For Immediate Release: 2/1/2019 5:09 pm
The City of Worcester has released an updated Affirmative Action Plan that highlights hiring, selection, recruitment and retention practices to insure equal opportunity and nondiscrimination in all employment decisions.
The Plan is a hiring, recruitment and retention tool which includes the Affirmative Action Policy statement, the scope, the responsibility and accountability structure, the internal and external dissemination, and the implementation of the Plan in the areas of recruitment and outreach, hiring process, and retention and work environment.
Through the Plan, the City recognizes that in some areas of employment, there are qualified and interested candidates that are underutilized and underrepresented, including women and minorities. The City will utilize strategies and goals to recruit and retain robust and diverse talent that is representative of the demographics of Worcester. Every effort will be made to increase the presence of underrepresented protected groups, including women and minorities, at all levels of the City workforce.
Since August 2017, the Diversity and Inclusion Committee has worked diligently with the Chief Diversity Officer to update the “Affirmative Action Policy on Employment,” which was established in 1996. The creation of an Affirmative Action Plan has been a commitment of the City Manager in response to a request made by the City Council.
“As part of our continued commitment to be an open and welcoming city for all, a new Affirmative Action Plan is a necessary step for the City of Worcester to take in ensuring equality in our recruiting and hiring practices,” said City Manager Edward M. Augustus Jr. “I applaud the work of our Diversity and Inclusion Committee along with Chief Diversity Officer Suja Chacko in putting together this comprehensive plan.”
The Diversity and Inclusion Committee met with several departments, including the Worcester Fire Department, Worcester Police Department, Worcester Jobs Fund, Human Resources, Emergency Management and the Department of Public Works and Parks to assess hiring, recruitment, and retention strategies.
“It is the Committee’s wholehearted belief that affirmative action is effective, goes hand in hand with diversity and inclusion, and that only good things come from diversity and inclusion,” said Patrick Hare and AiVi Nguyen, acting chair and vice chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Committee. “We are proud of our work and the new Affirmative Action Plan and we are confident that if everyone complies with it, the City will see positive changes in the coming months and years.”
