Diversity & Inclusion

The City and its leadership believe that every employee deserves the opportunity to come into a workplace that values them, affirms them, and celebrates their unique strengths and experiences.  We also believe that to build upon our strengths as a premier workforce, we must be a workforce that represents the gender, racial, and cultural population of the residents we serve. To grow this type of culture and workforce, On September 17, 2018, The City of Frederick contracted with MaxLife, LLC to develop a D&I strategic plan and to support implementing the recommended action steps associated with the plan over a three-year period. 

Why We Are Doing This

For city governments, diversity and inclusion efforts are about representing the taxpayers they serve in the best social and fiscal manner possible. Benefits to the community and The City of Frederick include:

Fiscal Benefits

  • Reduce legal liability risks
  • Reduce costs associated with lower productivity and turnover
  • Improve internal and external customer satisfaction
  • Gain an edge over competitors;  Attract global corporations
  • Expand the capability of services
  • Innovate services

Social Benefits

  • Produce an environment and culture that supports employees to produce at maximum potential
  • Develop a workforce better equipped to engage with and to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse community
  • Move the public’s experiences and perceptions of The City and its workforce in a positive direction
  • Being represented by a government that values equality, equity, and fairness 
  • Working for an employer that values equality, equity, and fairness
  • Better representation of the population The City serves

What We Have Learned

Through the efforts in year one and year two, the City has drafted the following values as core values for The City of Frederick as an employer of choice for employee and community input:

We value:

  • Differences in our employees and our community
  • Respect, civility, equity, equality, and fairness
  • Integrity, ethical conduct, and transparency
  • An environment of opportunity built upon a range of perspectives
  • Open communication and active participation with those we employ and serve
  • Innovation, creativity and continuous improvement
  1. July 2018 - June 2019
  2. July 2019 - June 2020

MaxLife conducted a series of project phases to gather information and learn more about The City.  These phases included conversations with elected leadership and employees, a climate survey, employee focus groups, a review of the policies and procedures handbook. After detailed analysis, a plan was developed to guide the work of the City. The plan, strategies, and recommended actions are the result of findings in each phase and are intended to be implemented during the remaining two years of the project and in some cases beyond the two years.  

While diversity characteristics are very wide, our initial focus is gender, cultural, and racial diversity characteristics.  It is important to remember this plan is a beginning and provides a valuable starting point for building a foundation from which leaders and employees can further develop.  As we continue the D&I journey, many other characteristics of diversity will certainly be addressed.

Current City Employment Demographics:

  • Women are 35.17% of our workforce and 51.8% of the City’s population
  • People of color are 14.90% of our workforce and 45.85% of the population we serve.

View the Diversity & Inclusion Plan.