Sometimes it’s tough to be a city worker – you need a thick skin.

There are the old stereotypes that wear a person down – jokes about six guys leaning on their shovels while one person actually works.

There are the media digs about “Silly Hall” and the cartoons about slow-moving bureaucracy.

HR director David Watson relishes the challenge ahead.

And when it comes to recruiting young talent and retaining it, there are other perceptions, some real, others imagined: wages aren’t as good as the private sector, the public service is slow and cumbersome, there aren’t as many opportunities to grow and innovate.

“There is an image problem,” allows David Watson, director of human resources for the City of Calgary (www.gov.calgary.ab.ca). “We have to do a better job of marketing ourselves because there are great opportunities here.”

But there is more than an image problem looming in Calgary. There’s the reality that within five years, a significant number of staff may take their city pensions and quit.

It’s a potential exodus that could affect up to half of the workforce in some departments. (According to city
figures, 25 per cent of the entire workforce will be eligible for retirement over the next 10 years.)

It’s a critical issue that could affect the quality of life and services Calgarians have come to expect.

The entire public sector across Canada is facing the same crisis. And it’s also facing a shallow talent pool of future workers.

To crystallize the concern, a recent Conference Board of Canada report suggests there will be problems attracting young people and highly skilled workers.

Given their druthers, they’d rather work in the private sector for higher wages and, at best, they’d use the public sector as a training ground.

It may seem daunting, but Watson relishes the challenge ahead. A strategy called the People Plan has been drafted, and Watson considers it a strong commitment by the city to create a new direction, to instil loyalty and pride in employees and recruits.

Consider that at its peak in the summer, the city employs 14,000 people who work out of 600 locations and 27 different business units. Only 2,000 employees have access to a computer in the workplace. Ninety per cent of the permanent workforce is unionized.

Running neck and neck with the Calgary Health Authority as the largest employer in the city, it is a
disparate group. As Watson says, it’s a lot harder to
communicate a single goal and focus than most organizations would ever have to deal with.

The People Plan was drafted this spring and is designed to strengthen the workplace and focus on the needs of its employees.

This past summer, employee focus groups studied the plan and more than 90 per cent said that if implemented, it would be the type of organization they’d like to work for.

“The bad news,” smiles Watson, “is that only 20 per cent actually believed the city would do it. Call it healthy cynicism.”

There is a strong commitment to deliver on the plan. As part of its obligation, a major survey of 8,000 full-time employees is being completed to determine employee commitment, why and where good practices are flourishing, and why and where they aren’t.

It follows on a 2001 sample study of 500 city staff by Hewitt Associates that left city officials worried.

Employees clearly were neither highly satisfied nor committed to the city.

But there’s a conundrum and it suggests the city does have many of the right people in place. When taxpayers are surveyed annually on their face-to-face dealings with city staff, says Watson, the city comes through with flying colours. And benchmarked against other municipalities across North America, Calgary is a clear leader in municipal practices.

Yet, there is dissatisfaction within the ranks. Part of it likely relates to the negative and unfair images often broadly applied to city workers.

Watson feels the People Plan is critical to turning a new corner.

He confesses he’s often teased when he talks about how “noble” it is to work for a city operation.

Employees build cities, and Watson sincerely believes Calgarians enjoy a wonderful quality of life.

“This is all delivered by the people. You can have it all – the trucks, equipment, even all the money – but it doesn’t matter if you don’t have the (right) people. We’re looking for people with that kind of passion, who want to be a part of the building (process).”

The key point hammered home in the Conference Board of Canada’s report was that young people don’t
consider the public sector an employer of choice.

Watson says that while the private sector can ultimately pay more, the city also has many positive attributes. He emphasizes a city philosophy that promotes work/life balance; four-day workweeks; third Fridays off; sabbatical programs; a good benefit package (now under review); and a stable pension plan.

Watson stresses the various opportunities open to staff and uses his career path as an example. He began with the city in the early ’70s as a summer student shovelling asphalt on a road crew. After graduation, he worked in the planning department for 10 years and then spent another 10 with the Board of Commissioners. He has also managed the Go Plan project, was the manager of corporate consulting and now heads the HR operation.

“There are huge opportunities. What we find ironic is that when we do get people who come here (to work), they end up staying for years and years because it is a good place to be.”

It’s a message that the city plans to communicate better – and at the very least, to clear up some of those stereotypes.