Oversight, monitoring lacking at national virology lab: report

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This article was published 03/03/2021 (1896 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — The National Microbiology Lab has revised its staffing procedures, after reports of a toxic workplace culture at the Winnipeg facility.

But a union representing staff in multiple branches of the lab say many of those issues have only gotten worse.

“The monitoring of staffing needs improvement,” reads an internal report the Public Health Agency of Canada issued to its top bureaucrat, as well as Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer.

Located on Arlington Street, the lab is renowned for its work in developing an Ebola vaccine and researching the world’s most deadly infectious diseases. Lately, it has taken a key role in keeping track of how COVID-19 is spreading in Canada.

Yet, public health ordered an internal review, after unflattering media reports, and found the lab did not track how it hires and promotes staff. The national lab is also not tracking risks, such as how perceptions of favouritism affect employee morale.

“This weakness in monitoring increases the risk of failing to detect inappropriate sub-delegated management practices,” reads the review, which public health issued in April 2020.

The record was only provided to the Free Press last week, due to delays in the underfunded freedom of information system, as well as public health breaching its proactive-disclosure timelines.

The internal review found the Winnipeg lab did not analyze human resources decisions, nor did it adequately follow up on remedial actions.

“Staffing oversight and monitoring practices were not adequate to assess the operating effectiveness of key staffing controls at NML,” reads the report.

It found the lab’s HR department issued no findings for two years from its monitoring of staffing decisions and whether they followed corporate policies.

“We found no documented consideration of deviations or their potential impacts,” the report says.

When issues did emerge, the lab’s HR team “did not have an action plan that includes specific deliverables, assigned leads, or timelines for actions taken.”

The internal review came after an external consultant found problems in the lab’s administrative unit, which was first reported on by the CBC.

In July 2019, the independent workplace review found numerous deficiencies in the lab’s administrative branch, particularly in effectively handling conflicts between staff, trust between employees and managers, as well as clear communication from the top.

“Many have expressed concerns that recent departures of staff were because of the toxic work environment,” reads the review, which recommended “conflict management training for all staff,” and clearer direction from the top.

“There is a widely held view that staffing decisions are made either out of favouritism or out of desperation,” reads the 2019 review, which involved non-scientists working in procurement, information management, and logistics.

Meanwhile, current and former employees in the lab’s special pathogens division have told the Free Press about similar issues, citing workplace intimidation, alcohol abuse and clashes between officials in Winnipeg and Ottawa.

The employees particularly focused on managers who seemed to lack credentials for the highly specialized field, and assigned more qualified colleagues to menial tasks.

Public Health Agency of Canada declined to provide anyone from the Winnipeg lab for an interview. A spokeswoman instead said the facility has updated its staffing monitoring framework, and reached out to unions.

“NML continues to consult with bargaining agents, employees and management on innovative staffing solutions and has put in place multiple paths of engagement including newsletters, labour-management consultations meetings, and an employee-led talent management coalition, amongst other initiatives,” wrote Natalie Mohamed.

“The work culture at the NML today demonstrates its core values in action, while striving for continuous improvement.”

The Union of Health and Environment Workers disputed that assertion.

“​Very little has changed from that audit, and people are frustrated and demoralized,” UHEW national president Shimen Fayad wrote Tuesday, in a statement on behalf of members working at NML.

“There are problems with staffing and acting appointments without merit or the necessary experience, and morale in the workplace has only gotten worse in recent months.”

The union claims PHAC has ignored its suggestions in the consultation meetings it touts.

“Our members have had difficulty working in the National Microbiology Laboratory for quite some time,” the union wrote. “Management appears unwilling or unable to make the necessary changes to restore balance and confidence in the workplace.”

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca

Internal review of staffing practices at National Microbiology Lab