STC Operational Improvement Strategies Dee Anna Hassanpour Oregon

STC Operational Improvement Strategies Dee Anna Hassanpour, Oregon Juliane Barone, Ohio Keith Goodwin, Minnesota 2015 STC Summit

Oregon’s STC Program Operational Improvement Using Lean 2015 STC Summit

Overview of Oregon’s Program • Program started in 1983 • Highest usage during the Great Recession: 794 Plans • Current number of Plans: 187 • Current number of Claimants: 729 • STC UI Paid Out in CT 2014: $1, 435, 352 • STC UI Paid Out YTD 2015: $1, 981, 215 2015 STC Summit 3

Oregon’s Pre-Lean Business Process • Single Point of Excellence • The SPE doing the work was a Compliance Specialist 2 (higher classification range than most doing similar work) • Almost 100% Paper Process • Completely Manual Process • Was Not Scalable • No Reliable Way to Capture & Report Data 2015 STC Summit 4

Oregon’s Pre-Lean Business Process (Cont’d) • No Administrative Rules • Communication Methods Limited to USPS, Phone, and Fax • Employers Reported High Customer Satisfaction Because of Single Point of Contact 2015 STC Summit 5

The Path to Operational Improvement • Oregon Will Not Be Modernized Before Next Recession • Oregon’s UI Operating System COBOL Mainframe • Oregon Received STC Grant – Had To Find a Way To Increase Usage Without Impacting Customer Experience • No IT Resources Available 2015 STC Summit 6

Process Improvement Grant Overview • Used Part of Grant to Fund FT Project Manager • Used Funds to Secure Lean Six Sigma Vendor (CSG Government Solutions) • Will Use Remaining Funds to Update Forms, Conduct Policy Outreach, Develop Program Rules 2015 STC Summit 7

Oregon’s Lean Six Sigma Experience • Assembled Team of Managers, SMEs and CSG Member • Trained OED Team Members at Green Belt Level • Used Toll Gate Process to Monitor Project Process at Program Executive Level • Team Proposed 11 Solutions; Executive Level Approved 7 of the 11 Solutions 2015 STC Summit 8

Lean Six Sigma IMPROVE Solutions • Develop written policies • Standardize procedures to remove ad hoc decisions • Move the program to special programs unit • Reduce paperwork by utilizing Peernet and creating electronic files • Establish objective standards • Improve Work Share tools 2015 STC Summit 9

Lean Six Sigma IMPROVE Solutions (Cont’d) • Reduce incomplete, illegible and errors on forms with fillable. pdfs that contain required fields 2015 STC Summit 10

Lean Six Sigma Project Benefits Direct Savings • Standardize written operating procedures to remove ad hoc decisions • Move program • Reduce paperwork • Fillable. pdf forms • Establish performance and program metrics • Improve Work Share Tools Indirect Savings • Cross training/knowledge exchange • Equitable distribution • Program Integrity • Quality with agility • Delighting the customer • Teamwork with responsibility 2015 STC Summit 11

Operational Improvement Strategies: The Shared. Work Ohio Experience Juliane Barone, Esq. Benefits Policy Administrator Office of Unemployment Insurance Operations Ohio Department of Job and Family Services 2015 STC Summit

Ohio: a Newcomer STC state A brief history of the enactment of the Shared. Work Ohio program Shared. Work Ohio law (Ohio Revised Code 4141. 50 – 4141. 56) was found to be in federal conformity by the Department of Labor. Ohio’s benefit payment system “OJI” completed the initial phase of automation of the program. The first employer application was processed by the Shared. Work Ohio Unit. To date, 37 plans have been approved by the Shared. Work Ohio Unit. November 2013 March 2014 July 2014 August 2014 March 2015 Nov 2015 Ohio was approved for two grants (totaling $3. 7 million) for the automation of the Shared. Work Ohio program, as well as Shared. Work Ohio promotion and enrollment efforts. The Shared. Work Ohio program opened doors for business. 2015 STC Summit 13 OJI completed full automation of the program.

Automating Shared. Work Ohio in Two Phases Partial Automation – Phase One • Manual employer applications and participating employee lists • Manual employer-initiated claims • Manual queue to track status of pending applications • Manual reporting 2015 STC Summit 14

Paper Employer Plan Application 2015 STC Summit 15

Employer Certification Portion of Plan Application 2015 STC Summit 16

Participating Employee List 2015 STC Summit 17

Manual Weekly Claim Filing 2015 STC Summit 18

Automating Shared. Work Ohio in Two Phases, Continued… Full Automation – Phase Two • Real time employer and employee self-service web portal via the Ohio Job Insurance (OJI) system. • Features include: Integrated Shared. Work Ohio employer plan application; The ability for employers to upload the participating employee list; Employees are automatically associated to the SWO Plan; Employer-initiated, employee-verified weekly SWO claims; OJI automatically calculates and disburses proper prorated benefit. 2015 STC Summit 19

Automated Employer Plan Application 2015 STC Summit 20

Adding Participating Employees 2015 STC Summit 21

Automated Weekly Claim Filing 2015 STC Summit 22

Shared. Work Ohio Automation Leverages Existing UI Benefit Framework • • SWO payments Initial claim filing Employer charging Reporting Issue-setting Weekly/biweekly claim submissions Automatic child support deductions and tax withholding 2015 STC Summit 23

