Committee Report CR-1

The Civic Unity Committee held a public meeting on Thursday, February 27, 2003 at four o’clock and twelve minutes p. m. in the Sullivan Chamber.

Present at the meeting were Councillor Marjorie C. Decker, Chair of the Committee, Councillor Brian Murphy, Chair of the Finance Committee, Councillor Denise Simmons, Councillor Kenneth E. Reeves, Michael Gardner, Personnel Director, Valerie Headley, Manager, Employment Services, Personnel Department, Sheila Keady Rawson, Manager, Benefits and Compensation, Personnel Department, Dianne Klayman, Manager, Training and Development, Personnel Department, Duane Brown, Affirmative Action Officer, Nancy Ryan, Executive Director, Women’s Commission, Carol Cheung and Ashoo Anand, Diversity Committee members and Deputy City Clerk Donna P. Lopez.

Councillor Decker opened the meeting and stated the purpose.  She further stated that she would be holding a meeting in the future to discuss affirmative action.  She asked Mr. Brown to give an overview of the diversity training.

Mr. Brown stated that the diversity training was developed by the Personnel Department.  Mr. Gardner informed the committee that in the summer of l997 diversity training began for department heads and managers.  Four days of training was conducted in l997.  In 1998 baseline diversity training was done.  There are six to seven trainings done each year for new staff.  The attendees evaluate training programs.  The baseline evaluation received a scale of four to five from 82% of the attendees. A not useful scale of one to two was given by 4%.  These ratings are good based on the evaluations.  There have been three trainings held to date; four additional trainings are scheduled.    Mr. Gardner outlined other training. The customer service training helps new employees to understand the goal of the City Council.  Separate supervisory training is held that outlines the importance of a diverse workforce and to work effectively in teams.  The importance of culture is woven into the training programs.  A new mentoring program is beginning in the next few weeks.  There is a new program entitled Valuing Differences.  Following the September 11, 2001 disaster the city has provided training on cultural sensitivity and stress management.

Councillor Decker wanted to know how or can the city measure the impact of this one-day training on the workplace culture.   There is a need to develop a program tract to evaluate the efficacy of this training in the workplace culture.

Councillor Decker asked what does Judith Kaye Training and Consulting provide to the city.  Mr. Gardner responded that Judith Kaye provides training herself together with another facilitator, a male or a person of color.  Councillor Decker asked if there was an advisory group that evaluates the program. Mr. Gardner stated that an employee committee did help to structure the design of the program including the learning objectives.  Councillor Decker asked if a member of this committee was present at this meeting.  Mr. Brown informed Councillor Decker that he was on this committee. Councillor Decker asked if the training was evaluated.  Mr. Brown stated that he was not involved in the follow up.  Councillor Decker asked if there was a consistent group of people involved.  Mr. Gardner responded people from the Personnel Department including the manager of training and development were involved. Councillor Decker asked if the manager of training and development has a background in diversity training.  Mr. Gardner responded that the manager of training and development was not hired as a diversity trainer.

Mr. Brown discussed the diversity training.  Existing employees were given the baseline diversity training.  The Personnel Department made sure that the diversity training given to new employees was comprised of groups from diverse backgrounds. This is not as easy as it may seem.  Councillor Decker asked if there is anyone, other than Personnel staff, who have been involved as an ongoing group of people to evaluate the training.  No group of employees have evaluated the program on an on-going basis other that the information received from the attendees of the courses, said Mr. Gardner.  Meetings were held to work out problems with the programs.  Councillor Decker asked if there is an on-going group of employees outside of the Personnel Department who monitor how the program is working and what tools are the attendees bringing from this training.   Could a survey form for diversity training be developed.  Councillor Simmons stated that one training session is not sufficient. Diversity training is effective by the use of a monitoring program. She is looking for constant reapplication and maintenance to cure the institutional sickness.  She asked how effective is Judith Kaye Training and Consulting.  Councillor Decker also stated that it is important to introduce the values of the city to those who work in the city.  Are mechanisms in place that insure attendees feel safe to evaluate this training?  Councillor Simmons informed the committee that there are diversity-training experts.  She compared one diversity training session to dieting.  People do not lose weight by attending one weight loss session.  The message is delivered week after week reinforcing the training. Diversity training needs the reinforcement. She asked what is the goal of the training.   Mr. Gardner outlined the diversity training objectives as follows:

Ø      Increase awareness of how basic assumptions and values affect interactions with others and the delivery of service to a diverse community;

Ø      Examine concepts of bias, stereotyping, and discrimination and understand how they impact all employees personally and professionally; and

Councillor Simmons asked what happened after all employees went through the training.  Mr. Gardner responded that six to seven times yearly training is scheduled for new hires.  The training group is diverse to insure that attendees are exposed to diversity on many levels.

