Human Resources

Our City has managed to provide services as we promptly adapted to our new normal due to COVID-19. We have learned recovery is not a phase but a way of operating. How can we grow our muscle and adapt to COVID-19 as an ongoing effort. Join HR & EAP to discuss best practices for adapting to COVID-19. Learn about what has changed related to accommodations, FMLA & workshare, review stages of change and behaviors associated with change, and have a discussion with fellow supervisors about your own leadership skills in a time of crisis.

Prework:

• 5 min Complete Self-Assessment & Right click “Print” and save a pdf to your desktop
• 10-30 min Read & Review City’s COVID related Policies & Procedures, Dane Forward Reopening Plan, EOC Reopening Guidance PPT, & EOC Internal Recovery Guidance 6/22/20

Learn the basics of how municipal government works, including all of the following:

• How ordinances and resolutions are developed and enacted
• The basics of the budget process
• The basics of City contracting and procurement
• How the City engages the community
• Interaction with State and Federal requirements
• The City vision, mission, and customer service philosophy

Does your agency receive grant funding? Then this is the training for you! Budgeting for Grants discusses how best to budget for grants within your operating budget. During this training we will discuss how to plan for grants as part of the budget planning process as well as the steps required to amend the budget when grants are received outside of the budget process. This training also covers resources available for grant reporting. Budgeting for Grants is intended for financial & program staff who have a role in grants management.

"Better safe than sorry" the old phrase goes. But if you are always safe, you won't ever have to worry about being sorry. This course will go over 7 key ways to create a safety culture and test your ability to spot hazards that could put you and your co-workers in harms way. Be prepared to learn how to use safety as a stepping stone to success within your department.

This course is part of the Management Skills Webinars series.

Course Materials

Slides: Building a Positive Safety Culture
 

Presented by: Brad Lovell, City of Madison Safety Coordinator

The City of Madison's budget process may seem to be unduly complicated and confusing, but it really isn't. If you have questions about how it all works, you can contact a budget analyst to explain the process and results to you.

This is an overview of Madison's budget process. This training is intended for staff who have an oversight role in managing budgets for agencies. Specific topics covered during the training include:

• An overview of the City's budget calendar
• How to draft a strong budget proposal,
• MUNIS basics

This class provides supervisors with the tools they need to ensure compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act, as well as information about the importance of position descriptions and the position study process. This course is intended for supervisors and managers. Following completion, attendees should be able to craft position descriptions for their staff and answer questions about how the position study process works.

Investigative interview skills are essential tools to the employee misconduct investigation process. This workshop is intended to provide managers and supervisors with the knowledge base needed to conduct investigations with a focus on the investigative interview.

Overall employee misconduct investigative procedures will be introduced, including effective interview skills and techniques. Participants will learn what types of questions to ask and how to ask them. Ideas will be offered about the best approach to use with victims, alleged perpetrators and witnesses as well as giving guidance to determine when an investigation is complete and how to assess contradictory information.

This program is designed to provide construction site safety awareness to engineering and professional staff who are called to visit job sites as part of their work. This program will provide an overview of the City's Safety Policy and specific safety requirements that need to be followed when visiting a job site. The program will utilize a variety of instruction methodologies and provide links to safety materials.

Continuous improvement (CI) is a method for improving the products, services or processes of our organization. The improvements can be incremental over time or achieved with a breakthrough moment. This program provides background on the City’s continuous improvement philosophy, provides you a “starter kit” of tools to help you focus your efforts in, identifying customer needs, studying data and time use, identifying root causes of problems and planning ways to bring about change and improvement through project teams. Participants will be asked to apply the program information to project improvements in their agency or in a city process.

