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ICE, SWEAT AND JEERS

By D Magazine |

By now, most corporate executives know that employee productivity is directly linked to employee morale. But it seems that the City of Dallas -which claims to be a business-hasn’t learned that lesson. First, wage increases were trimmed well below last year’s increases (and below the city manager’s recommendation). Then, employee productivity was questioned by some City Councilmembers after a test that measured productivity (and morale) was flung upon city employees-a test that most employees believed they passed with flying colors.

The “test” was, of course, the ice storm that immobilized North Central Texas during late December. While most Dallasites waited at home for the big thaw, city employees drove, walked or waited in the icy weather for city buses to take them to work. Many employees worked around the clock, sanding the streets, repairing broken water mains and responding to hundreds of automobile accidents. While the rest of us were getting ready for holiday celebrations, sanding crews worked 10- to 12-hour shifts so the street and sanitation department could operate non-stop from December 15 through December 24.

Those shifts included some rather odd hours. Many employees who worked until 8 p.m. had to report back to work at 3 a.m. the next day. Several employees worked 18-hour shifts, and some water department employees worked 30 hours straight. More than 100 cots were set up for workers who couldn’t make it home and back to work in time for their next shift.

When police officers weren’t busy untangling wrecked cars, they reportedly drove stranded citizens to their homes. Purchasing department employees worked in the city print shop for several days without heat, and they didn’t give up until the temperature dipped to an icy 22 degrees (they say they quit then because the ink couldn’t flow through the presses at such a low temperature). One city employee, Virgie Basham, stayed at City Hall overnight to answer incoming calls from citizens concerned about weather-related emergencies. (The Water Utilities Department alone received 5,961 calls between December 15 and December 29.)

Then, a week after the ice problems were over, Council-members Paul Fielding and Max Goldblatt criticized city employees for their lack of productivity.

This fiscal year, City Manager Charles Anderson proposed a 4 percent wage increase for city employees, but the City Council cut the increase to 3 percent (and there was speculation that it would be cut even more). Last fiscal year, employees received a 6 percent increase.

One veteran city employee of 25 years says that employee morale is at the lowest point he’s ever seen, and a six-year veteran says that the city can’t keep asking employees to do more for less without expecting a morale problem. Anderson says he thinks that morale is “generally good” but that “generalized criticism of employees always has adverse effects.

“The city has had a history of being a leader in municipal productivity,” he says. “The challenge is to quantify and illustrate that.”

Anderson and his staff have developed four standards for quantifying productivity: cost savings, cost avoidance, improved service and enhanced revenues. These standards will be used as a basis for periodic performance reports to the Council.

In March, the city will conduct an employee survey. Last year, when many employees were surveyed, overall morale was reportedly good.

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