Focus upon and respect the relationship: Addressing Human Resource and Labour Relations Challenges in the Developmental Services Sector.

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Focus upon and respect the relationship
Addressing Human Resource and Labour Relations
Challenges in the Developmental Services Sector.

• Community Living Oshawa Clarington
• Steve Finlay, Executive Director
• October 2009

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Outline

• My Background
• My Agency Context
• The 1995 Reality
• Shifting Paradigms
• CLOC today
• Overview of Developmental Services in Ontario
• Transforming Human Resources at the Provincial
  level
• Questions and Discussions

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My Background

• Executive Director, Community Living Oshawa
  Clarington (1995)
• Past Director of a Childrens Mental Health
  Centre
• Clinical Social Worker/ Registered Marriage and
  Family Therapist
• No previous experience with unions and/or
  negotiations
• No previous experience with Developmental Services

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My Agency Context

• 15 M dollar budget
• Serve 440 children adults in Oshawa
  Clarington
• 350 CUPE staff
• Provide a full range of services
• Group Homes
• Family Homes
• Supported Independent Living
• Vocational Services
• Supported Employment
• Learning Centre
• Support Services
• Individualized Funding
• Two year Accreditation in 2001

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Organizational Chart
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Where We Were in 1995. . .

• Face reality as it is, not
• as you wish it to be.
• Peter Koestenbaum

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1995 Reality/ Paradigm

• Board had fired the Executive Director
• Board had fired the Director of Operations
• Middle management had just unionized
• Four EDs in six years
• Two recent suspicious deaths
• Ongoing abuse investigations

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1995 Reality/ Paradigm cont

• Full Ministry Operational Review just completed.
  Five program/operational reviews in five years
• Ongoing Child and Family Advocacy Office
  involvement
• Staff charging supported persons
• Five collective agreements 100 grievances
• Ministry appointed Advisory Committee to Board of
  Directors

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1995 Reality/ Paradigm cont

• Management
• considered the Union to be a barrier
• took rigid positions directly opposed to the
  Unions
• assumed an adversarial relationship with the
  Union
• tended to confront, challenge and try to
  intimidate
• devalued staff (they were considered the
  problem)

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Our Objective

• To be the service provider of choice for those
  we support, their family and the broader
  community.
• To be the employer of choice for our current
  employees, potential future employees, students,
  and volunteers.

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Need for a Paradigm Shift

• We began with the following Key Result Areas to
  guide us toward our goal
• High Quality Service/Support
• Satisfied and Inspired Staff
• Innovative and Creative Services
• Partnerships
• Sound Financial Management
• Organizational Integrity

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New Paradigm

• New Paradigm Focus on Satisfied and Inspired
  Staff
• Staff are most precious resource human capital
  (80 of budget)
• Critical to develop working conditions that allow
  staff to stop looking over their shoulders out
  of fear so they can focus on supporting people.
• Seek out and value a positive relationship with
  the Union
• From Union as obstacle to partner.
• From Staff as barrier to enabler.

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Recognizing Shared Interests

• The Paradigm shift allowed us to see that we
  shared the Unions interest in our staff.
• Union has a legitimate role to take care of their
  memberships interests.
• Committed to working in partnership with the
  Union to create a respectful and fair workplace.

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Valuing Staff

• Annual employee opinion survey
• Employee Assistance Program
• Recognition policy and program
• Increased decision making to the front line
• Front line staff key contributors to committee
  work
• Extensive training and development opportunities,
  including a staff education fund
• Performance management policy and program
• Presidents Award for Team Excellence

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Principles

• Interests vs. Positions
• strive to understand the Unions interests behind
  their position moving from a your gain is my
  loss mentality
• commit to finding solutions that meet both their
  interests and your own
• understand that the Union needs to see value for
  its membership
• try to anticipate potential dilemmas the Union
  may face and commit to identifying possible
  solutions
• be aware of personal biases

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Principles (contd)

• The Relationship
• the outcome/change is not all that is important
  pay attention to perceived fairness, self image,
  respect, reputation of those you are negotiating
  with
• undervaluing the relationship puts it at risk
• you will have to work together in the future --
  see negotiation as an opportunity to strengthen
  the relationship

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Outcomes

• Staffs primary focus is on providing high
  quality service/support to people.
• We resolve disputes and tackle issues with a
  focus on maintaining the relationship and finding
  win/win solutions (pre-grievance).
• Our collaborative relationship with the Union is
  valued they are a partner in achieving the goal
  of Satisfied and Inspired Staff, which leads to
  High Quality Service/Support. (now forms part of
  the Collective Agreement)

