City employee doesn't care for PD

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Rhettzky

I can see the need for it. These employees are front line workers and represent the City under the constant eye of the public. They need to be made aware that anything and everything they do will be watched and scrutinized. Because if they don't then Joe public will be calling 3-1-1 to complain that his tax dollars are going to fund some young kids horsing around with a weed wacker.

If you run a private business doing landscaping you can probably afford not to have extensive orientation sessions with your employee's due to the fact that you just can them if they are not working out. This is obviously not the case at the city. Therefore, you are forced to spend a lot of time on the front end making sure they know exactly what is expected of them in the publics eye.

So they could have done the whole thing in a morning and not two days.

You will never convince me of the need for a two day orientation session with a motivational speaker being anything but a ginourmous waste of time.

[mykalberta]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Wow, so she's a spoiled prissy chick with a slack summer job.

Yet we all praise other whistle blowers, so whats the difference? Is it because its in the letter to the editor?

To me, good for her, she saw the wasteful stupidity and wrote about it.

What is she whistle blowing? That the City likely for legal reasons has an orientation for summer students, why is this a big deal.

I would say the bigger deal is the amount the City pays these workers, not that they have some 2 day orientation.

[mykalberta]

Originally Posted by HotHotHeat

Ignorance at its best right here.

1000 apologies for not agreeing with you and the rest of the slackers who had summer jobs at the city who were also overpaid.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

What is she whistle blowing? That the City likely for legal reasons has an orientation for summer students, why is this a big deal.

I would say the bigger deal is the amount the City pays these workers, not that they have some 2 day orientation.

So its illegal for them not to have a motivational speaker and spend two days talking about concepts like conflict resolution.

Somehow I tremendously doubt that.

She saw a tremendous waste of money and given the city's reticent in disclosing on how they burn our tax dollars like a hobo burns Enron shares in a barrel, good for her.

[HotHotHeat]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

1000 apologies for not agreeing with you and the rest of the slackers who had summer jobs at the city who were also overpaid.

As a student needing a summer job, the only thing that would have made me a slacker would have been to not pursue a job with the city. I entirely agree that parks employees are overpaid. Frankly, it's not my responsibility to apologize for how much I made working with the city this summer. If you don't like it, do something about it.

[HotHotHeat]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

What is she whistle blowing? That the City likely for legal reasons has an orientation for summer students, why is this a big deal.

I would say the bigger deal is the amount the City pays these workers, not that they have some 2 day orientation.

You're starting to sound more and more unemployed. Did you not get a call back??? I'll bet they picked up your negative attitude.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by HotHotHeat

As a student needing a summer job, the only thing that would have made me a slacker would have been to not pursue a job with the city. I entirely agree that parks employees are overpaid. Frankly, it's not my responsibility to apologize for how much I made working with the city this summer. If you don't like it, do something about it.

I could never disagree with this. I don't blame the employees, I blame the city.

Anyone who gets a job offer and says "No, No, you're paying me to much" is mentally deficient.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Never has it been so obvious deciphering which posters read the article and which didn't.

Anyone who defends the city didn't read the article, or is totally insane.

[Rhettzky]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

Never has it been so obvious deciphering which posters read the article and which didn't.

Anyone who defends the city didn't read the article, or is totally insane.

I read it and stand by my post. You can't win in the eyes of all people as a public entity. If you don't provide enough training and someone gets hurt then you're not being a leader in terms of OH&S. If someone jacks around on the job then you're mis-managing public resources. If you provide too much training then you're wasting tax payers dollars. It's a fine line to walk so obviously most departments err on the side of caution.

I will agree that the training and orientations provided by the city are excessive but will argue that they are necessary. Maybe they could streamline the orientation but remember, this girl agreed that out of 19hrs of orientation (2 x 9.5hr days) all of it was very relevant except for most of the motivational speaker portion beyond an hour or two. So she believed that 12-13hrs of the orientation was beneficial, maybe she just doesn't like speakers? Who knows.

Anyway, most of these seasonal employees are back year after year and only need to sit through a new employee orientation one time. I could see how it would be considered excessive if your plan was to never return.

[Locke]

"Cut the grass!!"

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Rhettzky

I read it and stand by my post. You can't win in the eyes of all people as a public entity. If you don't provide enough training and someone gets hurt then you're not being a leader in terms of OH&S. If someone jacks around on the job then you're mis-managing public resources. If you provide too much training then you're wasting tax payers dollars. It's a fine line to walk so obviously most departments err on the side of caution.

I will agree that the training and orientations provided by the city are excessive but will argue that they are necessary. Maybe they could streamline the orientation but remember, this girl agreed that out of 19hrs of orientation (2 x 9.5hr days) all of it was very relevant except for most of the motivational speaker portion beyond an hour or two. So she believed that 12-13hrs of the orientation was beneficial, maybe she just doesn't like speakers? Who knows.

Anyway, most of these seasonal employees are back year after year and only need to sit through a new employee orientation one time. I could see how it would be considered excessive if your plan was to never return.

She stated that maybe half of it was relevant to the job if that.

Read more:

City officials also came and gave presentations on workplace safety, city policy and employee resources, so there was some necessary information provided over the two days, but the whole time I kept wondering why orientation couldn't have been one day, with Price speaking for one hour instead of eight.

The last hour of the second day was spent with a short talk from a union rep, and then there was a 20-minute video on weed whacking circa 1989, tapered jeans and white suspenders included, that showed how to use the machines safely. We were then told where and when to report and were set free. That valuable bit of information took only two minutes and as soon as I heard where I was to report, Price's lecture seemed a distant memory.



Read more:

With 1500 people sitting in, it doesn't sound to me like this was only for new people to sit in on.