Build awareness on how bias, both explicit and implicit, can impact hiring decisions. Learn how to create an interview process by incorporating job related behavioral questions with measurable benchmarks to effectively address bias in the interview process and for more objective candidate evaluations

Course Resources:

• Position Description Example:  Payroll Clerk
• Handout: Interview Tips
• Handout:  Types of Bias
• Handout: Job Interview Bias Exercise
• Handout: Traditional to Behavioral Interview Questions Exercise
• Handout: Red Flag Process for Hiring Managers

This course will provide critical thinking skills, with a focus on innovation, creativity, and the barriers and benefits to each. The course will cover the following objectives:

• Identify reflective, conceptual, analytical, and deductive, reasoning.
• Understand how decisions may effect an overall department and organization, both decisions made and not made.
• Learn to move from perception and assumption to reality and fact.
• Apply critical thinking skills in decision making and management.
• Identify reasons innovation & creativity are essential to an organization.
• Identify barriers to innovation & creativity.
• Review examples of products, services, and companies that have transformed industries.
• Discuss re-engineering vs. process improvement.

Are you getting ready to return to your in-person workplace? Feeling concerned, anxious, and curious about how things will be “back in the workplace” post-COVID? You’re not alone! Join our panel of City of Madison team members whose teams have already made that transition to in-person service (or never left it) to learn how to stay safe and healthy while also providing the highest quality service for the common good of our residents and visitors.

Intended Audience: This session is designed for any employee who will be returning to in-person service. The emphasis will be on providing customer service and support to the public (i.e., external public service).

Panelists:
• Bonnie Koenig, Environmental Health Supervisor, Environmental Health Office, PHMDC
• Krissy Wick, Director of Public Services, Madison Public Libraries
• Terrence Thompson, Warner Park Community Recreation Center Manager, Madison Parks
• Michelle Drea, City Assessor

Have a Post-COVID Customer Service Tip to share? Add it to our online list and your tip may be shared during a future Customer Service Conversation!
• Post-COVID Customer Service Tips List 
 

Do you provide internal customer service to other City Agencies? Feeling concerned, anxious, and curious about how things will be “back in the workplace” post-COVID? You’re not alone! Join our panel of City of Madison team members whose teams have already made that transition to in-person service (or never left it) to learn how to stay safe and healthy while also providing the highest quality service for the common good of our residents and visitors.

Intended Audience: This session is designed for any employee who will be returning to in-person service. The emphasis will be on providing customer service and support to other City of Madison employees and agencies (a.k.a. internal customer service).

Panelists:

• Mahanth Joishy, Fleet Superintendent
• Stephen King, Municipal Building Maintenance Services, Engineering Division​​​​​
• Harper Donahue, Human Resources Director
• Jim Verbick, Deputy Clerk, Office of the City Clerk

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Have a Post-COVID Customer Service Tip to share?  Add it to our online list and your tip may be shared during a future Customer Service Conversation!
•        Post-COVID Customer Service Tips List
 

All City of Madison employees can play a part in ensuring their department's practices promote equity. This session provides learners with specific tools and practices that they can apply day to day in their operations to ensure they are authentically engaging in strategies and practices that further principles of equity and social justice from hiring to customer interactions. This training is for individuals that hold positions in all levels of the organization, and is particularly suited for those who have taken training from the Racial Equity and Social Justice Initiative, although it is not a mandatory prerequisite. After this training, participants will be able to:

• Identify the characteristics of an equitable organization
• Assess their organization along a continuum of equity
• Learn best strategies to move their organization forward
• Understand how to use formal and informal leadership practices to make impact and change in their organization

This course studies the stages of team development and provides tools to help teams focus on their goals, overcome barriers, develop consensus and deliver results. Leadership, facilitator and followership attributes will also be discussed.

Family Medical Leave can be a topic that even the most adept supervisor struggles with. This course will provide a background on FMLA, eligibility information, how FMLA is used, and Supervisor responsibilities.

This program will cover the legal requirements and best practices for employees handling confidential information-payroll clerks, administrative and front desk staff potentially have access to medical, financial and personal information that should be kept confidential. The program material will outline responsibilities and practices in handling various types of information and use case examples to reinforce the importance of maintaining confidentiality in daily work.

Public sector investigations can present unique challenges. This course provides managers & supervisors with the knowledge base needed to conduct investigations with a focus on the investigative interview. The course will use scenario-based discussion, polls and lectures to provide a strong foundation for making this sometimes intimidating process more manageable.

You'll leave knowing how to structure and conduct a misconduct investigation, create meaningful and helpful interview questions, and identify and address complicating factors in public sector investigations.