Lessons Learned • Identify and get buy-in from key stakeholders not only during the legislative process, but the IT design process. • Leverage resources from the entire agency to support the STC program. • Memorialize historical decisions, interpretations, and workflows for future reference. • Opt for automation. • Find a balance between the priorities of employer flexibility and compliance with law. 2015 STC Summit 24

Shared. Work Ohio Utilization • To date, Ohio has approved 37 employer plans with over 1900 participating employees. 2015 STC Summit 25

Shared Work Programs Minnesota Program 2015 STC Summit

The Overall UI Background - The Minnesota Technical Delivery Model • 2002 through 2007 major technology revisions • Designed a unified technology system including benefits/taxes and all special programs • Involved major change management efforts • Shifted a lot of staff from backroom operations to customer facing staff 2015 STC Summit 27

2005 THROUGH 2007 • 2005 - June 20 – Tax system goes on line – 3, 000 calls a week from employers. • 2007 - October 20 Integrated benefits system goes on line. Long wait times for customers to get to CSC staff – 47 minutes at times • Testified before Legislature (legislative concerns) • Within 3 months call wait times less than 1 min. • 2008 – Great Recession Starts 2015 STC Summit 28

MINNESOTA UI OVERVIEW • 50% of UI is seasonal every year • Relatively high replacement rate – max WBA =$658 per year • Online usage 90% • The entire program is in same division – 3% of UI transactions occur in Work. Force Centers • We don’t chat - we don’t have virtual hold • Phone wait times around 30 seconds 2015 STC Summit 29

Minnesota Shared Work Program • Started in 1994 • Major UI automation across all portions of UI Program included Special Programs as part of the automation (this includes TRA, Shared Work, DUA, etc. • Easy to run special programs with automation • But must be part of broader UI automation as mentioned above 2015 STC Summit 30

2012 Federal Law added New Shared Work Guidelines • We made a few changes to meet those guidelines and to obtain Federal funding for shared work payments • Federal funding increased our Trust Fund • Most of our technology already existed – needed a few legal and technical tweaks. • By time law passed in 2012 shared work in Minnesota already significantly declined because of recession recovery 2015 STC Summit 31

Shared Work Successful in Uncertain Economic downturns – our experience • Employers uncertain of what is transpiring • Employers want to stabilize key workforce during uncertainty • Employers use shared work during that period of uncertainty • Employers quickly make tough decisions when uncertainty gone 2015 STC Summit 32

Employer Awareness We have had shared work program for 21 years. UI Website has lots of shared work information There are Q and A’s on the website We have communication specialists that talk to employer groups • Dislocated workers mention shared work. • Awareness is shown by rapid increase in recessionary times • • 2015 STC Summit 33

The 2008 Great Recession – Our Experience • • 2008 - week 30 - 786 weekly shared requests 2009 - week 30 - 9, 059 weekly shared requests 2010 – Week 30 - 2, 317 weekly shared requests 2011 – Week 30 – 922 weekly shared requests • Needed systems that could handle shared work expansion rapidly. Heavy use of Technology. Minimal use of staff. 2015 STC Summit 34

Six General Steps • The plan and participants – part automated - part staff manual – web – Q/A and submission • Plan approval – generally short – staff manual • Plan upload and participant upload – mostly technical • Applicant opens account (reactivates) - technical • Applicant requests benefits – technical • Plan reports and follow-up – technical and staff manual 2015 STC Summit 35

Share Work - The Initial Shared Work Approval • Initial employer application -- obtained from web • Employer must provide application and spreadsheet of individuals • Takes 5 to 10 minutes to review (staff review) • Application and spreadsheet copied into system • Technology checks list of individuals to see if SSN’s match and time worked is correct, and owner signed • System then recognizes approved shared work applicant and the right questions are presented on weekly requests 2015 STC Summit 36

Applicant must then open UI account • 90% of all applications are done on line • IVR and Customer Service do the other 10% • Once account established (or reactivated), weekly requests can be made • Questions presented are shared work modified • 90% of all weeks requested are on line • 10% are by IVR • Almost no state time spent on weekly requests • We do not do paper. 2015 STC Summit 37

Weekly Reports on Shared Work Plans • Computer reports to see if hours worked are consistent with plan • If hour deviations - which way deviating • Shared work pay modified if actual hours deviated • If too much deviation then questions with employer – what is going on • Always some tension between layoffs avoided and plans that shift so much layoffs avoided are undermined 2015 STC Summit 38

Staff to Manage • . 5 to 1 FTE’s whether we are in recession or not • We can very quickly scale up without much staff expansion • Technology can handle 10 times increase in usage very quickly 2015 STC Summit 39

Employer Perspective – Labor vs Finance • Driver for shared work is retention of key staff during uncertain economic time – the skilled labor perspective • However financial constrains dictate right sizing of the work force as soon as uncertain time passes – driven likely by retained fringe benefits at full cost • Our experience - expands rapidly during incoming recession but declines rapidly once employer figures out its workforce needs. 2015 STC Summit 40

Employers need to understand full picture • Voluntary employer decision • Employer needs to know both benefits and financial costs • Balanced perspective must be presented and understood • Nice auxiliary UI program. Might affect 1% of job loss during recession, in some states could reach a couple percent during recession. 2015 STC Summit 41

2015 STC Summit 42