Dane County is currently working to hire an independent contractor, the only respondent to an open call for proposals, as an ombudsman to track workplace complaints from county staff and mediate disputes, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.
A subcommittee for the past year has probed employment equity, recruitment, and retention in Dane County, finalizing its report this month. The report endorsed hiring a neutral entity to navigate workplace disputes, one of several reforms and new policies to address labor issues and empower workers.
The Office of Equity and Inclusion and Employee Relations Division of Dane County’s Department of Administration are the avenues currently available to workers for lodging workplace and equal opportunity complaints; however, the report found that both are at times inadequate and not always trusted by county employees.
The report’s other suggestions included the creation of more county internships and apprenticeships; the establishment of a budget to advertise open jobs to professional and trade groups catering to people of color; the distribution of ongoing countywide surveys on workplace climates; the implementation of uniform policies for exit interviews; and the use of feedback from those interviews to inform workplace changes.
The committee also found inconsistent data across county workplaces on worker retention and diversity.
