Director says some workplace culture issues remain at Richmond finance department, despite progress

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- The departing director for Richmond's finance department, Sheila White, spoke before the Finance and Economic Development Standing Committee on Wednesday to provide an update on the state of the department.

Last week, city officials confirmed that White had tendered her resignation, with her last day expected to be Friday, July 25. No reason was provided by city leaders or White herself as to why she had decided to leave the position.

White's presentation on Wednesday was led by a message of optimism for the future, reflecting on progress made during her time as director and looking forward to the challenges ahead.

"The focus of my comments will be on how the revenue administration division has been evolving over the past 16 months from a division riddled with systemic dysfunction, outdated processes and outdated technology to a modern, digital, efficient, accessible, transparent and data-driven division," White's presentation began.

One slide in particular alluded to progress that had been made with certain workplace culture issues at the department, including some that persisted.

"When I started, it was very much a fear-based culture," White said. "We're moving towards a more cohesive culture, but we need to continue to build. Part of that is the team environment, it's the training, it's the investment in people and in technology."

(Courtesy of the City of Richmond)

Among the challenges still facing the department, White's presentation showed "pockets of cliques still exist" and "pockets of secrecy and sabotage."

Overall, White expressed optimism for the department's future, expecting the department would have "right people in the right seats," according to the presentation slide.

The Work Process Improvement Report

A work process improvement report obtained by 8News outlined similar workplace culture issues established in White's presentation on Wednesday.

In August 2024, a draft report outlined 11 key performance management tools to be implemented following a third-party investigation into the department. The investigation had been requested by Sheila White to identify a "root cause" of customer service complaints between late 2023 and early 2024.

The work process improvement report -- released on July 9, 2025 -- indicated the only key performance tool still not implemented was "Cultural Expectations & Evaluation Tool for Performance Feedback."

"Cultural deficiencies across all staffing levels also continue and serves as a root cause to Division performance barriers. A lack of service commitment, non-compliance with directives and SOP's, and lack of accountability for job performance are limiting the progress of the team as a whole," the July 9 report reads. "Work is routinely passed up to management when obstacles are encountered without adequate demonstration of critical thinking and resolution skills. Far too many instances of missed deadlines, poor work product and inadequate work volumes have been experienced and documented during the engagement."

The report also claimed instances of insubordination, sabotage and undermining the team's success and leadership were routinely seen.

"Cultural standards have been developed to curb deficient performance behavior. Management training and accountability tools have been provided for use in raising service delivery standards and will require consistent leadership by strong managers and supervisors to achieve lasting change."