Metro Sustainability
Overview
Metro is investing in the future of the Los Angeles region, starting with our greatest asset – people. Recognizing that 46% of Metro’s workforce will be eligible for retirement over the next five years, we must expand our highly skilled and diverse workforce to meet the expected demand for staff. We are creating clear pathways for existing employees to advance their careers while also expanding recruitment efforts and creating proactive pipelines and equitable access to opportunity for the next generation of employees.
Metro is investing in the future of the Los Angeles region, starting with our greatest asset – people. Recognizing that 46% of Metro’s workforce will be eligible for retirement over the next five years, we must expand our highly skilled and diverse workforce to meet the expected demand for staff. We are creating clear pathways for existing employees to advance their careers while also expanding recruitment efforts and creating proactive pipelines and equitable access to opportunity for the next generation of employees.
Program Highlights
Creating Big Opportunities for Small Businesses
Our targeted recruitment strategy provides small business enterprises (SBEs) equal access to Metro procurement opportunities, particularly within limited or unreached procurement areas.
Metro is a promoter and facilitator of economic growth for the greater LA region. Spending on new transit projects funded through Measure M alone is expected to support more than 778,000 jobs in our region and generate $79.3 billion in economic output. This is a significant force for economic development and Metro is using this opportunity to ensure that large and small business alike have access so they can prosper during this era of expansion.
Recently, Metro has implemented a targeted recruitment strategy to provide small business enterprises (SBEs) equal access to Metro procurement opportunities, particularly within limited or unreached procurement areas. These efforts have realized marked improvement in small business participation and competition during fiscal year (FY) 2019 and 2020 across multiple procurement areas, including glass and glazing, uniforms, fire and sprinkler services, artificial ivy and cranes and real estate appraisals.
Our Small Business (SB) Prime Program further promotes small business development and innovation. Here, Metro actively encourages certified SBEs to use traditional, larger contractors as sub-contractors when submitting proposals to Metro solicitations. This flipped model allows small businesses to serve as prime contractors, taking the lead on contracts. Large firms in the industry act as mentors and guide capacity-building, showing the SBE how to take on more sizable projects and increase levels of responsibility.
The SB Prime Program has grown an average of 50% year-over-year since it began in FY14, resulting in over $166 million worth of contracts to small business from FY15 to FY20. The program achieved its highest success rate to date in FY19, with contracts awarded to small businesses acting as a prime contractor reaching $42.5 million. The SB Prime Program demonstrates how Metro leverages its resources to empower small companies to build capacity and develop partnerships that drive economic development across the region.
Learn how to get certified and partner with Metro today at metro.net/connect.
Giving Everyone a Fair Chance – The Fair Chance Initiative
We are committed to reducing barriers to success and expanding opportunities for all Angelenos.
Employment can be a large hurdle for the successful re-entry of justice-involved individuals. In September 2019, Metro joined the City of Los Angeles’ Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring ordinance, assuring that those involved in the justice system receive equal opportunity to compete for employment and to be eligible for positions based on their qualifications and applicable work experience.
Metro has been supporting, investing in and empowering historically and currently marginalized communities for decades. However, we realize there is still work to do and we must adapt our intentional workforce development programs to remain relevant and effective. Metro is piloting our own implementation process to support workforce re-entry, eliminating preliminary inquiries into the criminal history as one step toward providing a more equitable platform for employment applicants.
As part of this pilot, Metro partnered with a non-profit organization that provides housing, case management, pro-bono legal services, advocacy and leadership development for women rebuilding their lives after incarceration. Working together has strengthened the reach and impact of our hiring approach for bus operators and for our MicroTransit program, both broadening Metro’s talent pool, and more importantly, connecting justice-involved individuals with meaningful employment here at Metro.
These initiatives illustrate Metro’s commitment to reducing barriers to success and expanding opportunities for all Angelenos. Together, we will build a more prosperous, equitable and resilient regional economy and workforce.
Metro is Breaking Ground on the LA SEED School
Metro, LA County and SEED Foundation Break Ground on new SEED School as part of the Vermont Manchester Development Project.
Metro is investing in our greatest asset – our people. Through an innovative partnership with the County of LA and SEED Foundation, Metro began construction of the new SEED School of Los Angeles County (SEED LA) in October 2020.
SEED LA will be California’s first public boarding high school. It will adopt the SEED Foundation’s innovative public boarding school model, focused on serving the most at-risk and resilient students from underserved neighborhoods, preparing them for college and successful careers in the future. SEED LA will host 400 students from South LA and the greater LA County in grades 9-12, selected through a lottery process weighted to prioritize youth who are experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity; have an incarcerated family member; or have had contact with the foster care, child protection or juvenile justice system.