Councillor Decker asked how does the city insure if the attendees are leaving the training with the necessary tools or that the attendees know where to go if they encounter racial bias. The training does include the grievance process responded Mr. Gardner. The Employee Orientation Manuel also contains this information. Councillor Decker asked how does the city know that the training is effective to impact the work culture of the city.  Mr. Gardner responded that the city does not know if this training is useful. This is a problem stated Councillor Simmons.  The city has ways to measure discontent and employee dissatisfaction in the workforce, but there is no link between this measure and the training program stated Mr. Gardner.  Councillor Simmons stated that the problem is that the city has not clearly defined cultural literacy.  In her opinion biases do not occur overnight.  Goals need to be clear.  First define cultural literary and secondly there should be a mechanism to let the organization know how this is measure.  Employees who do not feel comfortable have no place to go for assistance.  Ms. Headley stated that the evaluations should be reviewed and a follow up survey should be done.

Councillor Simmons stated that the program should be scraped and the city should start over because what the city has may not be fixable.  The goals should be clearly stated, entrance and exist interviews should be conducted and benchmarks should be measured.  Mr. Brown commented that the baseline training is mandatory.  There is many other training going on in the city.  The Employee Diversity Committee is totally voluntary and deals with cultural literacy in the workplace.         Councillor Simmons stated that if the baseline training was mandatory then the follow up should also be mandatory.  Mr. Brown stated that follow up should be a second piece of the training.  This is too important to be voluntary, said Councillor Simmons.  If you live long enough everyone will experience discrimination sometime in your life.  How could the city ensure that this does not occur in the work place.  Diversity training has been an opportunity to introduce new employees to the culture and expectations of the city, stated Councillor Decker.  The impact and the outcome of this work need to be measured.

Councillor Simmons stated that she would like an assessment of Judith Kaye Training and Consulting and the diversity-training program.  The training needs to be evaluated with the long discussion being if the training is effective and should the training be supported, said Councillor Decker.  She inquired if the discrimination lawsuit against the city have increased or decreased.

Councillor Simmons stated she is not clear what the training is providing to the city.  She wanted conversation with diversity training experts.  Councillor Murphy commented that the work environment that the employees are working in must also be considered.

Councillor Simmons asked about the cost of the training by Judith Kaye Training and Consulting.  Mr. Gardner responded the cost is $1,300 per session and less than $10,000 per year.  Councillor Simmons requested that information be provided to the entire City Council about Judith Kaye Training and Consulting.

Ashoo Anand attended the diversity training as a new employee.  She rated the training good.  Within one month of her employment she discovered the Diversity Committee and has been a member of the committee.  The committee for discussion chooses a diversity topic.  The MIS department have a diverse workforce and this has a good impact on the workforce.  She is allowed time to work on the Diversity Committee.

Leroy Cragwell, representing the Affirmative Action Committee, asked if the city has a manual or reference material that an employee could review the training information.  Mr. Brown responded there is an Employee Orientation Manuel.  Hand outs are provided by the trainer to all attendees responded Mr. Gardner.  There is no diversity manual.  The Employee Orientation Manuel includes information on where to go to complain about discriminatory practices.  Mr. Cragwell stated that he wanted to go to the manual before the fact, not after the fact.  Councillor Simmons asked if someone wanted information where would that person go to get the information.  Personnel Department, Affirmative Action and the Women’s Commission provide technical assistance said Mr. Gardner.  At this time Councillor Decker made the following motion:

ORDERED: That the City Manager be and hereby is requested to instruction the Personnel Director to forward to the City Council any and all information included in hand outs and the Employee Orientation Manual about diversity training

Roy Bercaw stated that he never heard the disabled population included in the diversity training.  The city is doing a disgraceful job with the disabled population.  Twenty percent of citizens in Cambridge have some form of disability.  Judith Kaye Training and Consulting discriminates against the disabled, he said.  The police, he said, send a sociologist if they think you are mentally ill.   This creates a feeling of being threatened.

Doug Weinstein, 88 Larch Rd., stated that he was pleased that the City Council has diversity as a goal.  He supported evaluating the training.

Councillor Reeves stated that there have been vast improvements made in the city with the appointment of women department heads and persons of color.  He did notice that there are no Latino or Asian department heads in Cambridge.

Councillor Simmons stated that she would like to have the Civic Unity, the Finance Committee and the Human Services Committee meet as a group to assess the diversity training, set goals and clearly outline the goals.  She would follow up with the chairs of the three committees and set up a meeting.