This training is a three-part series.  By signing up for this series, you are committing to all three classes.

May Series
Monday Afternoons
2:30PM - 4:00PM

May 9
May 16
May 23
 

November Series
Thursday Mornings
10:30AM - 12:00PM

Nov 3
Nov 10
Nov 17

Course Resources

• Prework

1. Read through the “Investigation Process Pre-work” document that is attached to the course webpage
2. Watch a short video on bias linked in the per-work section of the Handout
3. Develop a couple of questions about the misconduct investigation process that will help you be a better investigator

• Session 1 
• Session 2
• Session 3
   

This training is for supervisors and managers interested in creating or updating position descriptions. The parts of the position description will be discussed in detail and participants will have the opportunity to create a PD based on a training scenario.

Date: Monday, January 25, 2021
Time: 8:00 am -9:00 am

The City will have approximately 780 employees participating in Work-Share in late January through March 14, 2021. Join us for a Q&A session with HR staff to review what employees need to know about applying for Work-Share benefits and answer your questions. 

Please review City's Work-Share overview and questions prior to the session:

• City of Madison Work-Share Overview
• City of Madison Work-Share FAQs

A recording of this session will be offered if you are unable to attend this virtual session. 

This event is being recorded. It is a public record subject to disclosure.

By participating in the meeting, you are consenting to being recorded and consenting to this record being released to public record requestors who may see you, your home and your family members in the recording. You have the option to turn off your camera and participate with audio only.

Learn how City IT resources provide support for all operations and its daily effort in managing and protecting vital public information. The Budget session will review the basics of where revenues originate, how we plan and borrow for infrastructure improvements and how best to be a good steward of public financial resources.

This is a specially designed training for anyone who sits on an interview panel. This training specifically addresses:

• The red flag process and procedure
• How to create behavioral interview questions with benchmarks
• Digging deeper in an interview including what types of follow-up questions are ok to ask
• Best practices on evaluating candidates
• Hiring for fit
• Bias that you need to be aware of in the interview process

You know all that stuff you wish you knew before you taught your first City of Madison training session? All the feelings of “am I doing this right” throughout your trainings? Pay it forward by reviewing and testing our standards before they go live to all trainers!

In this virtual workshop, we'll pick apart the City's facilitation benchmarks, apply them in hands-on tests, and generate ideas to help all future trainers facilitate with greater integrity and support.

Prerequisite : Must be a trainer, facilitator, or similar role at the City of Madison AND/OR past participant in the Art & Science of Virtual Training

 

Learn the process by which an ordinance or resolution goes from an idea to a law. Ask questions about how Legistar handles the legislative process.

This training is the second part of the LGBTQ Competency Training sponsored by Public Health. Through this training participants will obtain the following information and skills:

• Participants will have a reinforced understanding of key concepts regarding LGBTQ identities
• Participants will be able to identify areas of change for their agencies in regards to welcoming LGBTQ clients

Participants will practice personal and professional skills for interacting with LGBTQ individuals/clients/customer

The fee for this training is only $25. Please forward your department's billing information to Millicent Hutchinson at mhutchinson@publichealthmdc.com

Through this discussion and activities, participants will imagine ways to offer more LGBTQ+ inclusive services and work environments. Participants will learn more about health and other inequities facing the LGBTQ+ community. Through this discussion and activities, participants will imagine ways to offer more LGBTQ+ inclusive services and work environments. Cost for the training is $35 for all participants.

This training is provided by Public Health Madison & Dane County
Questions/concerns? Contact Rachel Goldberg at (608) 243-0137 or rgoldberg@publichealthmdc.com

A half-day interactive workshop for supervisors/managers on how to manage employee performance, starting before the employee is hired. This training will focus on the importance of position descriptions, providing constant coaching and feedback to employees, and what to do when an employee fails to meet expectations after all other avenues are exhausted. Supervisors and Managers will be walked through the Performance Management Flowchart and have the opportunity to put what is being learned into action!

