New employees with the City of Long Beach may eventually receive more thorough orientations, particularly regarding their rights and responsibilities related to discrimination and harassment, now that the city council has approved an agenda item for a human-resources audit.
At the Sept. 18 council meeting, 2nd District Councilmember Jeannine Pearce introduced an item that would direct the city auditor and city manager to conduct a review of procedures related to hiring, training and on-boarding new employees. The item requests that the review study, report on and provide recommendations in four key areas.
The first area concerns the on-boarding processes for all new employees, including officials who are elected and appointed. The second area relates to the procedures for informing workers of their rights and responsibilities concerning discrimination, harassment and/or retaliation, and it applies to paid employees, including commissioners, as well as interns and volunteers.
The third area concerns improving the turnaround time for hiring new employees. The fourth relates to current practices and training in trauma-informed approaches for employees.
The council amended the item to include the city attorney’s office within the scope of the audit and the city manager’s report on processes within that office for handling harassment claims with departments that do not fall under the city manager.
In a press release the following day, Pearce’s office called the item “good government” and indicated that it positions Long Beach as a new model city that holds itself accountable and works to improve the future for its employees, residents and businesses.
The press release also cited findings by the U.S. Equal Employment Commission that estimates that 75 percent of workplace harassment goes unreported, often because employees do not want to put their job or reputation at risk or be traumatized again.
The council office also reported that the City’s human-resources department recently issued a memo to the councilmembers to announce that, beginning in October, 150 employees in Library Services will be trained in a pilot program for a harassment-free workplace. In January 2019, the training will extend to all staff, according to the memo.
Pearce particularly emphasized the need to make Long Beach a “trauma-resilient” city, and she has directed her staff to work with the health department to devise best practices in that area.
“Our city employees are the heart of our city, and as we make strides to ensure residents in industries such as hospitality have a safe workplace, it is important we ensure all of our nearly 6,000 employees know their rights, and that they have a clear process and protocol if they feel those rights have been violated,” Pearce wrote in the Sept. 19 press release. “By auditing the department, we can ensure we are in alignment with current best practices, and including the trauma-resilience training will ensure all employees have the tools they need to thrive and support the diverse residents of our city.”
At the Sept. 18 meeting, several councilmembers, including 8th District Councilmember Al Austin, who, along with 3rd District Councilmember Suzie Price, supported the item, expressed various concerns regarding it. During the meeting, Austin said that, although he’s happy to sign on to improve local government and relations with City employees, the item includes some terminology that is new to him.
“Working in labor relations as long as I have, this is something that’s new,” Austin said. “I don’t think it’s prevalent in every city and every city’s looking at this. So, this is certainly a new approach that we are going for.”
He added that, before signing on, he consulted with Laura Doud, the city auditor, to determine if the review was feasible for her office, and that she said yes.
However, he also expressed concern over how different personnel might interpret “trauma” and that the issue could expose the City to unanticipated problems.
“I think it could get very, very complicated,” he said, “and could even open us up for some exposure– some unintended consequences. So, I’m a little concerned about that component of this as it was explained.”
Pearce then explained that, although a relatively new concept, dealing with trauma within the workplace is indeed one that cities such as Philadelphia and counties such as Alameda in northern California are addressing, as part of an overall mental-health component. Pearce also said that city employees, such as those who work directly with the homeless population, have already undergone such trauma-related training.
“These buzz words come on because grantors [like] their little buzz words,” Pearce said. “But the idea is not to expose any vulnerabilities of the City in our staffing.”
She said the intention is to ensure that staff are equipped with language and a “lens” to facilitate a smoother process with the human-resources department if an employee does feel compelled to report an incident. She also said that having her own staff undergo training in trauma-related issues has helped them in addressing issues with constituents who are experiencing challenges such as homelessness.
Tom Modica, assistant city manager, clarified during the meeting that the discussion on the matter is still preliminary and that staff will need to conduct more research before being prepared to move forward with trainings.
Fifth District Councilmember Stacy Mungo questioned when councilmembers would begin including an approximation of staff hours necessary to implement their agenda items, since the council and the Budget Oversight Committee had adopted that practice several weeks ago. She also indicated reluctance in voting for the item, since Long Beach is the beneficiary of a FUSE fellow who is analyzing the City’s operations, including those of human resources, and will supposedly present those findings. FUSE, a national nonprofit that partners with local governments to help urban communities thrive, partners with cities on issues such as economic and workforce development, health care, public safety, climate change and education, according to the organization’s website.
Modica said the FUSE fellow has indeed shared feedback and suggestions on hiring processes that the City has already begun implementing.
Fourth District Councilmember Daryl Supernaw pointed out that the head of the City’s human-resources department is among the top-paid executive-level personnel in the city and that department should be able to handle the four areas addressed in Pearce’s item.
“I’m thinking this item is saying our HR department cannot handle this task, and, if that is in fact what the problem is, then we do have a bigger problem than just conducting an audit,” Supernaw said. “So, for that reason, I will not be supporting this item.”
Four speakers took to the podium during the public-comment portion of the discussion, and their remarks included an emotional “thank you” for the agenda item, an expression of the need for reform and consistency in the City’s management policies and a criticism of
Supernaw’s assertion that the HR department should “conduct this audit of themselves.” Supernaw then clarified that he did not intend to suggest that the HR department conduct the audit.
“What I was trying to express was that on-boarding, orientation and informing employees of their rights should be something part and parcel to the duties of HR,” Supernaw said. “So, that’s why I thought it should be handled internally.”
After the councilmembers in attendance voted– Suzie Price and Dee Andrews were absent– the item passed 6–1, with Supernaw as the lone vote against it.