SEED LA is committed to preparing students for college and exposing them to a range of professional careers within the transportation and infrastructure sectors. The curriculum will include interdisciplinary courses in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields, combined with real-world learning opportunities.
Metro will play a hands-on role, facilitating a mentorship program connecting students to industry professionals and providing internships at Metro and with industry partners. We will provide ongoing curriculum development support, professional development for educators and other programming that helps to expose, educate and employ youth in the transportation industry. The school is expected to open and welcome its inaugural class of students in August 2022.
The school will be the centerpiece of a redevelopment effort to transform an empty, blighted lot into 180 units of affordable housing, community-focused retail, a job training center, a high school and transit access. This investment in the SEED School illustrates Metro’s ongoing commitment to creating proactive pathways and equitable access to opportunity for the next generation workforce.
2030 Targets
Understanding This Target
This target measures Metro’s efforts to increase access to employment opportunities by eliminating obsolete position requirements. We will review job classifications regularly to ensure that minimum requirements related to education, expertise, experience and capacity are appropriate and align with industry standards. Prior to adopting this target, 66% of job specifications required a bachelor’s degree, yet only 16% of those included an alternative qualification method through equivalent experience. The revised descriptions serve to prevent potentially qualified applicants from being dissuaded from applying, as well as from being unintentionally screened out of consideration for positions due to inconsistent requirements.
Target Performance
Metro reviewed 585 job specifications between 2019 and 2020, 82 are pending review for the 2021 cycle. Moving forward, Metro will review job specifications on a rolling basis. Metro revised job specifications to reflect the way work is currently conducted for each job title, created a common set of core competencies, defined Minimum Qualifications (MQs), implemented substitution standards and established standard special conditions and an enhanced recruitment and selection process. Additionally, Metro established standard working conditions for each unique job type. For example, all “desk jobs” now reflect the same working conditions and physical effort required. Revised job descriptions are being implemented immediately for all new hires.
Understanding This Target
Metro must attract, develop and retain expertise to further the agency’s innovative work and to build, run and maintain our growing transportation system. This target measures Metro’s success pursuing multifaceted recruitment efforts to engage and recruit candidates from groups and communities that Metro has traditionally struggled to reach. A significant element of this work is to invest in preparing local residents, often from underrepresented populations, for positions with Metro and across the transportation industry. On an annual basis, we will quantify the number of new employees recruited from the targeted demographics.
Target Performance
In 2019 and 2020, Metro hired 2,581 new employees and promoted or rehired 1,267 employees. Given the number of job opportunities that Metro provides, it is important to pursue broad outreach efforts that reach many different parts of our community. Over the past two years, Metro posted advertisements to almost 120 different job boards and associations to attract candidates from a diverse array of sources, including community colleges, veteran’s boards and associations focused on advancing women and minority groups.
In addition to reviewing job specifications, Metro’s Human Capital & Development department launched a review and revision of the external Careers Website in 2019 and 2020. Metro now features the Careers Website at the top of Metro’s main landing page, eliminating the need for candidates to “dig” for job opportunities on the site. Job applicants who apply through the website are prompted to provide feedback regarding their experience so that we can continue to improve access to our job postings.
Understanding This Target
This target measures Metro’s commitment to increasing access to opportunity for local businesses, Small Business Enterprise (SBE), women-owned businesses, Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) and Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise (DVBE). We know from experience that the ingenuity, innovation and expertise of these businesses are the foundation of our region’s economic development. Metro’s Diversity and Economic Opportunity Department focuses on supporting these businesses and connecting them with procurement opportunities. To track our progress, Metro has established contracting goals of 30%, 27% and 3% for SBE, DBE and DVBE businesses respectively. To align with Federal reporting standards, this metric is reported on a federal fiscal year cycle (October 1 to September 29), whereas other categories are reported by calendar year.
Target Performance
Metro successfully awarded 42.1%, 24.6% and 3.3% of its contracts to SBEs, DBEs and DVBEs respectively during the 2019 federal fiscal year (FFY2019), exceeding the targets for both SBEs and DVBEs. Despite the economic challenges the agency faced due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we were still able to award 34.2%, 24.5% and 4.0% of our contracts to SBEs, DBEs and DVBEs respectively in FFY2020 – again exceeding the targets for both SBEs and DVBEs. As the region emerges out of the pandemic, Metro is committed to achieving these goals and to continuing to provide equitable economic opportunity for businesses across LA County.