Why this audit is important
Audit documents
The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Program seeks to change conditions within Metro’s workplace and the region, so that everyone can take part in and enjoy the area’s benefits. Metro’s budget provided funding to support DEI across departments, in addition to funding for the DEI Program itself.
Metro Council adopted the Strategic Plan to Advance Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (the Plan) in 2016. The Plan had five goals:
- Metro convenes and supports regional partners to advance racial equity
- Metro meaningfully engages communities of color
- Metro hires, trains, and promotes a racially diverse workforce
- Metro creates safe and welcoming services, programs, and destinations
- Metro’s resource allocation advances racial equity
Each goal had several objectives and actions. Metro committed to update the Plan within five years of implementation
We reviewed coordination of Plan implementation and assessed Metro’s workforce diversity reporting practices.
What we found
Metro made progress on most of the Plan’s actions. Efforts were underway across departments, including the DEI Program, to implement the Plan. However, there were gaps in Metro’s implementation process. We found:
- Actions were vague and some responsibilities were not clearly assigned
- Monitoring resources to complete actions was inconsistent
- Information was limited to assess some results
64% of the Plan’s actions were in progress
Source: Auditor’s Office analysis of Metro's Strategic Plan to Advance Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion and progress reports
We also found that Metro’s workforce diversity reports would benefit from additional detail. Reviewing detailed results could help Metro target strategies to advance racial equity within its workforce and the region. We analyzed data from multiple sources to determine whether Metro’s workforce resembled the region’s diversity. We found a mix of positive results and areas where Metro could improve its workforce diversity.
What we recommend
We made recommendations to continue progress on implementing the Plan by assigning responsibilities for actions, defining when actions are complete, and monitoring resources. We also made recommendations to increase accountability and comply with Metro Code requirements for oversight of the Plan.