Toxic work environment, bureaucracy, no HR support, & poor work/life balance. The vision, and goals of the department were great, however due to a lack of HR professionalism and support many programs suffer which leads to passionate employees leaving CDPH. Many staff across various levels do the bare minimum and get away with it because HR does not support its managers in providing corrective action, seemingly out of fear of the Union. Many entry level employees are paid a higher salary (because of the length of time at CDPH) than directors/managerial staff who are doing extensively more work. Hiring managers have a hard time posting vacant positions because of bureaucratic hiring processes (2+ years working with HR and positions still weren’t posted when I resigned). Performance expectations are often unrealistic because of programs being short staffed. In my experience, the HR department was very ineffective, was often rude, dismissive, and unsupportive. Because of the lack of HR support many staff are not held accountable for poor performance or behaviors, which creates a toxic work environment. Some of my staff were screamed at or bullied by other staff within the department; when the issues were brought to HR the blame is often placed on the managers or are told that there is nothing that can be done. During my time at CDPH many passionate and innovative employees resigned for other positions because of the issues experienced with HR and the toxic environment at CDPH.
