Internal survey reveals poor morale in Alberta Health deputy minister's office

Updated: May 25, 2022. After publication of this story, Pure North filed a defamation lawsuit against the CBC, the Dietitians of Canada, and some of their employees. In March 2020, Pure North discontinued its claim against the Dietitians of Canada issued aclarification statementwhich relates to the story below. In May 2022, Pure North discontinued its claims against the CBC and its employees. While CBC stands behind the accuracy of its reporting, the CBC has agreed with Pure North to provide alinkto a statement where Pure North provides an additional response to the article below and related coverage.

Morale is poor at Alberta Health, but it is by far the worst in the office of beleaguered deputy minister Carl Amrhein.

A confidential internal Alberta Health employee survey, obtained exclusively by CBC News, shows that by nearly every measure of staff engagement and job satisfaction, employees in the deputy minister's office ranked their workplace lowest among nine health divisions whose survey results were reported in detail.

In Amrhein's office, the average percentage of positive responses to the survey's questions was only 26 per cent. The next lowest was the office of the chief medical officer of health at 49 per cent.

Staff in the deputy minister's office largely feel they are not treated respectfully, do not receive recognition for good work, and are dissatisfied or at best ambivalent with their leadership.

"That speaks, to me, of a significant managerial problem in that office," said Athabasca University professor Bob Barnetson, an expert in labour relations.

Health employees completed the survey, which was sent to all public service staff, between February and March of 2016. Their results were then broken down by department division and compared to the ministry overall.

Thirteen of 18 employees within Amrhein's office completed the survey. Their responses reveal an office culture in which they feel undervalued and uninspired.

Nearly half responded unfavourably to the statement, "I am treated respectfully at work." Not a single employee said they get meaningful recognition for work well done. Only two said they were satisfied with the quality of the supervision they receive, and slightly more than half said they do not feel valued.

Neither Amrhein nor Health Minister Sarah Hoffman responded to interview requests.

In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for Amrhein said the survey included employees from another unit who don't directly report to the deputy minister. The statement said that, following feedback from staff, Alberta Health has undertaken specific strategies to address the issues, including holding "all-staff meetings and monthly divisional meetings with the deputy minister."

Hoffman, in another emailed statement, said "the deputy minister's office has worked with the public service commission to implement an employee engagement strategy for the health ministry."

'Striking results'

Barnetson acknowledged the sample size in the deputy minister's office is small, and there could be concern that one or two people might skew the results. But he said in this case, the results were "overwhelming" that people in that office don't feel respected or well supervised.

"I think that is pretty striking results that somebody should pay attention to," he said.

By contrast, nearly 70 per cent of staff within the deputy minister's office said they have a positive relationship with co-workers, indicating their dissatisfaction lies with their leadership.

While the survey only represents a snapshot in time and doesn't identify specific problems, "I would think the worry here should be that there is some bullying or something going on," Barnetson said.

"The problem with employers' surveys is that once you have identified a problem, the people who get tasked with figuring out what the problem is, and resolving it, are senior managers," Barnetson said. "But in fact, those managers are often the problem themselves.

"So usually, what you see is most effective is some sort of significant turnover in the management structure and the management ranks."

The survey results contain a "heat map" that shows how the staff engagement responses from each Health division compare to the department's overall average. Responses that are lower than average are represented with darkening shades of orange. The responses from Amrhein's staff are dark orange on nearly every measure, even when compared to overall figures that are mediocre.

On average, only 56 per cent of Health employees across the ministry said they are inspired to give their very best. Less than two-thirds said they are proud to tell people they work for the Alberta public service, and only 54 per cent said they would recommend their current workplace as a great place to work.

Deputy minister under fire recently

While deputy ministers are the most powerful civil servants in government, they generally toil in obscurity.

But Amrhein has been in the spotlight recently due to a series of CBC News stories that have detailed his close - and to some - inappropriate relationship with Pure North S'Energy, a private Calgary-based foundation that provides alternative health treatments, including high doses of supplements like vitamin D.

The CBC News stories revealed Amrhein participated in the Pure North program while deputy minister, that he lobbied Alberta Health for more funding for the foundation in his previous role as official administrator of Alberta Health Services, and had written letters of support for it while he was provost of the University of Alberta.

In October 2016, Amrhein signed, on behalf of the ministry, a $4.2-million grant with Pure North for a nurse-practitioner-led primary care clinic. Amrhein has said he fully disclosed his relationship with Pure North to the ethics commissioner when he became deputy minister in August 2015.

Ethics Commissioner Marguerite Trussler told CBC News she questioned Amrhein about his signing of the $4.2 million grant and was told he signed the grant in his role as deputy minister after the minister had already signed off.

Last week, the official Opposition Wildrose called on Trussler to conduct a full investigation of Amrhein's relationship with Pure North. The ethics commissioner, by law, can't confirm or deny if an investigation is being conducted.

Health Minister Sarah Hoffman has repeatedly refused to directly answer questions both from CBC News and opposition politicians about what Amrhein had disclosed to her about his relationship with, and advocacy for, Pure North.

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