Staff Report #11 March 28, 2018

To All Commissioners

Re: Organizational Structure Update

Recommendation

That the report be NOTED and FILED.

Background

In each of the past three years as well as this year, the Commission’s Work Program includes an initiative under the Human Resources Development Section entitled “Organization structure migration/development”. This initiative covers a number of elements including:

• Recruitment associated with attrition/transfers and service related growth of unionized positions, noting in 2017 recruitment in this area included 41 Operators, 1 Relief Inspector, 3 Relief Dispatchers and 1 Mechanic
• Recruitment associated with attrition/transfers and service related growth of administrative and management positions, noting in 2017 recruitment in these areas included 1 Senior Buyer, 1 HR Assistant, 1 Senior Transit Planner, 2 Planning Technicians, 1 Finance Supervisor, 1 Dispatch Supervisor, 2 Customer Service Representatives, 2 Specialized Service Call Takers, 1 Supervisor of Service Performance, 1 Manager of Fleet & Facility Administration and 1 Manager of Fleet Operations
• Organizational planning relating to new legislative or contractual requirements (i.e. Bill 148 amending the Employment Standards Act)
• Organizational planning relating to ensuring adequate and appropriate resources in all areas including the undertaking of reviews in specified areas from time to time as part of the Process Review Management process

The following report sets out the organizational changes that have been undertaken over the past year in effort to ensure that the annual service plans and work programs can be completed. The changes outlined have all been made within the annual budget allocations set out in the Commission approved operating budget.

Any time there is a vacancy in the administrative area created by an employee vacating a position, the area is reviewed with the intent of ensuring that resources in the area are each focused on valued tasks. More often than not, these reviews result in the realignment of duties within the area, consistent with the underlying theme of the Process Review Management Program, which ensures that the right people are doing the right things at the right time. The retirement of the Director of Transportation and Planning in late 2017 resulted in a review of the area. The outcome of the review was to split the department back into two areas, focusing on Planning and Operations, as well as adjust resources in each area to match expectations set out in the 5 Year Service Plan and 2015-2018 Business Plan.

Effective January 2018, the Transportation & Planning Department was split into a Planning Department and an Operations Department, further details with respect to realignments in each of the areas is set out below.

Planning Department

Given the increased extent of service changes each year associated with the 5 Year Service Plan, coupled with the number of tasks associated with major changes including AVL updates, stop additions and removals (including GPS locating for each stop to enable stop announcements), and schedule creation, pressure on the planning area has increased significantly over the past few years. LTC’s ongoing participation on the Rapid Transit Project Team has also increased demands on the Planning area. The Planning Department is now resourced as follows, noting the positions designated with a (*) are newly created positions as part of the restructuring.

Planning Department Organizational Chart

This structure and resource allocation is believed to be appropriate to carry out the expectations set out in the 2018 Work Program including implementation of the 2018 Service Plan and the removal of buses off Dundas Street as well as the other programs to be undertaken by the planning department.

Operations Department

The vision statement in the 2015-2018 Business Plan calls for London Transit to be “The valued and trusted mobility choice for Londoners”. It is recognized this vision can only be achieved through customer buy-in, and as such work program initiatives over the last number of years have included projects that focus on the needs and perspectives of our customers. The Voice of the Customer program has provided valuable insight into the needs and perspectives of our customers, which resulted in part in the 2018 Work Program initiative to conduct a process review on the operations area with respect to service monitoring both from a reporting perspective and a service planning and response perspective. The realignment of the Operations Department includes an increase in resources that will provide the capacity to better monitor and respond to service issues including on-time performance. The Operations Department is now resourced as follows, noting the positions designated with a (*) are newly created positions as part of the restructuring.

Operations Department Organizational Chart

The structure and associated resources set out above is believed to be appropriate to carry-out the elements of the 2018 Work Program identified for this area as well as to implement any recommended changes as the result of the Process Review on this area.

Corporate Communications

In keeping with the focus on the Vision statement and the underlying Business Plan theme of improving the customer experience, focus in late 2017 was also directed at the areas of corporate communications and customer service. Historically, the customer service area sat in the Transportation and Planning department, reporting to the Manager of Operations Administration. The review of the area identified an opportunity to remove customer service from this area which would provide a higher profile to the area and at the same time, provide additional resource time for the Manager of Operations Administration to focus on the Operations area. Corporate Communications has also been identified as an area that needs a higher profile, and dedicated resources in effort to achieve one of the five strategic objectives of the Business Plan; being open, transparent and understood.

The result of this review has been the creation of a new position, Manager of Corporate Communications, which in addition to overseeing all corporate communications, oversees the customer service area and provides assistance to the General Manager’s office. In addition to the creation of this position, a new position, Communications Specialist, has been created which will report to and provide assistance to the Manager in all areas of corporate communications. Recruitment for the Communications Specialist is currently underway. This new structure will place a larger organizational focus on corporate communications and ensure that all forms of messaging to stakeholders is consistent and clear.

Finance Department

The 2018 Work Program includes a Process Review on the structure in the Finance area as it relates to moving to full implementation of smart card. A number of the positions in the Finance area will be impacted in some manner as the sale of paper passes and tickets is phased out and smart card options are phased in. The review is intended to look at the various implications and map out a strategy for moving forward in this area.

Information Services Department

The IT department currently consists of a Manager of Information Services and two Technical Support roles, one of which was added in late 2016. The department is also supported by outside specialized resources as required, which are included in the annual budget. Given the ongoing and increasing reliance on technology, this area will be the subject of a review in 2018 to ensure adequate resources are available to complete the large scale projects planned for 2018 and into the future as well as ensure the day to day support for LTC employees and systems.

Human Resources

The Human Resources Department is overseen by the Director of Human Resources who is supported by a Manager of Human Resources, a Supervisor of Training and an HR Administrative Support person. Given the number of disability claims experienced in 2017 and trending in a similar manner in 2018, coupled with the increasing complexity of the claims both from a management and legislative perspective, this area will also be subject to review in 2018. The Return to Work Program has historically been very successful at mitigating the length of time employees are away from the work place, and in order to ensure this success continues, the appropriate resources need to be applied to managing the claims.

In addition to the claims management workload, the increased focus on employee mental health will require resources in this area to both plan for, and implement new policies and programs and provide employee training on same.

Recommended by:

Kelly S. Paleczny – General Manager