City of Glendale Human Resources initiatives relating to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion:  

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IMPLICIT BIAS TRAINING
 
The HR Department began exploring this effort in late-2019 as a means of raising awareness and understanding of the issue, and gaining greater insight of our own biases and perspectives as community leaders. Staff initiated the program utilizing trainers from the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations in the fall of 2020, starting with elected officials and City executives, middle managers and supervisors, with the goal to eventually involve all City employees.  As staff begins to more actively seek community input and understanding on issues of race and inclusion, we want to ensure that our own biases and perceptions are more fully understood.  

1. Valuing Diversity in the Workplace: From approximately 1989 through 2000, an in-house training program titled Valuing Diversity in the Workplace was presented to the organization. The focus of the program was understanding who we are as individuals, and fully exploring the values, benefits and enrichment that other cultures and perspectives bring to the workplace and society.  

2. Diversity in the Workplace/Mind the Gap: From 2008 to the present, this program, presented by Dr. Joseph Dadourian, a licensed clinical psychologist and organizational development professional, seeks to broaden awareness, understanding and appreciation of differences and similarities within and between people.  The program emphasizes effective communication in a diverse environment with the ultimate goal to create a workplace where all employees and customers feel respected and valued.  

3. Workplace Harassment Training:  Since the early 1990s to the present, the City of Glendale has presented mandatory Workplace Harassment training to all of its employees on a regular basis in an effort to aggressively combat harassment and discrimination based on race, ethnicity, gender and all of the protected categories.  This training seeks to foster awareness and understanding of how incidents of harassment, discrimination, hate and intolerance negatively impact the workplace and society.  Although California’s AB 1825, enacted in 2005, began to require employers to present anti-harassment training to supervisors only, the City had long since been providing this training well before 2005 to all employees, not just supervisors, on a bi-annual basis.  A significant portion of this program is education regarding the City’s policies prohibiting harassment, discrimination and retaliation, and procedures for filing a complaint should one fall victim to such conduct.  The City maintains strong policies prohibiting harassment, discrimination and retaliation, and enforces them vigorously should a violation occur.