This course provides an overview of the policy and process for drug and alcohol testing at the City of Madison, with a special focus on the Supervisor's role in that process. As a result of the course, you will understand the impacts of drugs and alcohol on the workplace and specific responsibilities of a Supervisor. You will also learn about the Federal Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse, and our organizational responsibilities related to that program. This program covers the specifics of APM 2-23: Drugs, Controlled Substance, Alcohol and Drug Testing Policy which is intended to bring the City into compliance with mandated federal regulations.

All supervisors of CDL holders are required to take this course, but it is beneficial to all supervisors at the City of Madison.
 

Course Resources

Please read through the following materials before the course:
APM 2-23 - City of Madison Alcohol and Drug Testing Policy
Handout: Impacts of Alcohol and Other Drugs on Behavior
Handout: Supervisor Instructions for Reasonable Suspicion
Handout:  Reasonable Suspicion Checklist

Harassment in the workplace can be a form of illegal employment discrimination. This workshop is designed to provide Mandatory Reporters with a greater understanding of the City's APM 3-5, Prohibited Harassment and Discrimination, and the legal and social implications of discrimination in the form of sexual, gender, racial or disability-based harassment in the workplace. Emphasis will be placed on increasing sensitivity to what constitutes a problem and why an immediate, constructive response is important. The discussion will also focus on exploring good management practices and policies requiring the maintenance of an environment that is free of discriminatory harassment.

Mandatory Reporters are defined as Supervisors, Managers, Lead Workers, and Department/Division Heads. They are required to take this training 45 days after hire or promotion, and then once every three years.

If you are not a Mandatory Reporter, please register for Prohibited Harassment and Discrimination Policy.
 

Presented by: Department of Civil Rights (DCR)

Contact Tracy Lomax tlomax@cityofmadison.com with questions or concerns.
 

Come and learn about what it means to be an employee of the City of Madison. We will learn more about how each of our work contributes to the overall success of our community. We will also learn more about city policies and procedures, employee programs, and city initiatives. We will also have a chance to get to know our fellow employees. This training is mandatory for new employees.

The City of Madison provides reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities or long-term medical conditions when the accommodations are directly related to performing the essential functions of a job, competing for a job, or for enjoyment of equal opportunities. These accommodations help our employees, our agencies, and our organization to be more inclusive, innovative, and thriving. Supervisors have a critical role in the accommodations process. This course will provide the fundamentals of accommodations, explore the role of the Supervisor in this process, and inspire us to creatively look at our positions and job functions in a way that supports employees toward individual and organization excellence.

This course offers a detailed review of rules and cases in the areas of meetings, public records.

The hiring process can be tricky to navigate. Come learn the basics of applying for City jobs (including internal promotions) including how to clearly communicate your experience and skills, what to expect from civil service exams, and how to prepare for your interview.

The City of Madison, along with the Wisconsin Chapter of the American Public Works Association (APWA), introduces Ethics and Professional Conduct Training. This 2-hour training session was developed to meet the State of Wisconsin Professional Engineer Continuing Education Ethics and Professional Conduct requirements. Dates determined mid-year.

Known as APM 3-5, the City's Prohibited Harassment & Discrimination Policy covers expectations for creating a discrimination-free workplace.

Harassment in the workplace can be a form of illegal employment discrimination. This workshop is designed to provide employees with a greater understanding of the City's APM 3-5 and the legal and social implications of discrimination in the form of sexual, gender, racial or disability-based harassment in the workplace. Emphasis will be placed on increasing sensitivity to what constitutes a problem and why an immediate, constructive response is important. The discussion will also focus on exploring good management practices and policies requiring the maintenance of an environment that is free of discriminatory harassment. 
 

Permanent City employees are required to take this training within 45 days of hire and every three years following.
If you are a Mandatory Reporter (Lead Worker, Supervisor, Manager, Department/Division Heads), please register for the course titled Mandatory Reporter Training
 

Presented by: Department of Civil Rights (DCR)

Contact Tracy Lomax tlomax@cityofmadison.com with questions or concerns.

This workshop is designed for new employees and provides the employee with a greater understanding of the City's APM 3-5 policy. It also outlines the legal & social implications of discrimination.

