Pima County Human Resources

PIMA COUNTY
EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY PLAN
SHORT FORM

STEP 1: Introductory Statement

Policy Statement:

In accordance with Pima County’s Board of Supervisors Policy D.21.1., Pima County is committed to an Equal Employment Opportunity policy and has taken and will continue to take affirmative action to promote this policy.  Public accountability requires that equal opportunity and diversity be our standard.  Equal opportunity employment practices provide the best of government ideals.  The following is confirmation of this commitment.  Pima County shall recruit, hire, train, and promote persons without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (gender), national origin, age, or disability.  The County shall review employment demographics bi-annually to assess the utilization level of protected groups and ensure fair consideration in all aspects of employment including recruitment, compensation, selection, training, promotion, benefits, and layoff.

The County has taken steps to enlarge the pool of qualified candidates from which employment decisions are made.  These steps include searching for qualified minority and women candidates and ensuring that they are considered for available positions.  In addition, the County will identify and remove barriers or practices that may be discriminatory in intent or effect.  The goal of Affirmative Action is to eliminate artificial barriers to employment and promotion, and to achieve a work force, in each department and throughout all levels of employment, which is reflective of the County’s external labor force.  Pima County requires its contractors to comply with the affirmative action and equal employment opportunity laws and guidelines in employment practices.

As the Administrator of Pima County and its entities, I hereby confirm that such policy exists as approved by the Pima County Board of Supervisors and that the statements made above are part of that policy.

STEP 2: Agency's Workforce

Attachment A to this plan contains the workforce statistics for Pima County according to the categories indicated.

STEP 3: Community Labor Statistics (CLS)

Attachment C to this plan contains the available workforce statistics for the community according to the categories indicated.  Note:  According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Attachment B will be inserted by them.

STEP 4a: Utilization Chart

Attachment D contains percentages obtained in Step 3 subtracted from those obtained in Step 2.

STEP 4b: Narrative Utilization Analysis

A review of the data contained in the Utilization Chart (Attachment D) has resulted in the establishment of corrective goals and objectives to address the underutilization of minorities in the County’s workforce as compared to their availability in the community workforce.  This availability is established by the 2000 Census data.  Pima County consistently reviews our pay structure and completes a market analysis on certain classifications annually.  Significant underutilization by race/ethnicity and gender is listed below.  We have not listed areas that have utilization differences of one percent (1%) or less, though we will take these differences into consideration when we plan any new recruitment strategies.

Excluded from the significant listings are those categories, when converted to actual number of individuals being underrepresented, are underrepresented by five (5) people or less.  The latter numbers have minor significance when compared to the overall labor and Pima County work force.  Nevertheless, we will continue to monitor these areas and will ensure that the impacted races/ethnicity are afforded additional attention in the recruitment process.  Areas impacted by these minor differences listed in this paragraph are

• African American Male < (1) in the protective services non-sworn category;
• African American Female (3) in the technician and (1) for protective services non-sworn categories;
• Asian Males (5) in the technician and (1) in the service maintenance job categories;
• Asian Females (5) in the technician and (2) in the service maintenance categories;
• Hispanic Female (2) in the protective services non-sworn and (4) for service maintenance categories;
• Two races or more Male (3) in the technician category.

Significant Underutilization

American Indian Males are under represented in these categories:

Protective Services Sworn
Skilled Craft

Asian Males are under represented in this category:

Professional

Hispanic Males are under represented in these categories:

Official/Administrator
Administrative Support

Hispanic Females are under represented in these categories:

Official/Administrator

Attention will be given to all areas listed above to determine the source of underutilization, keeping in mind that we have other governments and private entities in our area that attract races/ethnicities with high level skills and are also committed to equal employment opportunity.  Specifically, attention will be given to all significantly underutilized areas above.  Our initial analysis of areas with significant underutilization is as follows:

American Indian Males are underrepresented by 1.1% in the Protective Services Sworn and 1.5% in Skilled Craft.  Pima County has several reservations in its community employing American Indians in the Protective Services Sworn category.  This may account for the community labor statistics showing a larger percent of Protective Services Sworn than Pima County has employed.  Also, a number of our American Indians who were sworn officers has retired.  We continue to fund a Native American Employment Policy and Program to recruit more Native Americans into our workforce.  Again, we are competing with the surrounding reservations who each have their own police force.  Some of our reservations are quite a distance from the inner City and these reservations are where many Native Americans reside.

Asian Males are underrepresented by 1.5% in the professional area.  We will begin to find new recruitment tools to reach the Asian Male population.  It does not appear that we have had a significant number of Asian American Males applying for our jobs.  With the implementation of the two or more races category, we have noticed that a number of Asian Americans have shifted to two races or more, diminishing our Asian American numbers.

Hispanic Males and Females are underrepresented in the Official/Administrator areas by 4.3% and 4.8% respectively, and the Hispanic Males are underrepresented in the Administrative Support area by 1.4%.  We ensure that our recruitment efforts are reaching the full community.  We have various Hispanic organizations that receive our job announcements, but we may have to do further outreach for those in the Official/Administrator and Administrative Support categories.  When we look at the overall percentage of the population and Pima County’s overall employment of Hispanics, we employ more than that found in the civilian labor work force.  The distribution by the specific job categories is where the underutilization or overutilization occurs.

