Chad Skelton, Vancouver, B.C. (Vancouver Sun) – Nearly 60 per cent of RCMP employees in B.C. have considered quitting their job over the past six months, according to an internal staff survey obtained by The Vancouver Sun.
The survey also found one in four B.C. RCMP employees had been “verbally harassed or tormented” within the past year, with the most common source of harassment being their direct supervisor.
In 2009, the RCMP conducted a national survey — of both sworn officers and civilian staff — to gauge morale, a process it undertakes every two years.
A summary of the survey’s B.C. results, prepared for deputy commissioner Gary Bass, was obtained by The Sun through the Access to Information Act.
The report indicates 57 per cent of B.C. staff surveyed said they’ve thought about quitting in the previous six months, about the same as RCMP staff nationally. The figure was the same for both sworn officers and civilian staff.
Among the B.C. employees who considered quitting, the most common reason given was frustration with the work environment, a lack of recognition for their work and unrealistic work expectations.
RCMP spokesman Sgt. Tim Shields said the figure isn’t cause for concern.
“It’s only human nature — people are going to think about other options,” he said, adding actual turnover is low.
The survey also found that while 61 per cent said they’d recommend a career with the Mounties to others, 24 per cent would have doubts about making such a recommendation and seven per cent said they’d advise against it.
Perhaps most troubling for the force, the survey suggests morale is getting worse.
Those surveyed were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with 55 separate statements about working at the RCMP, from whether they were proud to work for the force to whether they’d been properly trained.
The survey found responses to 39 of those statements — 70 per cent — had worsened in just the past two years.
The biggest drop — down 14 points, to 53 per cent — was whether staff believed they received the intelligence they needed to do their job. There were also big drops in whether staff felt respected and trusted (down 12 points to 44 per cent) and if they believed they were treated fairly (down 11 points to 41 per cent).
Harassment is also a major problem within the RCMP in B.C., with one-quarter of those surveyed saying they’d been harassed or tormented within the past year. A fifth of those said the source of their harassment was “clients” such as members of the public or criminals. But six in 10 said the chief source of their torment was their direct supervisors, other superiors or co-workers.
Shields acknowledged staff morale has taken a hit recently, partly due to fallout from the 2007 death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski after being Tasered by RCMP members.
“To see the organization that we have all dedicated our lives to under a level of public scrutiny and criticism which has been unprecedented has taken its toll,” he said.
Shields said the RCMP is working hard to improve, including establishing a “continuous improvement team” within the force dedicated to respond to staff concerns.
“There’s definitely a recognition from the most senior levels that there are changes that are needed,” he said.
The RCMP also implemented a “Respectful Workplace” training program last year, which it says is far more extensive than its previous anti-harassment program and must be completed by all employees and managers.
Some of the survey’s other findings include:
# – The force’s senior brass are much happier than the rank-and-file. Those with a rank of chief superintendent or higher gave positive answers to 85 per cent of the questions, compared with just 55 per cent for corporals and constables.
# – Only a third of those surveyed thought employee complaints were dealt with effectively.
# – Only a third of those surveyed thought situations of poor performance were dealt with effectively.
Interestingly, the worst score of all 55 questions — with just 17 per cent agreement — was whether staff felt the survey they’d just completed would make any difference.
About 2,500 RCMP employees in B.C. completed the survey, which was conducted last summer.
Not surprising that the upper management is reporting satisfaction to a greater degree than the proverbial “working man”. Directives and policies dictated to the RCMP workforce by senior managers, government, Courts, Commissions etc., are just passed down along the line to the individuals who are trying to fulfill their mandate. Usually they become more onerous by the addition of extraneous policy some wonk feels needs to be included. There is no buffer from the inconsistencies, bad practices, bad press, or hasty decisions provided by said groups. One of the purposes of management is to filter issues to ensure feasibility, consistency, and viability, before having the organization demand its workers follow the directives. This of course requires that management has a modicum of knowledge of the scope and make up of the occupation and its facets, and the fortitude to make unpopular decisions.
The constant addition of “it will just take a few minutes” to fill out the new form, add one procedure, distribute to one more area, adds up over time to an insurmountable burden that invites employees to find shortcuts that enable them to actually accomplish their mandate. As the workforce ages, there is less patience with the obstacles, and on some occasions, the shortcuts result in adverse consequences for the employee.
If all the expectation held for the average officer was to investigate criminal activity and bring perpetrators before the legal system, I am confident that there would be a radical change in everything from morale to interpersonal relations.
However, somewhere along the line the public and upper management of many organizations have foisted unrealistic expectations upon its workers. In the case of the police, they are now supposed to be experts in a multitude of areas that are really the bailiwick of other institutions. Almost all “recommendations” from inquiries calls for “more training” in some area. How about letting the police just investigate criminality? Leave the social work, mental health work, prevention, data entry, politics, etc., to another pay scale.
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Very well thought-out discourse on the problems facing the RCMP in all general policing jurisdictions. The Force nationwide faces the problems with another internal ’survey’ which will inevitably be filed and nothing done. This is mainly because upper-management sees the big picture as they are told to see it. That’s exactly how they got to be ‘upper-management’, by being automatons to their controllers, upper-upper-management.
At the present time and for too many years in the past, the RCMP has far too much ‘rank’ and puts a priority on promotion rather than channeling their resources in to better trained officers and more people-knowledgeable middle managers. It isn’t the commissioned ranks that control the Force, it’s the detachment commanders. The rank structure is such, Force wide, that there is someone with rank, Cpl. and above, for every approximately 1.5 constables, the people that are actually trying to do their jobs. Why so much rank?? There are many many senior constables out there, with enough experience and knowledge of both people and the work environment that are more than capable of sharing management workload with ONE supervisor, not the two and often more that divide the constables from the detachment commander. That kind of management doesn’t make and sense, yet the Powers that live in Ottawa, continue this poor direction. The RCMP is promoting people with less and less knowledge of operating a detachment and have even gone to the extent of hiring retired members to “mentor” newly minted detachment commanders into how to be a commander. Foolishness multiplied to the nth degree.
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Just another sad part on behalf of the taxpayers. This big survey was conducted at their expense but nothing as usual will get done. It shows that the Brass is happy, and that’s all that matters. The constables are the meat and potatoes of the organization but are treated as the scraps. When will it ever change. When will the politicians ever do something about this broken institution.
The constable’s are to pick a particular day in the future and all at once, on that day, don’t show up for work. Let the Brass take the complaints, just for one day. I guarantee things will change.
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