What one city councillor called a "very honest and earnest" conversation at city hall has helped politicians hammer out a detailed plan to tackle the widespread issue of workplace harassment.
Councillor Tanya Park stressed that the City of London needs to make resolving the allegations that came to light last week its primary focus. Her comments on Tuesday came moments after the Corporate Services Committee unanimously recommended a new nine-point motion to address harassment complaints and create an atmosphere where all city employees feel safe.
"Council really took this issue by the horns and we have to maintain focus on this. It is an incredibly important issue and it cannot be swept under the rug," said Park.
The motion to enhance the city's workplace harassment and discrimination policy was drafted using points raised in two letters submitted by Mayor Matt Brown and councillors Park, Jesse Helmer, and Virginia Ridley. If given the green light by the full council, city brass will hire an independent third party to investigate complaints, undertake a review of the current policy, and provide regular updates to politicians on progress made.
City Manager Martin Hayward told the committee steps have already been taken toward hiring a third party investigator.
"We started to look at third parties that we might be able to bring in to help lead us through this process and we know we need a group that is very, very good at dealing with these kinds of issues because we want to make this as robust as possible," said Hayward.
He went on to say the scope of the investigations will be vast.
"We will be looking at cyberbullying, we will be looking at threats through emails," said Hayward. "We are going to broaden this out because every employee in this city needs to be protected... what has happened in the past is not right. Every employee needs to feel safe."
Since March 8, dozens of municipal employees have shared accounts of harassment, bullying, and retaliation in the workplace with Megan Walker, head of the London Abused Women's Centre. Many of the complaints outlined a culture of fear within the organization that became so bad for some that they chose to quit. Others described stress and anxiety that brought them to tears on a daily basis.
Word of the allegations led to a special two-hour closed-door meeting of city council last Monday which drew criticism after politicians would only report "progress" had been made. In stark contrast, Tuesday's committee meeting discussions were held in public session and lasted nearly an hour.
"We have been looking hard across the country on how other organizations are dealing with this particular concern, the commitment that folks have and the best methodologies to deal with it," said the city's HR boss Bill Coxhead. "What we are trying to do is learn from what people have done in the past... it is going to take a little while to get it right and have a process that people have confidence in."