Some Denver city workers lack basic “psychological safety,” according to a new report from Denver Auditor Tim O’Brien.
The audit was released the same day Mayor Mike Johnston announced a massive restructuring of Denver government.
Johnston is attempting to close a $250 million budget gap and quit spending more money than Denver is bringing in. This long-term practice has depleted the city’s emergency funds.
New hiring is already frozen. In the months to come, employees will experience furloughs. The city will lay off an unknown number of workers, and departments may merge.
Spending will be tightened. The government will be focused on efficiency and may incorporate more artificial intelligence in daily city life, the mayor said.
The mayor’s cuts are happening in an environment where city workers have been fighting to unionize (a move voters backed in November) and former employees have been suing.
But some city workers, themselves, were depleted long before the bad news.
They shared as much in a 2022 citywide employee engagement survey.
At the time, workers thought pay was low and burnout was high. More than 20 percent were thinking of quitting.
Despite the survey many considered damning, the four departments audited by O’Brien — the Mayor’s Office, Denver Arts and Venues, the Office of Human Resources and Denver Parks and Recreation — did nothing formal with the results, the auditor says.
Burnout already leads to high turnover, costing the city around $40,000 to bring on new staff, according to O’Brien. In a time of hiring freezes, losing staff members and not being able to rehire for the positions could have an even more substantial impact on the basic functioning of government.
The turnover rate did improve from its 2022 high of 20 percent, dropping four percentage points.
Leadership has changed in most city agencies during the three-year audit. New leaders have expressed interest in improving workplace culture, while others say the city is already doing quite a lot.
The auditor brought up a slew of issues.
In all four departments O’Brien surveyed, non-management workers said they didn’t know where or how to report workplace issues and that they lacked staff who could help them address their concerns.
“Staff in all four agencies said there is a lack of psychological safety,” O’Brien wrote. “They fear being retaliated against for reporting issues and did not feel safe speaking with some agency leaders or to Human Resources.”
Only in the Mayor’s Office did staff say they felt comfortable giving feedback to their supervisors and leadership.
Why did the three other departments not? They feared punishment. Workers also feared asking for feedback.
“If there’s a culture where employees anticipate retaliation and punishment for speaking up, or issues like harassment are ignored, the city will lose the employees we want to retain,” O’Brien said in a statement. “Agency leaders have a responsibility to create a workplace environment where staff feel comfortable with constructive conversations.”
While workers preferred a collaborative and creative culture, they instead experienced a competitive and controlling culture, according to the audit.
“Understanding where gaps exist between actual and preferred culture can help agencies take appropriate action to reduce the impacts of unchecked gaps — project failures, reputational damage, and a loss of public trust,” O’Brien wrote.
The purpose of an audit isn’t to just beat up city agencies. The goal is to make government work better.
The auditor made 18 recommendations for improving organizational culture across the city, and the agencies accepted them all.
Among the recommendations:
- The city should hold agencies accountable for the employment engagement survey results and assess the survey questions.
- Departments need to develop, document and communicate their culture strategies and goals and have a documented plan and procedures for assessing current internal culture.
- The city should consider creating a committee to assess organizational culture and establish and document what the policy does and how it will work.
- The city should develop and document development opportunities, like leadership courses and conferences, and make sure staff know they exist. These programs have been historically cut during tough budget years like the one Denver is experiencing now.
- The city should develop formal recognition opportunities, monitor rewards data and follow the city’s rewards policy.
- Recognizing staff should be a priority.
- Finally, the city should prioritize the psychological safety of its workers, create guidelines for check-ins and ensure there is a functioning upward feedback process.
Since the audit was completed, the Mayor’s Office has introduced a process for city workers to file complaints and will partner with the Office of Human Resources to evaluate and improve the engagement survey.
The Office of Human Resources plans to give the Mayor’s Office quarterly reports about how agencies are engaging employees.
How this extra work will be funded when there is a $250 million budget gap is not yet clear.
The Mayor’s Office says it had already started working on employment engagement before the auditor made recommendations.
The Mayor’s Office has an Employee Engagement Committee working on organizational culture and employee engagement citywide, spokesperson Jon Ewing said.
The Mayor’s Office itself has a requirement that all team members have at least one professional development goal as part of their annual goal-setting process. Those can include attending a training, conference or class.
The city has an internal training system, called Workday, that offers thousands of free training opportunities.
Employees can also request outside training. That happens on a case-by-case basis.
The Office of Human Resources says the city is already doing plenty of work on building organizational culture.
Theresa Marcheta, the director of marketing and communications for the department, said her team is involved in all sorts of activities to boost organizational culture.
Among those:
- The agency has a strategic priority with specific goals and measurable outcomes.
- The human resources department’s head is leading the mayor’s “Tiger Team” on employee engagement.
- The city offers a vitality and wellness program, virtual opportunities for staff to gather around the “watercooler,” a biweekly human resources newsletter and more.
- The team has rebranded its internal efforts under the name “OneHR.” The idea is to create unity within the department. Team members even have t-shirts and the executive director wore a “Number 1” costume to unfurl the brand.
- Despite budget constraints, Marcheta says, the department has also held holiday ugly-sweater parties; quarterly in-person all-staff meetings, where employees can raise questions with leadership and also engage in trivia; employee recognition; and other fun activities.
- The department has also found a slew of ways to honor great work from employees both internally and across the city.
“Unfortunately, there are many things on this list that will take a hit due to the budget projections going forward,” Marcheta wrote.
