LGBT Group Wants Metro To Broaden Employee Surveys To Better Track Diversity

Two groups are asking the Metro government to collect more demographic information on its employees. The request is to create a survey that allows city workers to self-identify by sexual orientation, gender identity, and other statuses.

The Nashville LGBT Chamber of Commerce and the Metro Human Relations Commission are behind the effort.

The organizations say Metro has committed to diverse hiring, but needs to gather better data to understand who is being recruited, and whether diverse employees are staying or leaving.

A joint policy paper estimates that Nashville’s LGBT population of 3.5 percent is close to the national average.

In the paper, the groups suggest anonymous surveys to let employees describe their sexual orientation, gender, and whether they have disabilities or military experience.

Some local employers already conduct such surveys. Nationwide, an estimated 45 percent of employers allow voluntary identification, according to a Human Rights Campaign report.

The local recommendation follows prior work by the Metro Human Relations Commission, which is a small agency within Metro that began tracking workforce demographics in early 2015. Initially, the agency found few women or minorities in leadership positions, and a disparity in pay, compared to white employees. (View all IncluCivics reports here.)

“Many people in the last year have asked for data about Metro’s LGBT and disabled employees,” Mel Fowler-Green, director of the commission, said in a statement. “Unfortunately, Metro does not have this data.  We think that measuring really does matter, and combining the confidential request with an employee survey will help us reach our goal of equitably representing the communities we serve.”

A recent Tennessean analysis of Mayor Megan Barry’s hires and appointments found increasing diversity in her first months in office.