Visibility Into Executive Branch Workforce With Expansion of Diversity Dashboard

The Baker-Polito Administration announced updates to its state employee diversity dashboard that will increase visibility into the composition of the Commonwealth Executive Branch workforce and encourage further accountability as the Administration continues to prioritize efforts to promote diversity and inclusion.

The diversity dashboard, launched in October 2020, is an interactive, publicly available tool on mass.gov that visualizes data describing the Commonwealth’s Executive Branch workforce. It was created to allow the public to better understand the employee demographics that make up the state government’s various secretariats, agencies, and departments.

The first phase of the dashboard included the total number of employees, total employees over the previous 12 quarters, and geographic distribution, racial demographics, and gender breakdowns of the workforce. This data could then be filtered by Secretariat, Agency, fiscal quarter, job category, and/or full-time/part-time status. Data is updated in April, July, October, and January, after the close of each fiscal quarter.

The upgrades rolled out today will triple the number of data fields displayed on the dashboard. The additional data will show Executive Branch employee promotions, hires, separations, salary bands, age bands, lengths of service, disability status, and veteran status. This data will also be able to be filtered by the fields listed above. 

“We recognize the importance of a diverse workforce and continue to work towards reflecting the diversity of Massachusetts in all facets and levels of government,” said Governor Charlie Baker. “We are proud to expand the diversity dashboard, which will give the public a more comprehensive view into the makeup of the Executive Branch and hold us accountable to our workforce goals.”

“The enhancements to the dashboard we are announcing today reflect our administration’s continued commitment to transparency and diversity in hiring,” said Lt. Governor Karyn Polito. “We will continue to strengthen our efforts to ensure the Commonwealth’s public workforce reflects the vibrant communities across the state.”

Since taking office, the Administration has made progress in diversifying the Executive Branch workforce.  The overall net percentage of diverse employees has increased by 18%, with the percentage of women in the workforce increasing by a net 4.1% since 2015 and the percentage of People of Color in the workforce increasing by 5%.

“There have been measurable improvements in the diversity of the Executive Branch and we are proud of our accomplishments so far; however, we realize that more work is needed,” said Chief Diversity Officer Sandra Borders. “We remain focused on increasing diversity and inclusion in all aspects of hiring and employment.”

“The enhanced transparency that the updated diversity dashboard offers will not only ensure accountability on this critical priority but also provide a fuller view of our workforce demographics for those looking to join public service at the state level,” said Chief Human Resources Officer, Jeff McCue.

“I would like to thank Governor Baker on the continued efforts to make data about the reality of our workforce available to our communities on a transparent, user friendly platform,” said State Representative Chynah Tyler (D – Boston), Chair of the Black and Latino Caucus. “The Black & Latino Caucus was proud to lead in discussions with the Administration that led to these recent platform upgrades and additions. This workforce dashboard will help to make progress on diversifying state personnel and ensure equitable hiring and promotions.”

“Today, Massachusetts moves forward with greater transparency that will lead to a better future for the state’s workforce overall,” said State Representative Russell Holmes (D – Mattapan). “It is imperative that the public see the diversity of the hiring, promotions, and terminations of the state’s workforce segmented by department and at every level of government. Aggregating the workforce and comparing the workforce to the state’s population can mask poor hiring and retention performance by department managers. Today’s update to the dashboard lives beyond this administration and will ensure that masking is prevented for years to come.”

View the updated diversity dashboard here: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/state-employee-diversity-dashboard.