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City of Houston employees reported significantly lower levels of job satisfaction than their peers at other government agencies, with the Houston Fire Department and Houston Public Library at the bottom of the chart, according to a survey of nearly 7,000 workers conducted last fall.

The survey found that 25 percent of Houston employees are dissatisfied at work — nearly double the 13 percent benchmark drawn from a national survey of local government workers. Further, the share of Houston employees who report being “fully engaged” — the language the survey used for job satisfaction — is half the national benchmark of 52 percent. 

The widespread discontent presents a challenge for new Mayor John Whitmire, who won election in December promising to boost employee morale. Whitmire drew high-profile support from the city’s police, fire and municipal unions, who are now pressing him to follow through.

Last fall’s survey was the first citywide employee survey conducted since 2014, according to Alisa Franklin-Brocks, chief of staff to the director of the city’s human resources department. And it showed a wide variation between city departments.

Not a single City Council employee, for instance, was tagged as having “no engagement.” Council was also the only department to outscore the 52 percent “fully engaged” benchmark, with 57 percent of employees in that bucket.

On the other end of the spectrum, Houston’s embattled fire department and the public library system, which has faced criticisms of being a “toxic workplace,” both showed markedly low levels of engagement. 

Is the city of Houston a good place to work?

The “engagement score” for each employee is calculated based on how that employee answered six key statements, according to the Institute for Public Sector Employee Engagement, a division of the independent government agency CPS HR Consulting, which conducted the survey.

City employees were asked whether they agreed with the statements that they would recommend the city as a good place to work; they were proud to tell people about working for the city; they felt a strong personal attachment to the city; the city inspired them to do the best in their job; they felt comfortable being themselves at work; and the city motivated them to help achieve its priorities. Ratings ranged from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree.”

The city’s HR department wasn’t necessarily surprised by the low morale, according to Franklin-Brocks. 

“The last survey of city employees and their working conditions was over a decade ago and, coupled with the fact that no significant action was taken after the survey, we expected low engagement for the first round of this process,” she said. “We believe this survey is the starting point to rebuild trust with City employees, and an opportunity to improve organizational culture and morale.”

The mayor’s office did not comment on the survey results Wednesday.

The Houston Landing requested a copy of the survey results in December under the Texas Public Information Act. The city's legal department attempted to block the release of the records, saying the results contained “proprietary information.” The Texas Attorney General’s Office ruled the records were public and the city released the results this week.

Low morale in some city departments

The fire department’s survey responses were the worst in the city. Only 13 percent of fire department employees reported high satisfaction, while 61 percent were dissatisfied.

Houston firefighters for years were locked in a stalemate with former Mayor Sylvester Turner over their contract. After Whitmire’s election victory last year, he announced Feb. 29 that he reached a tentative agreement with the firefighters’ union addressing back pay and other issues, although he has yet to spell out its cost.

Fire Chief Samuel Peña’s office did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

The library’s ratings were the city’s second worst. At the library, 37 percent of employees reported being dissatisfied, while 19 percent showed high satisfaction. Library officials did not respond to questions Wednesday about the survey results.

Whitmire has made several high-profile leadership changes within city government since the beginning of his term in January. But he has yet to attempt an overhaul of the Houston Public Library. He noted in December that the Landing’s reporting on the topic “made a huge impact” on him, and that he planned “to address that sooner than later.”

Job satisfaction among city workers

Sonia Rico, head of the city’s municipal employees union, brought forth concerns from “across several departments, including housing, the library and the Houston Emergency Center” during last week’s city council meeting. The Houston Emergency Center, whose dispatchers handle 911 calls, had the third-worst satisfaction in the employee survey after the fire department and library.

Those three departments “continue to be at the top of our list and will remain so until we get them completely resolved,” said Rico, who leads the Houston Organization of Public Employees. “The morale and confidence in leadership are very low.”

Councilmember Sallie Alcorn added that she has been asking questions about the library since July. “I would like to get some information to know that the complaints were addressed, and if there was anything to them, that changes were made,” Alcorn said.

Whitmire acknowledged issues at the library, but made no commitments to act during last Tuesday’s meeting.

“That particular department, it has been duly noted that there have been repeated violations or reports of the harassment, and we just won’t tolerate it,” he said.

The Landing obtained survey responses specific to the library last year, which show that 31 percent of library employees do not feel welcome at work. More than 40 percent said it isn’t safe “to challenge the way things are done in my department,” and only half felt the city’s leaders would “take action on the results from this survey.”

Franklin-Brocks, from the HR department, said the city plans to put these results to use. 

“Based on the results, we will assess the level of engagement and take action to improve the areas where employees say we need to improve,” she said. “We will do this action planning on survey results for the city as a whole and by department.”

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