Our Culture

Core Values

Our Core Values are the heart and soul of how we operate. We dedicate ourselves to these values with the goal of providing excellent services and programs to meet the needs of our community and those within our organization. They guide our actions and serve as the framework for the decisions and contributions we make every day – at every level.

Customer Service
Take personal responsibility for exceeding expectations.

Integrity
Maintain the public's trust and confidence by behaving honestly and ethically.

Respect
Treat others as you would wish to be treated.

Teamwork
Work together to achieve common goals.

Trust
We do what we say we will do.

HERO Skills: Humility, Empathy, Reflection, and Open-mindedness

Employees are one of the Village of Schaumburg’s most valuable assets, playing a crucial role in delivering essential services to residents, visitors, and businesses. The Village encourages every employee to bring their own unique skills, experiences, and strengths to their work, enabling them to be productive, innovative and achieve their fullest potential.    The Village of Schaumburg is committed to fostering a work environment where employees feel empowered to develop and apply HERO skills (Humility, Empathy, Reflection & Open-mindedness). These four key skills help employees improve communication, collaboration, and decision making, while creating an environment where everyone can thrive:  

• Humility: The ability to recognize one’s limitations, listen to others, and learn from diverse perspectives. Humility fosters a culture of openness and mutual respect.
• Empathy: The practice of understanding and sharing the feelings of others, which builds stronger, more trusting relationships.
• Resilience: The capacity to recover quickly from difficulties, adapt to change, and maintain a positive outlook in challenging situations.
• Open-mindedness: Being receptive to new ideas, perspectives, and experiences, which encourages innovation and fosters growth within the organization.

The Village upholds all regulatory requirements applicable to work environment including equal employment, anti-harassment, and anti-discrimination. By respecting these laws, the Village demonstrates its commitment to fostering a work environment that emphasizes respect, teamwork, and personal growth through the development of HERO skills. Key practices and policies support this culture of HERO skills, including:

• Respectful communication, collaboration, and cooperation among all employees
• Teamwork and employee participation, encouraging representation of various perspectives and ideas
• Regular training that enhances employees’ knowledge, broadens their world views, and strengthens their HERO skills 

The Village's approach includes our strategic pillars to support this commitment:

• Language: An employee committee (VOICE) was formed to study the language needs of the organization and community to enhance effective communication
• Recruitment: The hiring process has been improved to attract, engage, and retain top talent that demonstrate strong HERO skills
• Selection: Interview methods and communication techniques have been updated to ensure critical qualifications are highlighted, and processes are free of bias
• Culture: HERO skill development resources and training opportunities have been offered to ensure continuous improvement in creating a work culture focused on employee growth and contribution 

Additionally, the Village is proud of its vibrant community and continues to take steps to ensure all individuals feel welcomed and celebrated. The Village regularly highlights the unique stories and contributions of individuals in our communications. Other initiatives include celebrating cultural events, recognizing significant cultural dates and holidays, acknowledging immigrant trends in Schaumburg, honoring cultural contributors through proclamations, and supporting military employees.

Performance Management

The success of the village depends on our employees – their capabilities, skills and engagement. We are committed to helping individuals develop to become more effective, recognize their potential, and maximize their contributions.

Performance Management involves ongoing communication between employees and supervisors, in support of accomplishing the mission and goals of the village. Our performance management process includes setting objectives, identifying goals, providing feedback, evaluating results, and performance coaching and development.

Professional Development

Schaumburg Institute of Professional Development (SIPD)

Our award-winning internal SIPD training program helps employees grow and reach their full potential. SIPD offers both required and elective courses for all full-time and part-time employees. Constant learning, innovation and creativity contributes to our employee’s personal success and is the backbone of our strategic competitiveness.

We offer leadership development courses on topics such as coaching, motivation, creating goals, ethics, leading and managing change, project management, workload management, etc. We also offer elective training on topics such as communications, conflict resolution, time management, business writing, and various technology related topics. 

SuccessPath Leadership Development Program

We believe in a good balance of both external and internal leadership development. Developing the next generation of leaders is critical to our success. A component of our Talent Management Plan includes succession planning which involves having an effective and efficient process to identify, nominate, and select the best employees for future openings.

The SuccessPath Leadership Development Program is our formal succession planning process. Employees utilize a tool called Talent Profile that helps identify their career goals. At any time, they can update their “online resume” with information that includes their previous employment history, certifications/licenses, formal education, foreign language skills, leadership experience, and more.

High potential employees receive a 360°/Multi Rater feedback assessment that provides feedback on strengths and weaknesses. This feedback is used for creating career development goals.

Selected high potential employees also receive external professional leadership coaching and assessments. The Leadership Coach is an expert on professional development and works collaboratively with the high potential employee to work on creating development plans and identifying developmental tasks that would further prepare this individual for future career assignments.

Wellbeing Initiative

Healthy U 

Our employee wellbeing program called Healthy U is employee driven.

Employee representatives from each department, called Ambassadors, meet regularly to plan events such as wellness screenings, employee picnics, health promotions, food drives, and other events that support the five areas of wellbeing which are:

• Community
• Financial
• Social
• Career
• Physical 

Employee Engagement Committee

Employee representatives from each department work within their departments and the overall organization to develop action plans and activities to acknowledge and reward excellence in employee performance and service delivery.  The Employee Engagement Committee (EEC) offers opportunities for employee communication and interaction, as well as community service.  EEC encourages friendly competition and recognition through special events, activities, and sponsored special programs for employee growth, education, and development on an annual basis.