City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder no longer under review following better operations and workplace culture

Workplace culture and operations at the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder are no longer under review by the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries, with a report finding the city was performing well in all key areas of the review. The two-year review, which was sparked by the findings of a damning 2021 cultural review, has come to an end with the department advising it was satisfied with the city’s responses and performance in the key areas of organisational culture, complaint and dispute handling, and governance. The findings of the review were revealed in 2022 and found endemic bullying, open discrimination, sexism, casual racism and “highly inappropriate, aggressive behaviours” were among the consistent descriptions given by city staff of the workplace culture. Kalgoorlie-Boulder mayor Glenn Wilson said he was pleased to see how much the culture at the city had turned around in two years and looked forward to the organisation being able to “move on”. “We are regaining the respect of the community through our governance, we are regaining the respect of employees past and present, but also are able to make a very positive difference in what was a tumultuous time for the city,” he said. “I’m very proud of the fact we were able to identify, turn around and now move forward after organisation culture issues and issues with our governance and our complaint dispute handling, not so much from an elected member point of view but more so as a community member because to see an organisation turn around drastically in two years is no easy feat. “And now to be able to continue that under the guidance of the CEO Andrew Brien goes to show that there are a lot of people who work for the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder ... who enjoy working for the city and do want to see the organisation change in a positive way.” Mr Wilson said he was “extremely proud” to be able to see the changes that had taken place during the past two years and he was always amazed by the “commitment and warmth” he felt from city staff across all levels. “We are an employer of choice again,” he said. “We have staff who have worked for the city before returning and noting how much of a different culture it is.” The council on Monday night also voted to endorse Mr Brien inviting the executive director of the department, Tim Fraser, to meet the council for ongoing discussions to further enhance the city.