It would be fair to say that our promotion and recruitment efforts have never been so intentional that they caused us to fill positions with a specific gender.  In fact, our guiding principles are to fill a position with the best qualified person, not the best qualified man or woman.  So perhaps the gender balance within our organization is purely by accident.  The best candidates who rise to the top for each available job just happen to be the best man or woman for the job.  To define the “Leadership Team”, you hold a title of either Department Head or Department Director, or Deputy Department Head or Assistant Department Head.  What is perhaps unique about the Auburn Hills Team is that we have leaders in roles that  some may consider to be non-traditional, or typically dominated by those of the opposite sex from those holding the position in our organization.  For us, it doesn’t matter.  Again, it’s about the best person for the job.  Recently I was reviewing our current Organizational Chart and made the following observations. 

Twenty employees hold one of the titles listed above.  Of the twenty, eleven are males and nine are females, translating to a split of approximately 55% male and 45% female.  Readers can decide for themselves if that’s a source of pride for the community.  I think it is and more so because it was not intentional.  It happened because of qualifications.  Some skeptics might say that they would bet that the females referenced in this blog are the least paid of the entire group.  Sorry to disappoint the skeptics, but of the top five Department Heads in the leadership team, females possess the number one and three spots for highest salaries.

Of course size, complexity, competition and various other factors relating to specific education and experience play a role in determining the salary of leaders within each department of the organization.  But the conclusion is that we value people for the skills and abilities they bring to their respective roles.  Isn’t that the way it’s supposed to be?

Tom Tanghe, City Manager