Printer police

Last week, amid all of the drama about the Pan Am stadium, city council considered an interesting proposal to hire a full-time employee to oversee its biggest contracts: desktop computers, printers, and cell phones.  Here's a snippet of the story written by my colleague, Meredith MacLeod.

The city wants to hire a full-time employee to police printing and cellphone use among workers.

That person would help the city save as much as $700,000 a year in printing costs by controlling printer purchases, and making sure staff use both sides of the paper, only print when necessary and only use colour when needed.

The position was recommended in a report to city councillors outlining a five-year, $6-million printing contract with Ricoh and will be dealt with in next year's budget. Staff indicated the yearly savings under that contract over actual costs in 2009 could amount to $700,000.

"In order to achieve these savings and more, it is essential that a position be created to monitor and report on the use of print equipment on a regular basis," reads the staff report presented to committee of the whole.

There were no details provided about salary and benefits for the proposed position.

Rob Rossini, general manager of finance and corporate services, says the printing, cellphone and desktop computer contracts are three of the city's biggest deals. Technology is making the contracts more complex to manage.

That has resulted in some cost-overruns, he said.

The issue of hiring a full-time contract manager was referred to 2011 budget deliberations but a number of councillors indicated they aren't in favour.

"It's going to be a real tough sell for me. Whether we kill it now or kill it at budget, that's fine," said Councillor Lloyd Ferguson.

We've talked about some of these issues on Hall Marks before (here and here), so it's interesting that the city seems to be putting its money where its mouth is in terms of clamping down on these contracts. On the other hand, I've heard some criticism about the need to spend money on a full-time employee to monitor these large contracts.

What do you think?

Comments

[Tom Robertson]

Instead of hiring new staff this job looks like a perfect opportunity for a work placement for workers who are off with work related disabilities.

[Jeff Bonner]

Sounds good to me. Whether it's a new job or a position for someone on a work-related disability, it's good to take a proactive approach to solving problems.

It's unfortunate that it comes to having someone "babysit" staff on this issue, but if that's what it takes, then so be it.

They should consider making it an "independent contractor" position though, and avoid putting it through a union. The position may only be needed on a temporary basis until the workplace culture has adjusted.

[JR]

Is it not a managers responsibility to "babysit" underlings and ensure his/her budget is used in the people of Hamilton's best interest. It is not the Citys' money it is our taxes being used, this is what they seem to forget. One simple solution is to have employees pay for overusing their cell phone plan and take this fee from their own paychecks automatically. Replacing computers and laptops should be stopped unless necessary. Computers last longer than 2 years (they are buying premium models remember, same can be said with their work vehicles!)

They should start making the high paid managers like Rob Rossini make do with less and be accountable for "cost-overruns". Its not technology's problem its the City misuing our tax monies. The solution is not to hire unnecessary bodies, its to delegate and ensure staff are using supplies properly

[Brian Henley +]

This seems like a forward thinking solution to a problem which is costing the city a lot of money.
At minimum the proposal deserves careful scrutiny - it may well be that the savings generated would not only cover the cost of the position, but even more savings could be realized.
It is disappointing that Councillor Ferguson's negativity and lack of awareness of technology was quoted.
It shows a shallow, close minded, backward way of looking at a proposal, an attitude that sadly is not unusual in some political circles at Hamilton City Hall, at least in his office.
I trust other members of council will be open-minded enough to not prematurely take a position on something that is just in the proposal stage.
If nothing else, there should be an investigation and a report prepared on the matter.

[kevv]

i am surprised its taking this long for something to happen...
i wonder why no city employee is piping in on this ,they usually have alot to say during their work hours not a peep from them ,,weird

[Michelle Hruschka]

Independant contractor status, gee I wonder about that. Will this person be paid the same wage rate as co-workers, would they entitled to benefits.

Under Employment Standards act, a worker has very little protection, as this act only covers the bare minimums. Unionized workers are covered under the Labour Relations Act, which allows for more protection against unfair dismissal and a host of other possible infractions.

I like the suggestion of this being assigned to a injuried worker but something tells me that this has more to do with accounting processes or should we say the lack of accounting processess.

[Jeff Bonner]

@ Michelle: As a real estate agent, I am an independent contractor. There is nothing wrong with being an independent contractor. It's just a different structure, that you may not understand if you haven't been in it.

I'm certainly not suggesting they be underpaid.

My point is that a contracted position is not automatically permanent. And I don't think this is something that will be required once the workplace culture has adjusted.

As for fairness, if you're hired on a one-year (or five-year) contract, then you know exactly how much time you have. What's unfair about that?

[Michelle Hruschka]

Jeff: There is a difference between language, a one year contract is different from someone who is basically self employed. Some employers class the workers as self employed but they are not, they are employees. there is criteria under Fedral Tax Law, Self Employed or an Employee.

My issues are that the ESA is not very strong and does little to protect workers, besides working in a unionized environment as a non unionized worker can be toxic.

I have done payroll for twenty years, so I think I know a little about the different catagories of employment.