Even if you look at wasted wages for half a day without looking at the whole pay and benefits, or the cost of a motivational speaker who sounds like he gave out a cookie gutter verbal vomit, or the cost of producing materials. Thats $200,00 + in lost production time paid to listed to a motivation speaker, that I question the usefulness of.

I rarely if ever see parks workers in discussions with the public. And if they do, they merely tell them to talk to either their supervisor or the city.

[Metro Gnome]

Originally Posted by Rhettzky

I read it and stand by my post. You can't win in the eyes of all people as a public entity. If you don't provide enough training and someone gets hurt then you're not being a leader in terms of OH&S. If someone jacks around on the job then you're mis-managing public resources. If you provide too much training then you're wasting tax payers dollars. It's a fine line to walk so obviously most departments err on the side of caution.

I will agree that the training and orientations provided by the city are excessive but will argue that they are necessary. Maybe they could streamline the orientation but remember, this girl agreed that out of 19hrs of orientation (2 x 9.5hr days) all of it was very relevant except for most of the motivational speaker portion beyond an hour or two. So she believed that 12-13hrs of the orientation was beneficial, maybe she just doesn't like speakers? Who knows.

Anyway, most of these seasonal employees are back year after year and only need to sit through a new employee orientation one time. I could see how it would be considered excessive if your plan was to never return.

No. She didn't.

The last hour of the second day was spent with a short talk from a union rep, and then there was a 20-minute video on weed whacking circa 1989, tapered jeans and white suspenders included, that showed how to use the machines safely. We were then told where and when to report and were set free. That valuable bit of information took only two minutes and as soon as I heard where I was to report, Price's lecture seemed a distant memory.

Further, most of the worthwhile training was done on the job:

The absurdity of this two-day orientation really hit me when I reported to my depot on the first day of work. I needed practical information, like where to find a weed eater to use and where the gas is stored, not the seven stages of customer satisfaction. The job was pretty simple, but Price's messages were anything but. All I needed to learn was how to trim around trees without hitting them, and how to trim grass evenly without scalping it, and the habits of highly effective people seemed completely irrelevant.

I worked for the City for 3 straight summers previously. I considered all of the orientations useless (and yes, I had to go to all of them. Not just the first one). None of them told me anything useful (besides where I was going to be stationed). Luckily for me, I never had to sit through two days long featuring a "motivational speaker" spouting pop psychology.

[missdpuck]

This has nothing to do with Calgary Parks Dept. but it's along the same line.

What about using tuitiion money to hire motivational speakers to come to a college and sell their crap under the guise of a "job fair"? http://MSU-underground.com/archives/399 I'm not against motivational speakers and often wish the post office had some kind of personal development program for us lower level workers. There is some for upper management.

[Locke]

Personal Development? Sorry, what?

I dont know about the rest of you, but my job has done things in the way of Professional Development, ie, heres some tips on how to do your job the way we want you to. I dont think my employer gives a rat's ass about how great a person I am and they are certainly not interested in footing the bill to develop me.

As for a motivational speaker, heres my best shot:

"See that? Thats your paycheque. See this? Its a weedwhacker. Take this and earn that."

Sorted.

[Pinner]

Maybe she got fired and is bitter,(making it sound worse) seems weird to be laid off so early with 4 seasons of seniority.

I worked for the City for 3 straight summers previously.

[Rhettzky]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

She stated that maybe half of it was relevant to the job if that.

She said:

City officials also came and gave presentations on workplace safety, city policy and employee resources, so there was some necessary information provided over the two days, but the whole time I kept wondering why orientation couldn't have been one day, with Price speaking for one hour instead of eight.

So if Price was 8 hrs and she would have been fine with the presentation being one day in length with Price only for an hour. I would have been better off saying... "So she believed that 9.5hrs of the orientation was beneficial, maybe she just doesn't like motivational speakers? Who knows."

With 1500 people sitting in, it doesn't sound to me like this was only for new people to sit in on.

I honestly have no idea how parks works, but in Roads when you are seasonal, you don't need to do an orientation every year. Maybe it is different there though.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Rhettzky

She said:



So if Price was 8 hrs and she would have been fine with the presentation being one day in length with Price only for an hour. I would have been better off saying... "So she believed that 9.5hrs of the orientation was beneficial, maybe she just doesn't like motivational speakers? Who knows."



I honestly have no idea how parks works, but in Roads when you are seasonal, you don't need to do an orientation every year. Maybe it is different there though.

At minimum 1 day was irrelevant wastful tripe, the cost of which is very high considering the number of people sitting in, and their wages alone.

I also now question the fact that this was her third summer and she was sitting in on it, shouldn't she know the ins and outs of what is a fairly straight forward job.

[Rhettzky]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

At minimum 1 day was irrelevant wastful tripe, the cost of which is very high considering the number of people sitting in, and their wages alone.

Just because there are a lot of people to train doesn't change the fact that they need training.

I also now question the fact that this was her third summer and she was sitting in on it, shouldn't she know the ins and outs of what is a fairly straight forward job.

I completely agree. If anything there should be a two hour session to bring you up to speed on any changes from last year if you are a returning employee.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Rhettzky

Just because there are a lot of people to train doesn't change the fact that they need training.

I don't disagree with the fact that new people need training. I question the content and the length of this training session. I question the cost to put it on, and I question the sanity of someone who would hire a motivational speaker for a whole day who spouts about useless and what sounds like a non job related topic when the city is bleeding cash.

[HotHotHeat]

Just remembered. Drew Price, Mr. Motivation himself, lives in the UK.

That's right Calgarians. We paid a guy from Europe to come give 1500 summer students a pep talk for a 4 month position, over a two day period.

And from what I recall he was friends with the City Parks manager. I forgot how much this upset me at the beginning of the summer. Such a joke.