If you have questions about this training, please contact the Department of Civil Rights: DCR@cityofmadison.com or call them at 266-4910.

Are you a Public Records Custodian in your role as a City of Madison employee?  

This training will teach you how to effectively carry out your responsibilities as a records custodian. You will learn how to communicate with requesters and fulfill requests, as well as how to ensure compliance with public records laws and retention policies.

In accordance with MGO 3.70, Department/Division Heads are the custodian of records for their agency and may designate others in the agency as alternate custodians. Public records custodians are required to be trained as soon as practicable upon receiving these duties, and to keep current with developments in City records policies and the Wisconsin Public Records Laws. Whether you’re a new records custodian or in need of a refresher, this training will teach you how to effectively carry out your responsibilities as a City of Madison Records Custodian. You will learn how to communicate with requesters and fulfill requests, as well as how to ensure compliance with public records laws and retention policies.
 

Presented by: Office of the City Attorney (OCA) and Information Technology (IT)

RE: Public Records Requests & Policies: Adriana Peguero, Office of the City Attorney at apeguero@cityofmadison.com
RE: Records Management: Leslie Starczewski, Information Technology, lstarczewski@cityofmadison.com

In RESJI 1, Participants will engage in a highly interactive program to discuss the need to establish racial equity and social justice as core principles in the City of Madison.

Participants will be provided with foundational information necessary to understand concepts of racial equity and social justice, including implicit and explicit bias, micro-aggressions, different levels of bias, and steps we can all take to make the City of Madison a place where people from all backgrounds can contribute and thrive.

This course lays the groundwork for Racial Equity Social Justice Part 2.

Please contact Donna Collingwood for any additional questions, or to schedule a department specific RESJI training.

You must attend RESJI 1: What are Racial Equity & Social Justice? before attending this session.

Now that participants have a foundation in the key concepts of racial equity and social justice, RESJI 2 provides participants with the tools to integrate these concepts into city operations. In this session, you will take part in a mock Racial Equity tool usage. You will gain skills and confidence in the process of applying Racial Equity Tools to take back to your department.

This course lays the groundwork for Racial Equity Social Justice Part 3.

Please contact Donna Collingwood for any additional questions, or to schedule a department specific RESJI training.

RESJI Part 3: Transformative Leadership & Communication

You must attend RESJI 1: What are Racial Equity and Social Justice?

In RESJI 3, you will learn about anti-racism and grow your understanding of dominant culture. This is an conversational session where you will be able to explore your own experiences and develop strategies for personally and professionally advancing racial equity.

Please contact Donna Collingwood for any additional questions, or to schedule a department specific RESJI training.

Congrats! Your team did a thing! A very cool thing! A new policy, a massive project, a successful program, a game-changing new procedure. How do you share your success so the City can learn from and collaborate with you? And perhaps more importantly, how do we share our progress and setbacks with those impacted by our work?

In this session, you’ll learn how to tell your success story and deliver a powerful report-out to internal and public stakeholders.

Course Resources

Report Out Techniques Flipbook
Slides
 

This course provides an overview of how to build reports utilizing MUNIS cubes through Excel. This training is intended for both financial and operations staff who play a role in analyzing financial data. Participants should bring a specific challenge they are working to solve utilizing data from MUNIS. The training will include hands on lab time to build cubes tailored to your agencies needs.

Learn the basics of Robert's Rules or Order and some rules specific to Madison. Learn the rules on conflicts of interest and other ethical limits on governmental officials under the City's Code of Ethics.

Facilitating discussions about Subtle Acts of Exclusion in Madison workspaces.

Module 1: “Let’s Talk About It” – Things that are NOT better left unsaid

Everyday acts of exclusion are hidden in plain sight at work. They can make our colleagues feel invisible, unwelcome, and unvalued. This workshop opens up a conversation about subtle acts of exclusion and how they create barriers to genuine inclusion.

Each Module is 90 minutes long and limited to 30 people per session, to allow for meaningful interaction and participation. Employees should read the MAC/WIC 2019 Workplace Climate Survey located on EMPLOYEENET prior to attending the workshops. It is recommended, but not required, that employees attend each module in order Module 1, Module 2, & Module 3. 

