The City of Philadelphia’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ODEI) has launched a Workforce Diversity Dashboard, which aims to improve the representation of marginalized groups in the City’s workforce. 

The dashboard shows diversity trends by race, ethnicity, and gender in the City’s workforce. The data will be shared with the public on a monthly basis to increase government transparency.  Data on employees’ employment status will update on the first of each month. The data on employees’ age, ZIP codes, and salary will be updated every year on July 1st. 

“Since day one this administration has been committed to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion. Part of that commitment includes building a representative City workforce – one that mirrors Philadelphia’s diverse communities. The Workforce Diversity Dashboard not only reflects the City’s strategy of using data to inform our priorities, but it builds on the transparency that will be essential to the longevity of our diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives,” said Mayor Jim Kenney in a statement. 

The dashboard will expand ODEI’s reporting of diversity in the City’s workforce by providing month-by-month data, in addition to the Office’s annual workforce diversity profile report. 

“The dashboard adds a deeper layer of analysis to our understanding of the City’s workforce and will serve as a valuable tool for City leaders and members of the public who want to understand where there is room for improvement and where the City is making progress in its diversity efforts,” said Josie B. H. Pickens, Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer. 

She added, “Where the profile report provides a static look at the performance of the City’s workforce at the end of each fiscal year, the dashboard is a living tool that provides a monthly and ongoing snapshot of the City of Philadelphia’s workforce diversity. People can use the dashboard to understand the City’s workforce composition over time or to drill down on the performance of individual departments.”

The dashboard was created by ODEI, CityGeo, and the Office of Human Resources. CityGeo is a team at the Office of Innovation and Technology that “helps departments share data used for mapping, analysis, and city services.”

Mark Wheeler, the Chief Information Officer at the Office of Innovation and Technology noted that, “The dashboard is a great example of how IT teams can support their organizational DEI efforts and ensure that the public is part of it.” 

Michael Zaccagni, Director of the City’s Office of Human Resources, echoed Mayor Kenney by saying, “We routinely assess diversity within the City workforce and how we can impact positions where there is underrepresentation. We welcome the transparency that the workforce diversity dashboard provides and the broader attention it will bring to this important issue.”