HomeMy WebLinkAboutCouncil - 2009-06-29 SSPECIAL COUNCIL MINUTES
JUNE 29, 2009 CITY OF KITCHENER
A special meeting of City Council was held at 3:05 p. m. this date, chaired by Mayor C. Zehr with all
members present.
Notice of this meeting had been previously given to all members of Council by the City Clerk pursuant
to Chapter 25 (Council Procedure) of the Municipal Code.
Mr. J. Yardley, Metrics @ Work, presented the results of the City of Kitchener 2009 Employee Culture
Survey. He noted the importance of the survey results, including the fact that these results are the
voice of front line work teams and "Engaged Employees" drive higher levels of performance and
productivity.
Mr. Yardley advised that the City's response rate was 74.4%, which is outstanding, and it would be
even higher if only full-time staff were counted. These results put the City of Kitchener in the top 3
municipalities in their database, all of whom are within 0.5% of each other.
Mr. Yardley displayed a comparison of the 2007 and 2009 Employee Survey results; noting that of the
29 comparable scales to the 2007 survey, 27 are higher and of those, 17 are significantly higher, with
only 2 being minimally lower. He pointed out that all of these are corporate averages, so some
departments /divisions have scored higher than the corporate average. Also, Mr. Yardley advised
that they have rarely seen such a high positive change overall. As compared to their Municipal
Sector Benchmarks, 19 of 27 comparable areas are at least 5% above the benchmark and only 2 are
minimally below. He stated that these results are very strong and should be celebrated and
presented to others. In comparing the City's results to the Municipal Sector Highest Scores, the City
set new "highest scores to date" for municipalities in 12 comparable areas; and, these results are
simply outstanding and noteworthy.
Respecting next steps, Mr. Yardley recommended the following: a communications plan across the
corporation; discussions and action plans about the results by departments /divisions /sections, as
well as cross functional teams; development of an accountability framework; presenting these results
externally to the corporation in such ways as through media release, articles in professional journals
and presentations at professional organizations such as CAMA and OMHRA; and finally, resurveying
employees. He warned that the same outstanding results should not be expected the next time.
In response to questions, Mr. Yardley advised that as well as being in the top 3 municipalities, the
City's results compare very highly with the private sector. Every aspect of the results is, on average,
at or above 60%.
Discussions took place on one or two areas in the corporation whose results were not as high as the
corporate average, although the sharing of best practices across the corporation was discussed, it
was suggested that these area should work on action plans that could improve these results in their
own areas.
Mayor Zehr thanked Ms. Ladd, senior staff, and all staff for making the changes necessary to attain
such outstanding results.
Moved by Councillor C. Weylie
Seconded by Councillor J. Smola
"That an in-camera meeting of City Council be held this date to consider two personal matters, a
litigation /potential litigation matter which is also subject to solicitor-client privilege and a matter
subject to solicitor-client privilege."
On motion the meeting adjourned at 3:50 p. m.
MAYOR CLERK