The percentage of employees and management who identify as Black, Indigenous or people of color is an indicator of how well the City is doing with attracting, hiring, promoting and retaining a racially diverse workforce.

Portlanders want to know whether the diversity of the City workforce reflects the diversity of the communities they serve. Knowing these percentages helps leaders to monitor changes over time, continue outreach to racially diverse applicants, and strive to create a welcoming, safe, and comfortable culture for City employees of all races and ethnicities.

As the City addresses its Core Values of Anti-racism and Equity, it is committed to increasing the racial diversity of its workforce. City Council adopted a resolution in October 2021 that established Affirmative Action, Equal Employment Opportunity and other civil rights legislation as a set of tools that provide the foundation for workforce diversity development in the City. The City also tracks the race/ethnicity of its employees to comply with federal reporting obligations.

The percentage of all City non-casual and casual employees and management who self-identify as Black, Indigenous and people of color has increased steadily since FY 2019-20. Casual positions are those that occur, end, and recur periodically or regularly.

The percentage of management who identify as Black, Indigenous and people of color can be compared to the percentage of non-casual employees who identify similarly to determine whether managers and supervisors are representative of the racial diversity of employees they supervise. In FY 2024-25, the percentage of managers and supervisors who identify as Black, Indigenous and people of color (27.6%) is within 1.1 percentage points of the percentage of non-casual employees who identify similarly (28.7%).

Hires into supervisory positions are a combination of external hires and internal promotions. Externally, the Bureau of Human Resources’ Recruitment team engages in activities such as career fairs, community events, and information sessions that are intended to reach diverse communities. In addition, the Recruitment team has a dedicated recruiter who provides support to Black, Indigenous and people of color who are seeking employment and promotional opportunities at the City and partners with local organizations that serve historically marginalized communities to build and sustain an employment pathway for people from these communities.

The population of Portland is becoming more racially diverse. Being able to interact with employees who identify as Black, Indigenous and people of color has a positive impact on Portlanders from historically marginalized communities who may be more likely to envision themselves as future City workers. Supervisory employees who are Black, Indigenous and people of color provide mentorship to similar non-supervisory employees who aspire to attain leadership positions in the future. Providing employment opportunities for Black, Indigenous and people of color in the City’s workforce fosters a more diverse and inclusive environment and brings unique perspectives and skills to the workplace.

The data source for this metric is the City’s Human Capital Management system, SAP. The Bureau of Human Resources (BHR) is responsible for this data.

When new hires and rehires are onboarded, they are offered the opportunity to self-identify their race/ethnicity, and that information is stored in SAP. In addition, in 2023, BHR conducted a Workforce Census that asked City employees about their demographics, including race/ethnicity. This information was used to update employee demographic records. As of July 1, 2024, more than 97% of active employees had self-identified their race/ethnicity, while the remainder preferred not to self-identify.

Employees and management are identified as Black, Indigenous or people of color for this metric if they are active on the first day of each fiscal year and self-identified as American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian or Asian American, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino/a/e/x, Middle Eastern or North African, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, or Multiracial/Multiethnic.

The Bureau of Human Resources maintains an interactive Workforce Demographics Dashboard that shows the percentage of employees who identify with each race/ethnicity, along with other demographic data.

The Workforce Demographics Dashboard, along with other BHR data, can be accessed from the Open Data and Analytics page of the BHR website.