New City of London workplace policy to get finishing touches

An upcoming workplace policy for the City of London will be receiving some finishing touches on Tuesday.

City councillors, meeting as the corporate services committee, will gather around noon to discuss a new code of ethics that will coincide with the upcoming Respectful Workplace Policy.

The new policy was fuelled by a report published in 2019 that highlighted instances of harassment reported within the City of London.

The report, filed by Toronto-based law firm Rubin Thomlinson LLP, was based on a survey sent to 3,800 current and former employees of the city. A total of 779 responses were received.

According to the report, 383 respondents, or 49 per cent, said they had experienced harassment, discrimination, bullying, intimidation and/or reprisal in the workplace.

More than a dozen people tied these experiences to the city’s complaint process itself. When asked if they would feel comfortable raising a complaint under the city’s current process, 24 per cent of respondents said not at all, 18 per cent said slightly, 28 per cent said moderately, 22 per cent said very and six per cent said extremely.

Nearly one year later, the new Respectful Workplace Policy is less than two weeks away from being adopted by city council.

On Tuesday, London’s corporate services committee will discuss a new code of ethics that city staff promise will be a more robust guiding document.

The updated code of ethics outlines processes for investigations and complaints under the new policy, along with details on roles, responsibilities, obligations and expected standards.

The committee’s discussion on the code of ethics will kick off around noon. The Respectful Workplace Policy is scheduled to be adopted on March 2.