Diversity Management Plan FAQ.Doc

Diversity Management Plan Frequently Asked Questions

What does being a model diverse organization mean? Being a model diverse organization means having a diverse workforce serving a diverse community as effectively and efficiently as possible. This means having a workforce that reflects the community we serve, respecting differences, and leveraging differences and similarities in people to help them be the best they can be and to be the best local government service provider.

Why do we need a diversity management plan? Our vision is to be the best local government service provider. To achieve this vision, we have to maximize the knowledge, skills and abilities available to us as an organization. This means we need a workforce that possesses a wide diversity of thought, talents, perspectives, and experience. More importantly, we need to manage this diversity effectively to increase our creativity, innovation and productivity. The Diversity Management Plan identifies the goals, strategies and performance measures as our roadmap for developing and managing a diverse workforce that serves a diverse community. By achieving these goals, we will develop our employees to their full potential, and will ensure all our residents are well satisfied with the services we provide.

How are we defining diversity? What is diversity management? Diversity refers to the differences and similarities in people, and how these influence planning, designing, delivering and evaluating services. Essentially, diversity represents the uniqueness of individuals, groups and relationships. This uniqueness reflects the differences and similarities in human attributes, values, beliefs, behaviors, orientations, norms and experiences.

Diversity management refers to the strategies and tactics used to harness the value of these differences and similarities to improve the performance of the organization and its employees.

Is this just a fad or another flavor of the month? No. Diversity management is part of our Managing for Results philosophy. As a result our diversity management goals and performance measures are closely linked with the County’s Community and Corporate Scorecard.

1 of 3 How are we going to measure our success? How do we know when we are a model diverse organization? The Diversity Management Plan has seven specific goals and strategies. Each of these goals is measured by one or more measures. In total there are 10 performance measures as follows: . Customer satisfaction parity . Business/vendor satisfaction parity . Employee satisfaction with access to information on diversity management . Advisory committee diversity . Cost of risk in managing human capital . Percentage of employee grievances resolved without litigation . Workforce representative of the community . Employee retention parity . Diversity management training rate . Diversity management plan awareness

What does parity mean and how will it be measured? Parity refers to a lack of statistical difference. For example, the customer satisfaction parity measure is intended to see if we have a consistently high level of satisfaction among all our customers. However, the challenge in measuring parity among different segments of our customers (or vendors or employees) is that these segments are often categorized or differentiated only by a limited array of demographics such as race, ethnicity, gender, age, etc. As a result, our parity measures use these or similar demographics because they are readily available and generally accepted as differentiating data. Although we recognize these demographics are not inclusive of all segments, they do serve as reasonable proxy measures to help evaluate the level of consistency in customer satisfaction, vendor satisfaction, employee satisfaction, and employee retention.

Is this just about race/ethnicity? No, this is about recognizing the entire spectrum of differences and similarities in people. It is recognizing that there is a great benefit to our workplace and to our customers in harnessing diversity to improve our performance. Collectively, we will perform better as an organization because our diversity provides more talent, more ideas, and more options, than we can produce individually.

Who is accountable for this? The plan identifies who is accountable for what strategies and actions. Overall accountability for achieving our diversity management plan goals falls to the County’s Efficient and Effective Government Focus Area Leadership Team. Other specific accountabilities are assigned to department directors, the Human Resources Department, the Public Service & Information Department, and individual employees. Each employee is accountable for being aware of the Diversity Management Plan goals, and be committed to developing the knowledge, skills and abilities to be successful in diversity management within their job. This includes respecting and appreciating the differences and similarities in people, and effectively managing conflict that may arise.

2 of 3 What is the timeline for implementing the plan? Each tactics and action plan has specific timelines and deadlines. By 2015, we must complete all the performance targets for being a model diverse organization. Details are available in the plan online at http://charmeck.org/Departments/Diversity+in+Mecklenburg

We believe that we are a very diverse organization. Do we still need to focus on the strategies and tactics in the plan? Mecklenburg County is a diverse organization in many ways but the Diversity Management Plan focuses on much more than being diverse leveraging the many differences and similarities that exist to improve our effectiveness and efficiency in serving our community. This means we must continue to adapt to the changing needs of our customers and our employees.

Will departments whose workforce is not representative of the community experience "re-organization" (resulting in job loss) to make the workforce more aligned with the diversity of the population? No. Our strategy for this goal is to market Mecklenburg County as a compelling place to work, emphasizing our commitment to having a diversity workforce that serves a diverse community. This means casting the widest net possible in recruiting qualified candidates. Still, the bottom line is we want to hire the most qualified person that is the best fit for the job.

Are we going to be expected to go through some type of training? When will this take place? The Diversity Management Plan calls for ensuring all County employees are aware of the Diversity Management Plan goals, and aware of the importance and value of diversity management. In addition, over the next several months, the County will be developing an education and training curriculum for employees. Since a key element of diversity management is being able to effectively manage conflicts, we anticipate such training will first be provided to managers and supervisors. More information will be provided once the curriculum is developed.

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