Durango City Manager Observes Cultural Change in Municipal Government, Reports The Durango Herald

‘Career growth, good teamwork,’ and ‘belief in mission’ score highly on employee survey

A culture shift has occurred among workers at the city of Durango, and the city has data to prove it.

The last few years have been a long road for city workers. A 2019 city embezzlement scandal rocked city workers, with some personnel describing the scandal as .

The COVID-19 pandemic would follow in fast pursuit, which brought its own challenges to businesses, schools, public health departments and other government organizations.

Durango City Manager José Madrigal joined the city in December 2020. With him, he brought a strategy to promote a shift in workplace culture when he was hired by the city in 2020.

He said the city performed its second biannual employee satisfaction survey earlier this year. The results, which mostly exceeded nationwide benchmarks for municipal workers, are an encouraging sign his plan is paying off, he said.

The employee survey follows a previous survey conducted in 2022 to establish a reference point to compare and contrast how working for the city has improved or worsened in later years.

Madrigal said the respondents were anonymous in both surveys so employees could feel confident in answering truthfully.

He said the results show the city’s workforce is engaged and there is a lot of positivity within the city as an organization. He credited his executive leadership team – composed of directors from each department – and managers and supervisors in addition to city staff.

He added that an employee cross-functional survey team that worked to address issues raised in the 2022 survey results contributed to the positive change in workforce culture observable in the data today.

“I’m very proud of this organization, very proud of the team that we have here,” he said. “And I really appreciate the support that the City Council has shown (in) embracing this culture change. I think we’re really starting to see what that can look like.”

Ninety-seven percent of city employees participated in the optional survey. That in itself is a positive sign, Madrigal said. Participation in this year’s survey increased by nearly 25% compared to 2022 participation.

And the survey says …

Survey responses increased in all but one category, health plan value, but results in that category still scored higher than the national benchmark for municipal workers, he said.

Health plan value scored 81.6% positive, a modest decrease of 5.7% from 2022, he said.

Employee engagement, or a workers’ likelihood of remaining with the city, scored 81.3%, a 12.3% increase from 2022, he said. The national benchmark is 75.1%.

The number of employees who actively recommend the city as a great place to work to others, known as a net promoter score, saw a 32-point increase from 2022.

The net promoter score was in the negative numbers just two years ago. Madrigal said it is determined by subtracting the number of detractors who would not recommend the city as a great place to work from advocates who do promote the city as a great place to work.

“It really shows that we have way more promoters for the organization as a great place to work,” he said.

Other areas where the city scored higher than national benchmarks include “career growth, good teamwork,” “belief in (the city’s) mission” and other categories, he said.

But time will tell if the city can live up to current expectations. Another survey will be conducted in 2026. Those results will inform where the city has continued to excel and, possibly, where it lost favorability with workers.

“This is part of making sure that we’re effectively listening to our employees and (letting) them have the ability to confidentially send their feedback to ourselves in the executive team,” he said.

Councilor Dave Woodruff said employee satisfaction at the city is “not just anecdotal anymore.”

He said the survey results are “a testament” to Madrigal’s leadership.

Mayor Melissa Youssef said 60% of promotions at the city have been internal, with over half of those employees being women and also including four Fort Lewis College graduates.

“The quality of our staff is critically important for fulfilling our goals,” she said at a forum last week. “And this is a huge area of strength right now for the city of Durango.”

In an August 2022 interview with The Durango Herald, Madrigal said he strives for a – encouraging collaboration between departments – to suit three primary goals held by the city: Customer service, employee engagement and strategic plan achievements.

“If you don’t have a great culture, then you get everyone looking out for themselves,” he said. “Or you get the worst part of it, (like) ‘I’m going to do whatever gets me the least amount of criticism.’ And that never really results (in) the best decision.”

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