06-25-18 Personnel and Finance - Laserfiche WebLink

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CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK Ms. Clark went on, Question three (3) was about the capacity in HR. We are busy and this is a hugely important issue. So far, I've done the vast majority of the training. I think I would really like to be able to have other folks do the training as well. Chris Villaire is the Deputy Director of HR and she has taken on a lot more as well. Ian Spindler has also done harassment training and works predominately with Public Safety. I will probably rope Laura and Tierra in at some point as well as they are members of the HR team too. I do think there may be a point where we need to get a video and I don't like what I have seen so far. So there probably is a need there if we aren't able to have those conversations. The last question was about the intern, temporary and seasonal employees and the one (1) thing I think that is important to note is that every new employee, whether you are seasonal, temporary or otherwise, they do participate in an orientation and that orientation does include discussion and specific identification of the City's harassment policy. It is gone through very.quickly and on the very first day it is as though they are drinking from a fire hose. That is why we think it is important to have this conversation ongoing with every City employee. To the extent it does become important to have a video, we can explore that. I think it is just important to note that every City employee does know about that policy and every employee does have some level of training not only in that but on safety in the workplace. Councilmember Jake Teshka stated, I think one (1) of the things Councilmember Broden was asking is,in the initial draft of this ordinance,the requirement was to have this training done within the first sixty(60) days, so I think the question was why we are pushing that out to six(6)months. Specifically, if we are including all other employees, the season would be done for some of the temporary and seasonal employees. And you mentioned that these folks are getting some of this upfront in their orientation. So my question is what the objection would be to codify anything? What would be the objection to putting in these other folks, the interns, temporary and seasonal employees into this ordinance? Ms. Clark replied, So on the first question was about the six(6) weeks to six (6) months and that is because on day one (1) employees are drinking from a fire hose. We go over it and go over the issue at that point. The timing is somewhat flexible but what I really liked is to be able to have people know faces and people and understand their environment. The policy outlines all, if not most, of the topics of this training. Councilmember Sharon L. McBride arrived at the meeting at 3:54 p.m. Ms. Clark went on, The flexibility in time is not because we don't want to train as often. It is because we want people to feel comfortable where they are and know who they are. That way people are a little bit more comfortable and when we are engaging in a conversation and are trying to have that interactive discussion, it is more meaningful to people. The goal is not to have it just every six (6)months. It is about flexibility and comfort ability. Committee Chair White then opened the floor to members of the public wishing to speak in favor or in opposition to the legislation. There were none. She then turned the floor back to the Committee for further comment or main motion. Councilmember Davis asked, Will there be any need to look at this between Committee and Council? Are you comfortable Councilmember Broden? EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1227 W.Jefferson Bvld I South Bend,Indiana 46601:p 574.235.9221 f 574.235.9173 7M 574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 5