City of Madison Workplace Climate Survey Report

"EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

 In the summer of 2019, the Multicultural Affairs Committee (MAC) and Women’s Initiatives Committee (WIC) administered a survey to all City of Madison employees to evaluate the workplace culture and climate, particularly in areas of concern to women and employees of color. A total of 913 employees responded to the survey.

After reviewing and analyzing the results, MAC and WIC identified the following themes:

Safe/Respectful Workplace Concerns

One out of four survey respondents (25%) said they had experienced workplace harassment, bullying, or discrimination in the past year.

 Less than half of respondents reported their experience with harassment, bullying or discrimination. The main reasons these respondents didn’t report is because of the fear of social retaliation (being ostracized or shunned at work), closely followed by not trusting the complaint process or outcome.

 Respondents said most of the harassment and bullying was instigated by peers (40% of incidents), supervisors (33% of incidents), and patrons/members of the public (18% of incidents). Multiple employees in frontline positions described a hostile work environment where patrons/members of the public harass and verbally abuse staff with impunity. Some employees reported being stalked or physically assaulted..."
Workplace climate

EEOC Releases Fiscal Year 2017 Enforcement And Litigation Data

"The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today announced that 84,254 workplace discrimination charges were filed with the federal agency nationwide during fiscal year (FY) 2017, and secured $398 million for victims in the private sector and state and local government workplaces through voluntary resolutions and litigation. The comprehensive enforcement and litigation statistics for FY 2017, which ended Sept. 30, 2017, are posted on the agency's website.

The EEOC resolved 99,109 charges in FY 2017 and reduced the charge workload by 16.2 percent to 61,621, the lowest level of inventory in 10 years. The agency achieved this by deploying new strategies to more efficiently prioritize charges with merit, more quickly resolve investigations, and improve the agency's digital systems. The agency handled over 540,000 calls to its toll-free number and more than 155,000 inquiries in field offices, reflecting the significant public demand for the EEOC's services..."
EEOC enforcement data

Stalking: Know it. Name it. Stop it.

"January is National Stalking Awareness Month. Teaching adolescents healthy relationship skills is one strategy CDC promotes to help you prevent stalking in your community.

Stalking involves a pattern of harassing or threatening tactics that are both unwanted and causes fear or safety concerns in the victim. These behaviors can come in the form of threatening phone calls, text messages, spying, or showing up at the victim's home or workplace, and leaving unwanted gifts or cards. Stalking victims are often very fearful or believe that they or someone close to them could be harmed or killed as a result of the perpetrator's behavior..."
Stalking