Performance review Pandemic showed Manitoba's public servants could be innovative despite years of job cuts, observers say By: Dylan Robertson Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Friday, Sep. 11, 2020 Last Modified: 11:17 AM CDT Monday, Sep. 14, 2020 Updates

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This article was published 10/09/2020 (1570 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced Manitoba government workers to think outside the box and has shaken up a bureaucracy embattled by cuts and often stereotyped as underworked, including by the premier.

These changes, which had to be implemented suddenly, could result in a shuffling of government offices in Winnipeg, with one-quarter of departmental employees continuing to work from home. A more collaborative approach to government work could be here to stay.

But the pandemic has also exposed gaps in service to the public, as offices had to close and move online.

The head of a union that represents most provincial workers says the pandemic has revealed potential opportunities that could help them work smarter.

“It’s really hard to believe this won’t expand our sense of what is possible,” said Michelle Gawronsky, head of the Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union.

Rising to the occasion

Last October, Premier Brian Pallister created a new department, called Central Services, in a bid to overhaul procurement and modernize service delivery.

But by early spring, staff had to switch gears because of the pandemic. Instead of making strategic plans, they scrambled to order masks from abroad.

“Our department kind of went from a start-up to a multinational import corporation, in the space of a couple months,” said Central Services Minister Reg Helwer.

The province’s first orders of personal protective equipment involved civil servants leaning on universities’ procurement experts, as well as logistics staff from Manitoba Hydro, MPI and Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries.

It was the first sign of a new way civil servants had to collaborate, by seeking advice from universities and the private sector.

“From what I’ve seen and heard from the civil service, and others, they rose to the occasion,” said Helwer.

Paul Thomas, a University of Manitoba professor emeritus, has studied public administration for decades.

He said the pandemic has forced a risk-averse public service to innovate, such as setting up COVID-19 drive-thru testing sites, or call centres for benefit programs staffed by employees who worked from home to stay safe.

“They’ve shown some creativity, and we often say that public servants don’t think hard enough about what their job is, and that they’re not able to learn and be innovative,” Thomas said.

It hasn’t been perfect. Some programs have had scant uptake, while others are widely viewed as being driven by politics over policy, such as the premier’s decision to hand out $200 to each senior, which cost taxpayers $45-million.

Thomas argues provinces have done a good job of navigating the constant rollout of new and modified federal programs, by identifying who fell through the cracks, and how to offer grants and loans without duplicating federal programs.

“This is a judgment call, based on incomplete information,” said Thomas. “This is a crisis unlike a flood, or a forest fire, of which we’ve done many in the history of Manitoba.”

One-way traffic

While some government offices might be known for red tape, others are running low on green painter’s tape.

To avoid using crammed elevators, unions like the MGEU have advocated for stairwells to have arrows taped on the floor, to avoid close contact in narrow hallways. Many buildings have separate stairwells for going upstairs and downstairs, said Gawronsky.

As a union head, she’s used to lambasting the province over wages and job and program cuts. But she gives high marks for how the government has handled its own employees ever since the pandemic hit Manitoba in mid-March.

Like all levels of government, public servants initially had difficulty accessing the government’s virtual private network, the secure internet connection required to access confidential information outside the office.

“Management has provided as much I.T. equipment and everything as they possibly can, to make sure people are able to work from home,” Gawronsky said.

Internal data show that roughly 40 per cent of provincial department employees worked at least part of their shift from home in April. That proportion steadily declined to 25 per cent by late July, with 3,206 of 12,888 departmental employees working at least in part from home.

Helwer said the government expects managers to figure out who should work at the office, and that he’s stressed that anyone who feels sick shouldn’t take chances.

“We work with (supervisors) to figure out which ones are best to work from home, and who works better in an office environment,” he said.

Often it’s a mix of the two. Internal data suggest employees are gradually phasing in their return to work. In July, 60 per cent of employees who’d worked from home only did so for as many as 11 working days.

For those not able to work from home, such as jail wardens and flood-preparation officials, the union has monitored whether the province supplies protective equipment like masks, and if staff is given adequate information on how to work safely.

“That’s been a challenge for the workers as well as for the employers,” she said. “It’s been a little uneven in some of those areas.”

And while Liquor Marts and Manitoba Public Insurance service centres require visitors to wear masks, government departments don’t.

However, public servants have not reported catching the novel coronavirus in large numbers. Nor have they refused work to avoid that risk, according to internal figures from the Workers Compensation Board and Workplace Safety and Health.

