City Of Sacramento Working To Increase Diversity In Workforce To Reflect The Community
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A new report shows Sacramento City workers are not nearly as diverse as the community. It's an issue city leaders have been trying to fix for years, and now a new diversity czar has been hired to help bring more women and minorities into the workforce.
Aimee Barnes is tasked with ensuring the employees that work for the city reflect the community they serve as the first diversity and equity manager. She was hired last July after an audit in 2017 found the city's workforce is mostly white and male.
"There's still a lot of work to do, particularly around gender parity," Barnes said.
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Current data shows women make up 51% of Sacramento's overall population, but only 30% of the city's full-time workforce. On average, female city employees earn $11,501 less than men.
"I don't know what causing it, but I would say there's never just one fix," Barnes said.
People of color make up 66% of Sacramento's overall population, but only 42% of the city's workforce. But there are signs of improvement. Less than half — 46% — of the city's newest employees are white, 22% of new hires are Hispanic, and 10% are people who identify as two or more races.
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Sacramento's goal is to have its workforce within 10% of the city's overall demographics. Something the city's new diversity czar hopes will happen one day.
"Maybe these positions won't have to exist anymore...that would be the ultimate vision honestly, to almost work myself out of a job," Barnes said.
Current efforts to improve diversity include implementing blind hiring processes and training managers to reduce bias in performance evaluations.