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Conclusion

• The obstacle to organizational change and high
  quality service is not the Union, the Collective
  Agreement or the employees.
• Our biggest obstacle was our paradigm adopting
  a positional rather than a problem-solving
  (interest-based) approach that focuses on solving
  each others dilemmas and valuing staff.
• Building trust and respect through fairness and
  honest communication is critical to maintaining a
  collaborative relationship.
• A collaborative relationship emphasizing staff
  interests is critical to achieving organizational
  change.

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Where we are now..

• Community Living Oshawa Clarington
• today..

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Vision Statement

• To live in a community where everyone belongs,
  is listened to, is treated fairly, and has the
  opportunity to make informed choices

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Strategic Plan Drivers Objectives

• Strategy Statement
•  
• Community Living Oshawa/Clarington will expand
  and increase supports to people with intellectual
  disabilities by thirty (30) percent by 2014,
  through influential leadership and commitment to
  organizational excellence exceeding all
  standards and measures with innovation,
  flexibility, responsiveness, collaboration and
  evaluation.

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In order to achieve this strategy statement, CLOC
has identified four strategic drivers

1. CLOC is committed to exceeding internal and
   external standards and measurements of excellence.

• a) Service Excellence To demonstrate commitment
  in achieving individual support service
  excellence in the delivery of services through
  quality enhancement in a professional,
  coordinated and timely manner.
• b) Professionalism To respect people supported,
  colleagues and all other stakeholders, and to
  anticipate, and exceed support needs and
  expectations.
• c) Risk Management To identify and manage (take
  preventive action) all uncertainties.
• d) Market Driven To reach out to all service
  user stakeholders with the intention of obtaining
  feedback on preferencesincluding market input on
  current services as well as planning for new
  service delivery/development.

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2.CLOC engages all stakeholders to ensure agile,
flexible, responsive, and collaborative service
delivery.
Strategic Drivers

• a) Resource Allocation To anticipate and meet
  current and future needs of all stakeholders by
  allocating resources accordingly.
• b) Communications Plan To utilize various
  communication methods to inform stakeholders of
  all relevant information in a professional,
  accurate, timely, and consistent manner.
• c) Service Plan To develop a comprehensive
  service plan which addresses barriers,
  limitations, and constraints in meeting
  stakeholder needs.

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3.CLOC partners with key stakeholders to actively
influence community transformation and inclusion
for people with intellectual disabilities.
Strategic Drivers

• a) Public Relations/Marketing To maintain
  positive relationships with key audiences by
  increasing public awareness and support thereby
  building a strong community image for the
  organization. 
• b) Transformation To build and leverage groups,
  individuals and coalitions to support the
  organizations mandate to decrease reliance on
  formalized services and to increase participation
  and inclusion in community life.
• c) Education To influence positive community
  change by providing education and promoting
  values which are congruent with the values of the
  organization and the Community Living movement.

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4. CLOC intentionally promotes individual and
organizational leadership on a local, provincial,
and national level in order to influence, add
value and contribute meaningfully to the field.
Strategic Drivers

• a) Organizational Leadership To establish a
  positive reputation by executing actions designed
  to build respect for the organization with
  internal and external stakeholders.
• b) Service Leadership To encourage, promote,
  and reward mentorship and individual leadership
  at the service level.
• c) Entrepreneurial Leadership To create and
  capitalize on available opportunities.

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• Strengthening
• Human Resource Capacity
• for the
• Developmental Services Sector

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Overview of Developmental Services in Ontario

• In 2008/ 2009 the total budget for Developmental
  Services was over 1.5 billion
• Community-based developmental services for adults
  in Ontario are delivered through a network of
  approximately 370 board-operated, community-based
  agencies. These agencies are non-profit
  corporations that contract with the ministry's
  regional offices and are funded by the ministry
  through transfer payments for the purpose of
  delivering social services
• DS agencies in Ontario employ over 18,000
  front-line Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) and over
  1,100 Administrative and Executive level FTEs.
  Almost half of developmental services agencies
  are unionized. Of unionized agencies, employees
  are represented by OPSEU (44 of unionized
  agencies), CUPE (40), or 11 other unions.