Heading into the fall, Gawronsky’s biggest concern is the mental health of her workers, with homebound employees blurring the line between work and personal time.

She said the most effective teams have regular video-conference check-ins with staff who work at home, to identify problems before they escalate.

“That is huge in making sure that people feel that they’re still at work,” she said.

Frozen out

For the past six months, the Access to Benefits program at SEED Winnipeg has been in overdrive. The program helps people connect with the labyrinth of government and non-profit supports, many of which moved online during the pandemic.

“We very much see a digital divide between people who have the confidence and skills and access to Internet and a device, and those who simply don’t,” said Jenn Bogoch, who manages the program.

“The move to online service, for some people has really shut the door, and I think has put quite a bit of pressure on agencies like ours.”

Bogoch said clients often struggle when there’s no walk-in service. Those most affected are the city’s vulnerable population who lack internet access, work multiple jobs, lack permanent housing or just have difficulty keeping track of paperwork.

For example, Service Canada, the federal agency that issues social insurance numbers and rectifies issues with Employment Insurance or CERB payments. Of its four branches around the city, three have reopened since March, but only for people who have made appointments.

Nationwide, Service Canada has 22,561 employees, of whom 60 per cent were still working remotely as of this month, only slightly down from the peak of 67 per cent in mid-June.

There are often lines outside the Portage Place location, where Bogoch said appointments often run late, which is a barrier for people who have more than one job.

Manitoba’s provincial equivalent, Employment and Income Assistance offices, never closed during the pandemic, and expedited plans to launch a call centre. EIA branches still allow walk-in appointments, but still tend to have lines, Bogoch said.

Getting a birth certificate, one of the most crucial pieces of identification, also requires online forms or an appointment with the Vital Statistics Agency. Health cards are still not being issued in-person at the provincial office on Carlton Street.

“Those online and phone options never cover everybody,” Bogoch said.

SEED staff spends hours with clients each week, waiting on hold to speak with public servants. That’s because many clients don’t have a cellphone, or enough paid minutes to wait on hold.

Libraries and community centres used to offer printers and fax machines before the pandemic closed most shared spaces.

“Some need a readily accessible, free, in-person service, and with government offices closed or limited, there’s an increased burden that’s falling on community organizations,” said Bogoch.

She said some services have become more accessible online, such as Canada Revenue Agency’s volunteer income-tax program. That has groups helping people register and file their income tax, which is a key way to get benefits for seniors and children.

But Bogoch said this doesn’t make up for the closure of the CRA office on Broadway years ago. People used to be able to walk in and get tax forms.

Similarly, the federal government closed it Hargrave Street registry office that approved Indian status cards after protesters occupied the building in 2016. That made it harder for access to things like dental benefits.

The Manitoba ombudsman has not yet analyzed the effect of the pandemic on public services, but says the number and breadth of complaints appears similar to previous years, with some taking issue with policy changes in jails and personal care homes.

“At this point, we continue to monitor for issues and trends to see if there’s a need to look more closely at any of them,” wrote Shelley Penziwol, spokeswoman for the ombudsman office.

 

Cuts and morale

Manitobans will soon get a chance to weigh in on how their government has stepped up to the challenges posed by COVID-19.

Central Services is crafting a survey of how well public servants feel they were able to do their jobs, what changes they’d like to keep and what mistakes they uncovered during the first six months of this pandemic. Similar questions will be asked of the public.

“There’s opportunity for all of us to provide better services, and this has enabled our staff to think indifferent ways,” said Helwer.

Thomas argues that assessing workers’ productivity with ongoing feedback might be more helpful than an in-depth review of past practices.

He suspects the shift in provincial services has been even more challenging due to short staffing, with the belt-tightening PC government having cut hundreds of jobs since 2016.

Public-sector surveys show a growing morale problem in Manitoba.

Thomas believes there are several reasons for it: the Tory government has frequently hired private consultants to inspect and analyze public servants’ work, unions have been forced to fight the government’s wage freeze in court, and the move by the government this year to institute one week of unpaid leave, which was aimed at averting layoffs.

“You can see why regular public servants are not entirely happy campers these days.”

Having many bureaucrats work from home could lead to the province downsizing its office space, though Helwer warned that physical distancing might mean the situation stays the same.

Gawronsky said union members are open to new work arrangements, as long as saving money doesn’t drive the change.

“They should have a very real evaluation of things; a matrix per se of what did work, what didn’t, and let’s weigh these — and include everyone in those discussions,” she said.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca