TITLE
Recommendation to refer the report on hires for 2005, the second year of the City's three-year Equal Employment Opportunity Program Plan (2004-2006), to the Personnel and Civil Service Committee for review.
DISCUSSION
The City of Long Beach has been actively monitoring its workplace hiring practices for nearly 35 years. Beginning in 1973, the City developed an Affirmative Action Plan to report on population and labor market availability by gender and race. Numeric "goals and objectives" were established to address areas of under-representation. By the mid- 199O's, however, changes in federal and state laws required that the City discontinue the practice of developing specific goals and objectives.
While attempting to comply with the desire to achieve a workforce that is reflective of the diverse community we serve, the City must operate within the constraints of Proposition 209 (the California Civil Rights Initiative), which was passed by the voters in 1996. Proposition 209 prohibits the City from giving preferential treatment to any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin. Proposition 209 also prohibits the City from using race or ethnic-based quotas or numerical goals in its hiring practices. As a result, the City has changed from establishing numeric goals and/or quotas to establishing narrative objectives to address under-utilization. Examples of narrative objectives include:
- To ensure equal access to all employment opportunities and to address categories that are under-represented, the City will continue to work with Civil Service Department staff to focus its outreach efforts in areas where female and minority candidates are concentrated.
- To attract a larger applicant pool, available resources throughout the Southern California region continue to be used in the recruitment and selection process. Specifically, community organizations, community colleges and universities, trade schools and professional associations with large female and minority populations are targeted. A variety of multi-media resources such as community newspapers, military newsletters, billboards, Internet websites, radio and cable television in specific media markets are utilized and updated annually. The City utilizes many techniques in the recruiting and testing areas that enhance our testing process, including but not limited to, the use of the Internet, the use of band scores on eligible lists, selective certification for bilingual candidates, and the streamlining of testing processes to expedite candidate selection.
- To provide opportunities for upward mobility within the workforce, internal methods to identify possible career paths and career development programs, such as the management rotation, mentor program, job specific training, and transfer-for-training programs will continue to be used. To capture the growing youth population for potential female and minority Firefighter and Police Officers, the City will continue to enhance youth development programs, such as Police Explorer and Fire Search and Rescue programs. In addition, the City's Workforce Development Program provides outreach to local high school students who participate in the annual youth job shadowing, job fair and internship programs.
The City now uses an Equal Employment Opportunity Plan (EEOP) to capture these narrative objectives and provide hiring data. This Plan analyzes the City's work force in comparison to its relevant labor market to determine if females and/or minorities are underrepresented in the work force. The City uses the combined labor forces of Los Angeles and Orange Counties to determine the Labor Market Availability (LMA). LMA data includes persons over the age of 16 who are already employed, as well as those recorded as unemployed. The plan identifies areas that are below the relevant labor market, sets forth overall non-numeric objectives to address under-utilization, and determines steps to achieve these objectives.
Annual status reports are provided as part of the City's three-year Equal Employment Opportunity Program Plan (2004-2006), which was adopted by the City Council on August 16,2005. This report sets forth the City's hiring data for permanent full-time employees for 2005 calendar year, the second year of the three-year plan.
During 2005, there were 402 hires. This represents an increase of I 13 positions from 2004. Of the new hires, 122 or 30.3% were females, of which 45 or 11.2% were white females, 244 or 60.7% were minorities, and 289 were white females and minorities, for a combined white female and minority rate of 71.9%. The combined white female and minority rate increased by 3.0% over the previous year. (For more specific information, see Attachment A, "Citywide Hires for 2005." Attachment B shows "Hires, Promotions, and Separations for 2005 by Department." Attachment C provides the Civil Service Department "Applicant Flow Data Summary for Classified Service.")
There were 92 combined hires for Police Recruit and Firefighter Recruit in 2005. Of those, 13 or 14.1 % were females, of which 7 or 7.6% were white females, and 50 or 54.3% were minorities. The combined white female and minority-:hiring rate is 61.9%. This represents a 1.7% increase from 2004. One of the highest priorities of the City's Equal Employment Opportunity Program continues to be placing more minorities into Firefighter and Police Officer positions. The combined hires for public safety personnel depict an increase for males in the Black and Hispanic ethnicities for 2005. (More specific information regarding Police Recruit and Firefighter Recruit academies is contained in Attachments D, E and F, respectively.) Examples of enhanced recruitment efforts and activities by the Police and Fire Departments include:
- Increased participation and recruitment outreach in all City sponsored ethnic and cultural celebrations throughout the year, such as Cambodian New Year, Cesar Chavez Luncheon, Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade, Juneteenth Celebration, and the Dr. Martin Luther King Celebration;
- Increased advertising outreach to the City's minority communities through the media and organizations such as the Black Managers Association and the Latino Managers and Professionals Organization;
- Expansion of our career development resources both within the City and outside the City through mentoring and counseling programs;
- Enhancement of all current orientation and training programs such as the New Employee Orientation and the Supervisors Leadership Program and the addition of diversity components to all;
- Expansion of outreach efforts to minority organizations, community colleges and universities, and trade schools;
- Expansion of efforts to encourage non-career employees to apply for permanent positions when they become available;
- Development of diverse interview panels during the selection process;
- Development of a Diversity Awareness training program;
- Encouragement to departments to interview as many candidates as practicable from eligible lists that are not in rank order to increase the possibility and/or probability of interviewing diverse candidates;
- Developing budget alternatives for the creation of financial incentives for referrals to the City's Police and Fire Academies; and,
- Addition of a Targeted Result requiring department managers to promote and implement the Equal Employment Opportunity Plan objectives.
Strategies for future recruitment, selection and professional development activities will continue to promote the importance of a workforce reflective of the community it serves.
TIMING CONSIDERATIONS
City Council action on this matter is not time critical.
FISCAL IMPACT
None
SUGGESTED ACTION
Approve recommendation.
Respectfully Submitted,
NAME |
APPROVED: |
TITLE |
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GERALD R. MILLER |
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CITY MANAGER |