Some OUC employees raise concerns over hostile work environment, survey says

ORLANDO, Fla. — After two high-level managers for the Orlando Utilities Commission were demoted following an internal investigation, 9 Investigates started looking into the culture and treatment of employees of the public utility company.

OUC employees raised concerns in May about racial discrimination, favoritism and safety in a hostile work environment.

WFTV reporter Lauren Seabrook spoke with the head of OUC about the results of the employee survey and found the reactions depend on who is asked.

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Some employees said they like working for the company, saying the benefits are good and they feel empowered by management.

Others described working at OUC as a toxic environment.

"We have an outstanding CEO that truly cares about the company and its employees,” said Tim Trudell with OUC. “Doing so means asking some questions."

OUC's top executive, who just started at the beginning of last year, sent out the employee survey to gauge the company’s morale.

Of the utility's nearly 1,300 employees, about 950 filled it out, leaving 3,000 comments with their ratings.

Some of the negative comments include words used by employees about their managers, including abusive, belittling, humiliating, power-hungry, micromanaging and bullies.

But the majority of the comments were positive, and most employees believe things are going in the right direction under the new CEO.

"It really is a good place to work. We're trying to make it an outstanding place to work, and doing so could mean some bumps in the road,” said Trudell. “That is, we're going to get some, maybe some difficult feedback out of those 3,000 responses."

After a breakdown of the ratings given by each employee, 75 percent said they're happy working at OUC.

70 percent said they would recommend their manager to others, and 57 percent feel OUC has a great culture.

Less than half believe action will be taken as a result of the survey.

"I can tell you this, our CEO and senior management take this survey very seriously,” said Trudell. “They didn't have to do this. They wanted to do this, and they knew it wasn't going to be easy."

OUC said the results of the survey just came back a week ago and leaders are still reviewing the responses.

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