisiveness, and insufficient communication throughout the organization. It is a trickledown effect and we need to take note of ourselves to analyze how each of us can contribute to improving the morale of our staff. We challenge those of you who feel you are fair, communicate changes in city and departmental policies in a timely manner, and consider your staff first before hiring externally, to ponder these questions.

 Am I creating an environment where my staff feels they can share their ideas and observations about service?
 Am I in touch with each of the divisions in my department and the effectiveness, professionalism, and behavior of the leads/supervisors?  Am I questioning my staff about their career goals and suggesting professional development or training to prepare them for the opportunity when it arises?  Am I being mindful of how I interact with my colleagues privately and publicly?  Am I being equitable when reviewing requests for telework agreements?  Am I aware of my bias and have measures in place to ensure that my biases are not negatively impacting my decisions?
 What am I doing to improve morale in our city?

March 22, 2022
In addition to supporting and caring for our employees, the well-being of our workforce is imperative to the outcome of services provided to the community. The ultimate goal is to provide excellent and equitable service to our customers, the Richmond residents and business community.

We are grateful and appreciate the staff, senior staff, and management that have taken steps to support their subordinates and improve service to the community. We know that the majority of our leadership and frontline staff are doing their best; however, there is room for improvement on all of our parts. Thank you for your time and consideration of the issues presented in this agenda item.

In partnership,

Councilmembers Willis and Jiménez

DOCUMENTS ATTACHED:

Attachment 1 - PowerPoint