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lefttop2017 Mid-Year ReportCustomer First produces results at Employment Security Department Commissioner Dale Peinecke, agency leaders and staff continued efforts to reshape the Employment Security Department (ESD) to reflect changes in financial resources while increasing customer focus and performance. From 2012 to 2016, ESD: Cut its spending rate by $60 million annually—or 24 percent—resulting in a total reduction of $204 million to meet declining state and federal budgets over those four years; Trimmed the number of jobs available in the agency by 668—from 2,365 to 1,697—slimming down management and overhead at a higher rate than front-line staff, proportionally increasing those in direct customer service roles by more than 120—or 12 percent;Reduced its facilities footprint by over 100,000 square feet—or 20 percent—without reducing the number of service locations; Replaced all three of its major IT systems for unemployment insurance (UI) tax, UI benefits, and labor exchange; and Installed free Wi-Fi for customers at all our WorkSource offices—all while continuing to use Lean principles to improve customer service, employee engagement and federal performance measures. The number of workers claiming unemployment insurance declined by 50 percent from 2012 to 2016, while the total workforce expanded by 200,000 to 3.7 million. At the same time, the number of job changes each year grew by over 200,000 to more than 2 million from 2012 to 2016. That means we have a growing opportunity for customers who could benefit from WorkSource services—services shown to help people find jobs faster with higher pay than going it alone. As Washington’s economy continues to grow, ESD and the WorkSource system remain focused on closing skills gaps for employers, ensuring that all workers find jobs, exploring new apprenticeships and expanding support for career-connected learning. We are incorporating customer-centered design and organizational change management into our Lean culture to better serve employers and workers – striving to rapidly double the number of people served within current budgets. Customer First drives innovation, improves serviceOne year ago, three divisions at the Employment Security Department launched three different journeys —all with a common goal: Customer First! At ESD, Customer First means: ?Looking at the world through the eyes of our customers, ?Training and empowering everyone to more effectively connect with customers, and ?Seeking to exceed expectations and truly delight our customers. The Employment Connections Division trained more than 600 ESD and partner staff in Human-Centered Design training to teach them how to engage customers in solving problems and improving outcomes. Based on customer feedback, we’re taking more WorkSource services out to the community and building coalitions of business services outreach teams to improve coordination. Since January, WorkSource has served 140,886 jobseekers and 2,049 businesses.The Tax & Wage Division focused on Customer First by starting to align their processes and people. The Account Management Center now triages all calls and emails so other units can work uninterrupted and there’s a new Strategic Response Unit that assists units facing higher workloads or backlogs. Since January, we’ve reduced the average processing time in backlog queues by nearly 40 days per work item, resulting in a faster and better customer experience.The UI Benefits Division has been using Customer First to help claimants and employers adjust to the new unemployment benefits computer system by engaging focus groups and implementing recommendations of a usability expert. In one Customer First move, the division transferred staff from other areas to the phones and achieved a 100 percent call connect rate in April and May. unveils hospitality industry spotlight Gov. Jay Inslee joined the Washington Hospitality Association, ESD, WorkSource, the WDC of Seattle-King County, the Department of Social and Health Services and other partners in the workforce system in celebrating the first annual Hospitality Hiring Month in Washington. In May, we held a multi-company hiring event to fill more than 370 positions in King County in one day! To help employees get to work, the hiring coalition provided support for certifications, permits, uniform needs, food assistance, Orca Lift cards, childcare assistance vouchers and more—all available for up to 12 months to help workers stay in their new jobs. The new Careers in Hospitality site attracted more than 2,000 new visitors to in just one month!New benefits system serves hundreds of thousands, pays nearly $600 million in benefits to workers transitioning to new jobsIn January 2017, ESD launched its new unemployment benefits computer system with online access called eServices. Complications with the Secure Access Washington sign-on system resulted in 750,000 calls to the UI call center the first day, making it difficult for customers to speak to agents. ESD resolved the most critical challenges in the first two days, and paid roughly 60,000 claimants that first week as scheduled. Since January, more than 170,000 claimants have created eServices accounts with 2.7 million visits to the eServices site. ESD has processed more than 118,000 initial claims, 1.63 million weekly claims, more than 58,000 pieces of eCorrespondence and 1.4 million payments totaling nearly $600 million. Call-connect rates were 100 percent for April and May.In 2016, Washington paid more than $1 billion in UI benefits to 210,554 individuals— while they looked for new jobs — down from nearly 221,000 in 2015.Tax credit backlog disappears, improvements generate$55 million in tax credits to employersChanges in the way the federal Department of Defense handled information sharing, a need for updated processes and an outdated applications system left ESD’s Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) team facing overwhelming backlogs as they entered 2017. WOTC is a tax incentive for employers to hire certain hard-to-place job seekers, including veterans with disabilities, workers with a legal history and long-term unemployed. The goal is to help these individuals become economically self-sufficient by rewarding employers who give them a chance. Employers can reduce their federal business taxes from $2,400 to $9,600 per eligible employee. The team built new partnerships with the state departments of Veterans Affairs (WDVA) and Corrections and improved processes to eliminate all backlogged applications. They now process all applications within 30 days. They’ve processed 71,000 WOTC applications and approved 25,000 WOTC certifications, providing a minimum of $55 million in tax credits to Washington employers who hire these hard-to-place workers.State’s first job center opens on Joint Base Lewis-McChordWashington ranks among the top five most popular states for military personnel separating from the service. Roughly 13,000 military personnel each year select our state as their home, bringing with them a wealth of experience and a wide range of skills— and roughly 5,500 of them transition through Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM). Now, transitioning military service members and their families, civilian contractors and members of the National Guard have even more robust job search, training, and transition resources at JBLM. Gov. Jay Inslee, Maj. Gen. Mark R. Stammer and Col. Dan Morgan recently joined ESD, state Dept. of Veterans Affairs, local government and Workforce Development Council leaders from Pierce and Thurston counties to unveil the first fully integrated One Stop American Job Center facility on a military installation in Washington—and one of the first in the nation.The new facility is the latest in a number of centers, affiliates and connections sites in Washington’s WorkSource network and similar networks across the country, made up of non-profit, private and public entities, such as ESD, who come together to connect businesses and job seekers as part of the workforce development system. Every transitioning military member will have the opportunity to enroll in for services as they exit service. In 2016, ESD veterans staff helped more than 15,000 veterans in our state with employment services and jobs.ESD will have a minimum of one staffer at the facility and will offer “warm handoffs” to WorkSource offices across Washington and to other job centers across America. wins multiple awardsThe new careers site and the teams who support it won multiple awards this year for innovation, marketing and outreach.Monster Innovation Award;StateScoop State IT Innovation of the Year Award; and Puget Sound Chapter Public Relations Society of America Totem Award for Marketing Communications. currently has 180,056 job seekers registered, 9,728 employers with active accounts and 1,270,548 jobs posted. ................
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