This training was created by City of Madison employees in response to the 2019 MAC/WIC Workplace Climate Survey, and is a Department of Civil Rights production. For questions, contact: Kym Woodly at SAETraining@cityofmadison.com.

 

Module 3: “Say What? Responding to Subtle Acts of Exclusion”

You know what a subtle act of exclusion is, and you know why they happen, but how do you respond? And what do you do when you slip up? In this interactive workshop, you will learn and practice ways to respond to subtle acts of exclusion from three perspectives: as the subject of an action, as the initiator, and as the observer.

Each Module is 90 minutes long and limited to 30 people per session, to allow for meaningful interaction and participation. Employees should read the MAC/WIC 2019 Workplace Climate Survey located on EMPLOYEENET prior to attending the workshops. It is recommended, but not required, that employees attend each module in order Module 1, Module 2, & Module 3. 

This training was created by City of Madison employees in response to the 2019 MAC/WIC Workplace Climate Survey, and is a Department of Civil Rights production. For questions, contact: Kym Woodly at SAETraining@cityofmadison.com.

Course Resources

Handout for Module 3

The learning curve for new supervisors is steep! This virtual workshop explores the responsibilities and impact you make as a supervisor. We'll discuss employee experience and moments that matter between you and your staff. There will also be time for networking and discussion with other supervisors. You'll leave the orientation with a resource guide and development plan template. Though we can't tell you everything you need to know in 90 minutes, we can help you get your bearings and navigate your new role.

Who should attend?

Required for:

• All new supervisors, whether you are new to the City or were promoted into a supervisor role.
• Existing supervisors who never participated in Supervisor Development Program

Recommended for:

• Supervisors who completed Supervisor Development Program more than 5 years ago (pre-2017), as a refresher
• Supervisors of supervisors, to support you in onboarding, coaching and developing your staff

Course Materials

Prework:  Get Ready for Supervisor Orientation

Slides: Supervisor Orientation

Follow-up:  Supervisor Development Plan

Also Recommended

Our new Supervisor Network is a community for supervisors, by supervisors. It's a great space for new supervisors to make connections in a collaborative learning space.

This program teaches the framework that the City utilizes when looking at energy conservation, environmental initiatives and sustainable development. Participants will learn the four system conditions of The Natural Step framework and how to apply the framework to improving how we interact with the environment and our citizens. The program fosters developing awareness, gathering benchmarks, creating a compelling vision and deploying actions that will lead to sustainable development. The session is hands-on and requires the participant to apply the framework to real life problems and issues that they are currently facing.

The objective of this workshop is to update people's skills so that they can take more effective meeting minutes. The topics included are types of meeting minutes, language used in minutes, and tips and pointers on how to take effective meeting minutes.

Supervising interns who are in high school or college requires many of the same strategies as permanent employees, but also requires creativity. Come and learn tips for supervising interns and gain skills which will help interns learn and grow from their placement experience.

As a result of employee survey responses, the City began a new employee/supervisor check-in process in 2021. The goals of these discussions are to provide more support to employees, further our growth, and help us align individual performance with our organizational vision, mission, and values. This session provides an overview of the City process and highlights new tools developed to make these discussions richer and more productive. 

Course Resources

Prior to the session, please check out our resources and come to the training session prepared with any pressing questions you might have about the the Employee Check-in Process.

1. Preview the Resources on the Employee Check-in Process and Resources page
2. Identify 1-2 of your most pressing concerns about the Employee Check-in Process and bring those with you to the session. 

Develop an understanding of basic data analysis tools to improve organizational productivity. Focus includes:

• Elements of effective data planning
• Basic statistics and terms, topics covered include gathering, organizing & displaying data
• Creation & use of charts
• Understanding how data overlaps

In this workshop, participants will learn about workplace violence and how to prevent it, or respond to it should it occur. After a brief video, case scenarios and discussion and handouts, participants will: be able to identify examples of workplace violence, become familiar with warning signs and "red flags", understand the extent of the problem and need to protect employees, learn about policies and how to use these in prevention or response.