How To Protect Revenue And
Create A Friendly Work Environment

By MARK McLeROY, Vice-President — REDCO Municipal Services, Inc.

We see it in the headlines everyday. The economy is still stagnant. Money is tight. There is not enough money to run the local government. More and more city and state governments are running up deficits similar to the federal government. So what do we do? How can we best guarantee the protection of the tax money which we are entrusted with to run our municipalities. Simply put, we can't, because there are no guarantees. But we can try.

By running our municipalities in a sensitive and cost-effective manner we limit the risk of revenue loss due to employment liabilities. And studies show that by creating a better work environment we also create a more productive staff.

How do we do this? By following the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recommended guidelines. These guidelines can help us not only create a better environment for our employees but also help us decrease our liability in case there is a discrimination or sexual harassment suit against us. So we can win going in and coming out.

We can accomplish this by doing the following:

— Establishing policies.

— Establishing procedures.

— Writing employee manuals which are communicated in an easy to understand manner.

— Creating and posting bulletins.

— Sensitizing employees to policies and procedures.

We need to establish policies emphasizing that discrimination or any type of harassment will not be tolerated in the work place. This includes all employees, our management staff and any person conducting business on our behalf (i.e. sales people, office equipment main, etc.).

We have to establish procedures for all policies. If there is an issue of sexual harassment, every employee needs to know how to respond to the problem. There needs to be two designated response persons (DRPs) that the victim can contact. There needs to be an investigation procedure which is confidential and addresses the needs of all parties concerned. There must also be a follow-up procedure to ensure that the problem was handled properly. We need to handle these problems in house to the greatest extent possible, thus saving ourselves the time and more importantly the money of dealing with external investigations.

We need to communicate to our staff all policies and procedures in clearly written employee manuals. The manuals need to include all information necessary to facilitate addressing any employee issue. The employee manuals need to be user friendly so that they become tools which are read and understood and used.

In accordance with the EEOC recommendations we need to create and post bulletins and posters so that policy is always being visually reinforced.

We need to sensitize our employees to the issues of harassment and discrimination. This can be done in any number of ways. The previous made suggestions provide a good beginning. Also, having teach-ins or seminars about appropriate behavior and how certain actions may be offensive to others can round out a good sensitivity training program.

Most important we need to let our staff know that we want to create a better environment for them in which to work. And we will not tolerate behavior that is inappropriate in the workplace.

We are not able to create the perfect work environment, But, we are able to create better work environments. By doing so we are doing a service to the people who work for us and to our taxpayers who support our municipalities.

As a former-mayor and of a major municipality and a present county board member in Illinois I am well aware of the pressures of getting the most "bang" for your buck. I know that the revenues which are entrusted to us must be used prudently and that we have a responsibility to make the dollar stretch. That's why if we are proactive in following the EEOC recommendations and create friendly work environments, we not only protect taxpayer revenue from lawsuits but also stretch it by having a more productive work force. It just makes good "cents."

August 1993 / Illinois Municipal Review / Page 13