Workforce Demographics, Diversity, and Inclusion
Our workforce is the most essential component of our entire organization. The expertise and day-to-day dedication of our employees and various suppliers and contractors are critical ingredients in our ability to achieve our mission. In this section, we describe our goals with respect to MSD’s employees, who are also City of Cincinnati employees. Many of our employees belong to the labor unions listed at lower right.
Employee and Leadership Demographics
We strive for diversity in our employee workforce and organizational leadership. The figure at right (click for larger view) shows the diversity of MSD’s current workforce and executive leaders, numbering 607 people. MSD’s executive leadership team consists of the Executive Director, the Deputy Director, and the heads of each MSD Division. The distribution of our people among different races and ethnicities closely mirrors the diversity in Hamilton County.
Culture of Inclusion
Beginning in 2006, MSD’s leadership team committed to defining the nature of diversity and inclusion, as part of moving towards a “collaborative business culture.” In 2007-2008, MSD created an organizational diversity and inclusion team, the “Mediators of Change.” This team developed and adopted diversity and inclusion policy standards and trained the entire MSD workforce in the policy.
Through the efforts of our Mediators of Change team, MSD redefined diversity to include diversity of race, gender, and age, as well as diversity of skill sets and perspectives. During 2008 strategic planning, MSD developed a corresponding Values Statement that reflects a guiding principle about how employees intend to function and operate: “We commit to serve as professionals with honesty, integrity, accountability, and respect.”
In 2009, the Mediators of Change hosted an intensive values-based training for MSD’s leadership team and throughout the utility. The training featured an exploration of core values, how individuals can use them within the organization during challenging times, and identification of current practices and personal behaviors that are in conflict with these values. The trainings concluded with plans and commitments to create an environment that fosters inclusion and enables improved communication between employees, across the organization, and with the community. MSD leaders invested in this training, because it helped to establish the necessary foundation on which to build a stronger MSD and lead changes that will be required into the future.
Developing a culture of inclusion is an on-going effort, which MSD continues to pursue. In 2010, the Mediators of Change sponsored various diversity awareness events and published a monthly diversity calendar that highlights occasions such as the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development. This calendar is designed to deepen employee appreciation for the variety of events and activities celebrated by other races, cultures, and ethnicities. In addition the Mediators of Change team sponsors multi-cultural events; employee trainings in conflict resolution, listening, and peer coaching; and cross-cultural and mentoring opportunities for career enhancement.