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Key Issues in the DS Sector

• Ministry Transformation Initiative to transform
  services for people with an intellectual
  disability (September 9, 2004)
• New Legislation Services and Supports to Promote
  the Social Inclusion of Persons with
  Developmental Disabilities Act, 2008
• Transition from categorical services to more
  inclusive community approaches
• New emphasis on transforming communities vs.
  individual adaptation
• More emphasis on direct funding, individual
  choice, self-determination and recruitment of
  support staff by individuals and their families.
• The changing role of DSWs from the role of
  caregivers to one of facilitators promoting
  full citizenship and inclusion

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Key Issues in the DS Sector

• Implementation of the Core Competencies for DS
  employees
• Increasing demand for services
• An aging population with increased special needs.
• Inability of DSW programs to meet the needs of
  the sector
• Funding constraints
• HR and Labour Relations challenges
• Professionalization of the sector

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DS HR Strategy Context

• Ministry of Community and Social Services (MCSS)
  Transformation Initiative to transform services
  for people with a developmental disability (2004)
  
• The goal of the transformation is to create an
  accessible, fair and sustainable system of
  community-based supports
• Longstanding sector concerns re recruitment,
  qualifications, retention, wages, morale, and the
  inability of DSW college programs to meet the
  increasing need for trained staff in the DS
  sector
• A transformed system will require a comprehensive
  human resource strategy that will contribute to
  sector stability in the future and will position
  developmental services as a worthwhile career
  choice
• Enhanced communication between MCSS and the
  Provincial Network Human Resource Sub-Committee
  (PNHRSC)

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Core Competencies Committee

• Mandate
• To oversee the development of core competencies
  for DS professionals supporting people with
  developmental disabilities

Committee Chair Bob Butella
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Agency-Based Training Committee

• Mandate
• To make recommendations for consistent,
  competency-driven agency based training in DS,
  including a system of recognition and credits at
  colleges.

• Chair Joe Persaud

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Program Standards Committee

• Mandate
• To make recommendations to MTCU regarding DSW
  Program Standards and to strategize to influence
  college curriculum to be reflective of the Human
  Resource Strategy

Committee Chair Janet Nolan
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Awareness and Marketing Committee

• Mandate
• To recommend a plan for an awareness and
  marketing campaign to increase the pool of DS
  professionals and to position developmental
  services as a career of choice in Ontario.

• Chair Ann Bilodeau

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Best HR Practices Committee

• Mandate
• To develop and recommend a plan to disseminate
  the best HR practices for recruitment, training,
  retention and recognition of professionals in the
  DS sector.

• Chair Jill Symington

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Human Resources Shared Interest Committee

• Mandate
• To review and make recommendations to the
  Steering Committee with regard to the potential
  impact of key recommendations of the other
  sub-committees prior to implementation

• Chair Nancy Wallace-Gero

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HR Shared Interests Process
Determined committee deliverables
Reviewed committee work plan and sector
characteristics
Committee replaced Competency Based
Compensation committee
Make recommendations to the HR Steering
Committee
Become familiar with other sub-committee work
plans
Determine impact of overall recommendations upon f
ront-line professionals
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Anticipated and Desired Impact

• We recruit inspired and motivated staff who
  demonstrate the core competencies necessary to
  excel in their job
• We recruit and invest in staff with the capacity
  for further training and development
• We engage in successful succession planning based
  upon the development of Core Competencies for key
  positions
• Career paths are clear for employees wanting to
  advance their careers

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Anticipated and Desired Impact

• Agencies have the tools and resources required to
  strengthen HR practices that are aligned with and
  support core competencies
• Training is relevant, effective with measureable
  results
• College programs and agency needs with regard to
  education and development are aligned and
  supportive of each other
• There is an increase collaboration and
  partnership with unions to ensure we truly have
  highly skilled and inspired staff

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Anticipated and Desired Impact

• Performance objectives are measureable and
  aligned with agency strategic directions
• The general public is more aware of what we do,
  and most importantly, understands the value of
  what we provide for people with developmental
  disabilities
• Increased pool of qualified DS professionals
• Province-wide, people we support and their
  families receive the highest quality of support
  possible from our sector

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Future Challenges and Next Steps

• Sector and stakeholder buy-in of core
  competencies and overall HR Steering committee
  recommendations
• A common language that respects diversity and
  similarities
• Effective communication that targets all
  stakeholders in the sector
• Alignment with initiatives throughout the
  province

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• Questions and Discussion