Please note that most of the jobs in the Official/Administrator category are in areas requiring advanced degrees and/or certifications such as engineer, financial and budget analysis, tax assessment, human resources and computer science management, to name a few.  We are uncertain as to whether other positions in our community workforce and outside the County require the same type of background and, if not, this may skew the availability.  We are reviewing our outreach list for these high level positions and will ensure that our recruitment efforts are expanded and that we tap into our State universities and colleges to encourage those in underrepresented categories to apply and compete.  We will definitely ensure that those who qualify are aware of job availability in the County.

STEP 5: Objectives

Because all minority categories are at least minimally under represented in one or more categories, Pima County will enhance its efforts to attract minority candidates in those specific categories listed above and will evaluate our promotional and recruitment practices to ensure all groups receive equal opportunity to secure employment.

STEP 6: Steps to Achieve Objectives

The State of Arizona is very fortunate to have two major universities: the University of Arizona and Arizona State University.  Pima County, located in southern Arizona, is the home of the University of Arizona.  Both universities are known for their large diverse student populations and represent the African American, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander and Native American/Alaskan Native communities.  Another university, Northern Arizona University, located in Flagstaff, Arizona, is adjacent to one of the nation’s largest American Indian Communities.  Pima County will further create opportunities to draw recruits from these and other higher institutions for our professional and paraprofessional positions.  Further, the County will attempt to make presentations to minority organizations and groups within these educational institutions to afford the County an opportunity to connect with more individuals from minority communities and improve upon our already significant outreach program.

Pima County is committed to making its workforce reflect the relevant available community workforce to ensure equal opportunity regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, or gender.  The information below summarizes specific objectives (Step 6) to assist Pima County in reaching this goal.

Action Steps:

• Contact state universities and other higher institutions for learning, particularly those with large minority populations mirroring Pima County so the likelihood of acceptance of a job offer, commitment to the job, and success at the job is increased.
• Visit local school authorities and community colleges on a regular basis to cultivate an interest in employment with Pima County for minority students.
• Identify, contact and advertise open positions in African American and Hispanic media broadcasts and publications with allowable time frames.  These are the two groups with the largest and most widely spread media access.
• Continue to develop contacts and intensify the County’s presence in minority communities by working with established groups and attending affairs.  Further, the County will continue to participate in job fairs targeted toward minority groups.
• Solicit invitations, when appropriate, to generate goodwill within minority communities.
• Review and update annually the County’s recruitment methods, practices and policies to promote equal opportunity through recruitment efforts.
• Monitor recruitment policies and procedures to determine if recruitment efforts are enabling the County to meet and maintain African American, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander, American Indian/Alaskan Native and female objectives.
• Enhance upward mobility of all employees, but also assure that opportunities for advancement are equally distributed while encouraging minority participation.
• Continue to publicize our employment and career opportunities with minority and female professional organizations.
• Continue to provide EEO training to supervisors and managers on EEO policies, documentation, interview processes and employment requirements.
• Continue to fund and support our Native American Employment Policy.

STEP 7: Dissemination

Internal Dissemination

1. Pima County includes the EEO Policy statement in the County’s Merit System Rules and Personnel Policies, a copy of which is disseminated to Elected Officials, Appointing Authorities and all employees subject to the rules and policies.

2. Pima County includes the EEOP on the County website and will continue to seek other creative locations for inclusion that may include the website generated by the County’s Employee Council and the County’s electronic newspaper at least once a year.

3. Pima County conspicuously posts portions of the EEOP and policy on employee bulletin boards throughout the County.

4. Pima County periodically updates the County’s commitment to the plan with managers, supervisors and employees.  Coordination may occur between the Offices of Elected Officials and County Administration.          

External Distribution

1. Pima County includes the County’s EEOP on the recruitment website.

2. Pima County’s written job announcements, help wanted and other employment communiqués using County letterhead contain the following statement: “provides equal access and equal opportunity in employment and services and does not discriminate.”

3. Pima County reminds applicants, vendors and suppliers regularly and in writing of the County’s EEOP and indicates that the plan is available for review.

4. Pima County posts a memo in the Human Resources office explaining how applicants, employees and members of the public may obtain a copy of the EEOP.

ATTACHMENT A - AGENCY'S WORKFORCE

A = Total
B = Hispanic
C = Black/African American
D = American Indian/American Native
E = Asian
F = Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander
G = Two Races or more

ATTACHMENT C-COMMUNITY LABOR STATISTICS (CLS)

A = Total to include Male and Female
B = Hispanic
C = Black/African American
D = American Indian/American Native
E = Asian
F = Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander
G = Two Races or more

ATTACHMENT D - UTILIZATION CHART

A = Total
B = Hispanic
C = Black/African American
D = American Indian/American Native
E = Asian
F = Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander
G = Two Races or more

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