Other agencies measure equality.

Byline: The Register-Guard

But what about the bigger picture?

The context of Lane Transit District employees' views on workplace diversity is easier to appreciate when tested against the perceptions of workers at six other public agencies in the Eugene-Springfield metro area.

The comparisons are possible because of similar "diversity climate" surveys conducted within the past three years at Lane County, the city of Springfield, Lane Community College, Bethel School District, Lane Education Service District and Eugene Water & Electric Board.

For example, LTD employees are least likely to feel that all co-workers are given equal opportunity to advance in the organization, and least likely to perceive that their employer has policies in place prohibiting discrimination and harassment.

On the other hand, roughly four in five workers at LTD say they try to consider whether the language they use might be offensive to co-workers, and that they initiate contacts at work with people of ethnic backgrounds different than their own. Those percentages are highest among the seven surveyed agencies.

Of course, most respondents at all seven workplaces may have limited opportunities to interact with people of other ethnicities: The number of workers who identified themselves as white ranged from 79 percent at LCC to 92 percent in the Bethel School District.

LTD's workforce is 90 percent white, the same percentage as for all residents countywide, as reflected in 2005 U.S. Census data.

LTD is the most male-dominated agency among the seven at 65 percent, followed closely by EWEB at 61 percent. Males made up 52 percent of survey respondents in the city of Springfield, 47 percent in Lane County government, and less than 30 percent at Bethel schools, LCC and the education service district.

All seven agencies conducted the surveys after joining the Diversity and Human Rights Consortium in 2002.

The consortium consists of 11 taxpayer-supported agencies that have publicly committed to assessing and improving workforce diversity. (The other agencies are the city of Eugene, University of Oregon, and Eugene and Springfield school districts.)

Some important caveats are necessary when comparing the survey results. The six other agencies' surveys were conducted by the Oregon Survey Research Laboratory, a UO-affiliated resource that went defunct in 2005. Those agencies were surveyed in late 2004 or early 2005, whereas LTD workers were surveyed by a different firm this past January.

More importantly, while the template used by LTD was modeled after the earlier surveys, some questions were omitted, others were added, and still others were revised slightly. One example: LTD workers were asked if they agreed with the statement "I have a good job" rather than "I enjoy my job."

Ninety percent of LTD workers said they have a good job, while respondents who said they enjoyed their jobs ranged from 82 percent at Lane County to 96 percent at the city of Springfield.

LTD workers were about as likely to believe that their employer hires from a variety of backgrounds (76 percent) and does a good job serving diverse populations (77 percent) as did workers at other agencies. Sixty-two percent of LTD workers feel that their employer provides training to promote multiculturalism, a percentage that matches or exceeds those at the other agencies.

When asked to identify barriers to attracting a more diverse workforce, employees at LTD and EWEB said the biggest obstacle is low turnover. Respondents at Lane County, Springfield, LCC and Lane ESD felt the biggest challenge was too few qualified minority applicants, while workers in the Bethel School District identified budget issues as the biggest constraint.

- Jeff Wright