City of Palmerston culture: More ex-staffers make claims of ‘borderline abusive’ workplace

More ex-staffers of one of the Northern Territory’s most populous local governments have emerged to share their claims of a rotten culture, one claiming the workplace was “borderline abusive”.

Palmerston Civic Plaza. Picture: City of Palmerston

More ex-staffers of one of the Northern Territory’s most populous local governments have emerged to share their claims of a rotten workplace culture, one claiming the workplace was “borderline abusive”.

Their disclosures about their time working at the City of Palmerston follow an earlier NT News report the council’s staff vacancy rate was 19 per cent, while its overall staff satisfaction rate sat at just 68 per cent.

Both of these figures are far lower than comparable councils.

Alice Springs Town Council’s employee satisfaction was 81 per cent when it was measured last in 2019, while its staff vacancy rate is currently just 3.54 per cent.

Last month, a former employee said he took more stress leave than he ever had before during his short time at Palmerston, and took a lower paid, more insecure job at a neighbouring council to preserve his mental health.

Now, a female staffer has told the NT News she was “shocked but simultaneously unsurprised” by how much the previously mentioned employee’s “experience almost identically mirrored my own”.

Results of the City of Palmerston's most recent staff engagement survey, taken in October 2023. Picture: Supplied

“I recently resigned from City of Palmerston after many years of service [due to] what had become an extremely toxic, borderline abusive workplace in order to save my mental health,” she said.

“I too chose to sacrifice financial and job security and leave the permanent council job to take on a short contract role elsewhere with a $20,000 pay cut.”

The ex-staffer said she believed the negative culture was attributable to the council “consistently over-promising on deliverables to the elected members (councillors), which would in turn place immense pressure on the very under-resourced staffers”.

“Myself and others were expected to perform multiple different roles in different fields at high levels,” she said.

“And if we did not perform at the highest of levels for any of these multiple jobs, or meet what were often impossible deadlines, [the fear] of performance management and termination would become very frequent.

“It would be like expecting an electrician to perform at the highest levels, while also taking on duties as a plumber and carpenter simultaneously.”

The ex-staffer alleged she received a dressing down one day after asking to take a lunch break which was mentioned in a performance review.

“I did not know at the time that we were expected to skip lunch and work late in order to meet trivial deadlines and that this type of behaviour could lead to termination,” she said.

A second ex-staffer told the NT that she, too, left to save her mental health.

City of Palmerston did not respond to a list of questions sent by the NT News.

However, the council previously defended its culture, saying it offered employees’ mental health support and generous leave entitlements, and that it was not possible to read too much into the council’s retention and attrition rates, as the transient nature of the NT workforce meant the issue was “multifaceted”.