WORKFORCE REVIEW: MILTON STAFF

NRU
Aug. 16, 2017
Sarah Niedoba

Milton is losing its staff to other municipalities, according to a report from the town’s acting human resources director.

Released last week, the report notes that 53 per cent of staff turnover in the last two years can be attributed to resignations, with many staff choosing to leave for positions in nearby municipalities.

“While the actual number of staff that are leaving is in line with national trends, we’re starting to see what we consider a trend [of staff leaving for other municipalities], and we want to be mindful of that, and do a little drilling down to better understand what the cause might be,” deputy CAO/CFO Linda Leeds told NRU.

Leeds says that the town plans to put a greater emphasis on staff exit interviews, to gain a better understanding of exactly how many people are leaving for other municipalities, and why.

“Ultimately our goal is to ensure that we are competitive with other municipalities in terms of how we value our employees—we want to ensure that we are providing them with interesting and challenging positions,” she says.

Wards 2, 3, 4, 5 councillor Colin Best says some of the staff turnover could be due to stress. He cites the town’s reliance on part-time employees as a potential problem.

“We have a lot of part-time staff, and I’ve heard from some of them that there is stress that comes with not having consistent hours,” Best told NRU.

In her report, acting human resources director Kara Bartley concludes that the town needs to do a better job of balancing the number of part-time and full-time employees in its workforce than in the past. Currently, the town employs 310 full-time and 890 part-time staff. In comparison to other municipalities of a similar size—such as Whitby, Waterloo and Cambridge—Milton employs 100 fewer full-time and 250 more part-time staff.

“It’s absolutely one of the issues and challenges that our organization is facing,” says Leeds. “We have a very different composition than other municipalities of our size, and one of the things we want to work towards is rebalancing our workforce.”

As the town has grown, it has been easier from a budget perspective to add part-time positions than full-time ones, Leeds says. She adds that the town’s residential property tax rates—among the lowest in the region—have resulted in a “very modest” budget, which doesn’t always allow for the hiring of full-time staff.

According to the report, Milton is spending $100,000 less for every 1,000 residents in comparison to Whitby, Waterloo and Cambridge.

“It’s something that we’re going to have to address moving forward,” says Leeds.

But, Bartley says, it’s important to keep in mind that the town’s staff turnover rate—currently 7.3 per cent—is in line with the national average.

“We need to be cognizant of the whole picture when we discuss these things,” she told NRU. “We have a very dedicated staff that are proud of the work that they do, and while we are facing some challenges, they are certainly manageable ones.”