Anxiety and stress levels are at an “all time high” among City of New Westminster employees – but they’re still a cohesive group and supportive of each other in the face of the COVID-19 crisis.
Those are some of the comments included in a recent update to council about the work of the human resources working group. In response to the COVID-19 crisis, the City of New Westminster created seven working groups to consider a variety of issues, including one looking at the city’s human resources.
“Recognizing this is a stressful and unsettling time for everyone, staff are sharing a wide variety of concerns,” said a report. “Human resources is working hard to provide clear communication, direction and support to our staff as they maintain essential services to the community during these difficult days.”
According to the report, staff have shared a wide variety of concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including some of the same challenges that other community members are experiencing: financial concerns; challenges with child care and eldercare; and increased general stress and uncertainty. Some have expressed feelings of isolation and frustration with social distancing protocols – both in terms of being unable to connect with family, friends and coworkers in the same way, and in witnessing others not following social distancing when they’re out in public.
According to the report, some non-essential staff are anxiously awaiting re-assignment and wondering what the next steps will be. At the same time, essential staff are dealing with immense workload issues and some are concerned about the inequity of the workload.
The report noted that some city employees have voiced concerns about their own and family member’s health and potential exposure to COVID-19 through the community – and through those city employees working in positions that require them to be on-site at city facilities.
Mayor Jonathan Cote said he has been “incredibly impressed” with the dedication that city staff are putting in during the COVID-19 crisis. He said the city is trying to support its team as best as it can.
“Our staff team at the city is doing some amazing work. I am so appreciative of the dedication and compassion that we are seeing from staff,” he told the Record. “No doubt, it is an incredibly stressful environment. I think we all have our personal family concerns with the health outbreak and a whole host of issues with coming in to work and trying to contribute as much as you can. I know our human resources department is definitely trying to open up some of the mental health resources that we do have available to our staff and making sure people are aware of the different resources that are available because we know we are all struggling under this environment and we need to make sure people know about the supports that do exist.”
The April 6 report to council states that a number of strategies have been implemented to communicate with staff and to support them, including regular communication from the human resources department and the emergency operations centre and the creation of protocols to promote a safe workplace and to safeguard the health of city staff, such as social distancing measures, more frequent cleaning of high-traffic surfaces and the closure of city facilities.
Since mid-March, the city’s recreation facilities, libraries and community centres have been closed. While city hall is closed to the public, some staff continue to provide essential services on an appointment-only basis.
The city’s information technology department has taken action that’s made it possible for about 350 employees to work from home.
“We have definitely moved as many staff as we can that can do their work from home to work at home. We have also moved our working locations to city hall, the Anvil Centre and the library to help spread our staff out so we can practise social distancing as much as possible in the work environment. We have taken a lot of steps,” Cote said. “If people can work from home, that can happen. For those where it’s not possible, they are to spread out at our facilities. The reality is a lot of our city buildings are not being used the way they are normally used, so how can we have them actually be used to help spread out our workforce.”
The City of New Westminster’s emergency operations centre is currently operating out of Anvil Centre.
“Everyone is very spread out in that area. That is what we are trying to do as much as possible with all staff,” Cote said. “Definitely, staff have been relocated to different locations if they are still coming in. We are also rotating staff too. Some will work at home for a bit, then come in for other staff. It does rotate it a bit because we do have some limitations with how many staff are able to work at home and we obviously want to rotate that too.”
Cote said it’s far from business as usual in the City of New Westminster.
“We are not doing meetings anymore. Everything is being done electronically – phone, Zoom meetings,” he said. “The way we even interact at city hall – it is actually quite surreal to be there. Normally it’s a bustling location with people constantly meeting and talking with each other. Now, everyone is at their work station for most of the time and when they are connecting with their colleagues they are doing so electronically. It is definitely a different environment happening at city hall.”
