City hall has amended three human resources (HR) policies to ensure they are up to date, easy to understand and can be more efficiently administered.
The HR department reviews policies regularly to ensure they remain current and recently looked at the conflict of interest policy, employee training and development policy and the employee code of conduct. It then submitted the amendments to a recent city council meeting, where members unanimously approved the changes.
Conflict of interest
The conflict of interest policy outlines the expectations and process for preventing and managing conflicts that may arise between employees’ private interests and their duties with the city, an HR report explained.
The department had not amended this policy since 2016 and changes were required to ensure it was updated, that the process for disclosure and approval was clearly laid out, and that items that department managers had not contemplated in the existing policy — such as vendor-sponsored travel — were included.
While most principles in the existing policy remain relevant and are included in the proposed policy, the HR department recommended “a fairly significant re-write” since the policy had many deficiencies, the report continued.
Some deficiencies included not being clearly organized, not clearly outlining a process to disclose and receive approval for conflicts, possessing duplicate language already covered in other policies like the Employment of Relatives policy, not having guidance on how to assess or address potential conflicts, and not speaking to vendor-sponsored trips.
The major changes the HR department made included:
- Adding clearer definitions of what a conflict of interest is and the types of conflicts that may arise
- Clearly outlining expectations for employees and supervisors
- Creating a process for disclosing conflicts and clearly outlining who has the authority to approve matters
- Including general guidance for assessing many common situations where conflicts may arise
- Adding vendor-sponsored trips as a consideration
- Outlining potential means to address identified conflicts of interest
Coun. Doug Blanc said he was glad to see these changes, noting there was one paragraph in the original policy that talked about two different topics in the same paragraph.
Employee training and development
The employee training and development policy — which the department last updated in 2018 — outlines the rules and procedures for payment for staff training and development, a council report said.
In simplifying the document, the department will maintain most of the content from the previous policy. However, it has reordered or reworded some portions to make the document simpler to read and understand.
The changes include:
- Defining and differentiating mandatory training from developmental training and outlining who has the authority to approve expenses in each category; this is largely the current practice, but the policy does not explicitly speak to it
- Clarifying the expectations about employees’ time off work to participate in developmental training; this is largely the current practice, but the policy does not explicitly speak to it
- Removing the $300 annual training maximum for non-permanent employees; the report noted that training non-permanent staff to move into permanent roles ensures the organization’s future needs, while the current maximum created an internal barrier to developing this group of employees
- Clarifying the requirement to submit proof of completion of training and outline the consequences if staff fail to complete training in a timely manner
- Adjusting the return-in-service commitment levels; currently, there is no commitment required for any training under $1,000, so the city believes it’s reasonable that if it is investing in staff, then at least a one-year commitment to the organization is required.
If staff voluntarily quit before completing the required service, they must refund the amount expended on a pro-rated basis.
“The proposed policy will not result in any additional costs. It will simply govern how approved training budget dollars are spent,” the report added.
City hall needs to recruit, train and retain staff, so this updated document is a positive move in that direction, said Mayor Clive Tolley.
Said Coun. Crystal Froese, “I think training is a really key component to not just succession planning, but also safety. We don’t want any barriers to staff.”
Employee code of conduct
The HR department regularly reviews the employee code of conduct — the last one was in 2021 — and likes to keep it current, a council report said. The most recent review produced only two minor changes.
The first change is adding a general statement that the code does not cover every specific situation since such codes of conduct are intended to be general guiding principles and consciously do not contemplate every possibility, the document continued.
The second change removes some details where there is an already-existing policy and adds a reference to that policy. Moreover, rather than duplicate language from other documents, the code highlights the high-level expectations and, where further detail is needed, specific policies can supplement the code and add extra clarification.
Of note are three updated sections entitled “Fit for Duty,” “Acceptable Use of Information Technology (IT),” and “Criminal Activity.” These, respectively, relate to the city’s drug and alcohol policy, its IT policy and criminal record checks.
The next regular council meeting is Monday, Dec. 18.
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