Dept of Community Development - Admin Division
Pros
The Admin Division has the best Supervisor, Lead, and Manager The Department also has a great leader in the Director as well as Assistant Directors The pros of the Admin Division are: Responsive supervisor Flexible schedule, including start times and taking accrued leave Telecommuting options (Physical location has been closed during the entire pandemic. Has not been opening and re-closing which has been nice for those with dependents) Sense of teamwork/good team support (which is thanks to....) Thoughtful hiring decisions regarding external candidates Outstanding procedures in place/(most) tasks are streamlined Exemplary on-boarding Every weekly admin meeting begins on a positive note (thank-yous and employee accomplishments) The team tried to be mindful of and assign projects based on each others' strengths (A Clifton StrengthFinder book is provided at the beginning of employment). The pros of the entire department are: Newer-ish building Lots of natural light- especially for a basement level workspace Coffee shop in building Lots of process improvement (yellow belt certification is required to be completed after start of employment) Very tech heavy, always researching and implementing new programs to help streamline processes, Workout room and showers available within the department A "resting" room (or for ladies, the "breastpumping" room) Callcenter, so staff is not constantly answering calls High priority placed on ergonomics right at the start of hire or desk relocation, including offering varidesks (when in the physical office). Office chairs were ordered and delivered to employee homes after pandemic. Most of all, a high majority of the employees have positive vibes and get along well together, which is great considering there are 80-some employees in the Community Development department.
Cons
Low pay, Union negotiations were not great, which resulted in zero cost of living increases for a couple of years, Parking is a block away and sometimes full. Crosstraining takes place every few months. Crosstraining is super important, but can be difficult to complete tasks when you, yourself, need to be trained yet are also training another employee. When a staff member receives an offer for another position in a different division, there should be a definite end date to their current position and start date for their new position, even if it's weeks or months out, so that the employee knows what to expect. As you can see, there are far more pros than cons.
