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Q&A
Tracking career advancement and addressing retention issues for underrepresented groups
0:31:34
·
6 min
Council Member de la Rosa inquires about measures to track career advancement from professional development programs and addresses concerns about retention issues, particularly for Black employees. DCAS representatives discuss exit surveys, career counseling programs, and efforts to understand why underrepresented groups are leaving city service.
- DCAS is implementing exit surveys and career counseling programs to gather feedback on employee experiences and career progression.
- Data shows increased departures of Black and women employees at rates equal to or greater than their representation in the workforce.
- Key factors identified in exit interviews include positive work culture but lack of awareness about professional development and career advancement opportunities.
Carmen de la Rosa
0:31:34
Okay.
0:31:36
What measures are in place to track whether professional development programs are leading to actual career advancement for employees, particularly in these historically underrepresented groups?
Kadian Outar
0:31:47
Jose, one of the things that we're looking at right now is the different legislation that's asking us to do the surveys.
0:31:55
Right now we are working on the exit surveys.
0:31:57
We have some results from that.
0:32:00
We also have our career counseling program that's going to help us to get some feedback on, you know, action items that folks are taking after being delivered taking the exams, and so I'm sorry, taking the training.
0:32:13
So we're looking at different ways that we can track that information.
0:32:16
Unfortunately sometimes that's at the agency level, so we don't necessarily have a citywide view on what action they're taking with that.
Carmen de la Rosa
0:32:27
On exit interviews, as you know local law 13 of 2019 requires the EEPC to report on underutilization of minority groups in the city workforce.
0:32:36
The report found increased departures in the city's workforce by black and women employees at rates equal or greater to greater than their representation in the workforce.
0:32:48
For example, black employees made up 32% of the workforce in 2023 but accounted for 39% of separations in 2024.
0:32:57
Does d cast exit interviews capture why underrepresented groups are leaving city service and how is that information being used to inform policy or cultural culture change in agencies?
Kadian Outar
0:33:12
Some of the key factors that we saw from the results from the exit interviews is one employees rated positively the work culture and the environment and the impact of their work and the alignment to what they're interested in, so that was a positive that we saw.
0:33:34
One of the areas for improvement or one of the gaps is that they weren't aware of the different professional development opportunities or the career advancement opportunities available for them, and so we're looking at that because we operate on a civil service system that most of our titles, 83% of them which are competitive, have a career path.
0:33:55
It's more so providing them with the knowledge that's needed, so they understand that hey, if you're living in a sitting in a competitive title, then there's a path that's already laid out for you, and here's some of the steps that you can take.
0:34:06
And so we do employee specific civil service one on one information sessions where we walk employees through that process where they can find more information about particular titles that they're in, where they can find more information about training and additional resources that are available for them.
0:34:22
So a lot of the information that we saw, it was more so a lack of information, and we hope with the career counseling that the agencies will be doing that will have an impact on the population that is staying versus those that are leaving.
Carmen de la Rosa
0:34:36
I appreciate your response and I appreciate that you all are taking the thorough steps to try and figure this out.
0:34:42
But my question is more as to what are some of the patterns that we're seeing in terms of why black employees are leaving city service?
0:34:51
Is it wage related?
0:34:52
Is it lack of opportunity to promote up?
0:34:55
Is it the competition from the private sector?
0:34:58
Like what are you all seeing a pattern that is concerning that maybe can it can inform some of our policy decisions or changes on on the legislative side?
0:35:07
Legislative side?
Katrina Porter
0:35:12
So the data that we're looking at, it's reflective of the entire workforce and it really doesn't focus on you know black women or any particular group in general, But I believe our partners in CEI, know you guys have the annual report, would you be able to speak to you know any support we provide them there?
Silvia Montalban
0:35:35
So what we do is of course we provide tools to agencies to make assessments and for example there are certain local laws that agencies have had to comply with.
0:35:46
For example local law 27 in which we've actually included a template for agencies to actually assess the data in their annual plans under that local law.
0:35:58
They have to actually include information on compensation and efforts to address issues of occupational segregation and pay disparity.
0:36:06
So they have to take a look at their titles, their workforce numbers, the number of promotions that are happening, the number of terminations, etcetera.
0:36:13
So it's again, they have to do a holistic review of their particular circumstances, but we actually reinforce how they utilize these sort of templates and pieces of categories of information so they can fill that out.
0:36:27
So we can't really speak for you know what's going on in terms of each particular agency, but there is Local Law 28 as well and these agencies have to also report on their inclusive recruitment activities, things that actually engage employees possibly contribute to retention efforts.
0:36:44
The training programs that are related to appointing individuals to specific positions as well, the amount of funding that they attribute to recruitment, things of that nature.
0:36:57
So those are all things that agencies are expected to use as tools and compliance in order to assess where these individual trends are coming from.
Carmen de la Rosa
0:37:06
I understand that.
0:37:07
It is alarming though that you know black employees make up 32% of the workforce and in 2023 accounted for 39% of the separations.
0:37:17
Right?
0:37:17
Like that that's that is alarming to this council.
0:37:21
It's alarming to us as a city especially because we've seen and this committee has certainly delved into some of the vacancy rates that we have in agencies.
0:37:29
Agencies.
0:37:30
We know that there are a lot of agencies where there are a lot of positions and so while I understand that this work is done on an agency level, in my view I see DCAS as kind of like the clearinghouse of holding that data in order for us to figure out what is going wrong, know, and why are we seeing these patterns.
0:37:48
So I know there's more to come on that, won't harp on it.
0:37:51
I wanted to ask you, you testified that, hold on let me find my number, that DGAS has completed the review of 90 civil service titles and there have been 61 that have been revised.