In a move reminiscent of his administration’s work to modernize the California Department of Motor Vehicles, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday announced the formation of a strike team to improve the state’s response to unemployment claims.
The effort is still in its very early stages, its leaders told Techwire directly and through their staff; but broadly, a key goal appears to be a transformation of the technology underpinning California Economic Development Department (EDD), which has been criticized for how it has dealt with aspects of the unemployment crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the takeaways:
• Newsom announced three main actions aimed at better serving the unemployed – with creation of the strike team leading that list. The team will be headed by California Government Operations Agency Secretary Yolanda Richardson and Jennifer Pahlka, advisor to the United States Digital Response and the former founder of the United States Digital Service. Its mission will center on modernizing IT programs, and creating “a blueprint for improvements at EDD, including a re-imagining of their technology systems,” the Governor’s office said in a news release, as well as enhancing EDD’s customer experience.
“We need to re-prioritize the user experience in the design and implementation of government IT systems so that state government works better for the people of California,” Richardson said via email. “The Governor wants us to make transformative change, and we are ready to roll up our sleeves with EDD on this important new effort to rethink how we serve the people of California online and support the public servants who work for them.”
• EDD will also “focus on immediately processing claims,” the Governor’s office said. It will prioritize the oldest unemployment claims first, and “actively” process all claims in the Pending Resolution category. The department “anticipates eliminating the backlog of actionable claims by the end of September,” according to the news release. The EDD, which saw 3.2 million people file unemployment claims in six weeks this spring as the pandemic took hold, has also seen the speed with which it makes initial payments decline. EDD made initial payments within 14 calendar days on 87.8 percent of claims in March, but that number fell to 51.9 percent by June, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing a report by department Director Sharon Hilliard. The agency will begin “immediate and weekly reminders to claimants” to certify their claims and will work with the Legislature and advocates to “create more user-friendly notifications and enhance the (unemployment insurance) UI Online customer service experience,” the Governor’s office said.
“Unprecedented demand due to job loss during this pandemic paired with an antiquated system have created an unacceptable backlog of claims. Californians deserve better, and these reform efforts aim to move the Department in that direction,” Newsom said in a statement.
• EDD will start addressing a backlog of unpaid claims by improving customer communication, including streamlining its call center with an updated Interactive Voice Response (IVR) automation, to route callers to call center representatives will training in their unique issues. The department has processed more than 8 million unemployment insurance claims and distributed more than $49 billion in unemployment benefits since March; and has created an online chatbot to provide claimant information and FAQ resources, and launched a text messaging alert system on claim status. The chatbot has had 3.6 million inquiries since its April launch; the text system has sent nearly 7 million texts to nearly 3 million claimants since its launch. Julie A. Su, Secretary of the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, said in a statement Wednesday that officials are “committed” to improving the UI experience.
“While we have faced unprecedented challenges this year, unemployment insurance should be a human-centered system that supports people during hard times,” Su said, echoing a letter she wrote Wednesday to the Legislature documenting changes underway at EDD.
“With the work currently being done at EDD, along with the new strategies announced by the Governor, we will have a roadmap to address the administration of benefits and ensure people who are eligible receive those benefits,” she told Techwire via email.
• Newsom ordered the strike team’s roadmap delivered within 45 days. In an email, Pahlka said the “challenges facing government today are complex,” but indicated state employees “have the will and the skills to update government services so they can help more people more quickly.”
“I look forward to helping the Newsom administration by recommending updates to policies, processes and technology to enable scalable, agile, human-centered services to meet the needs of Californians claiming unemployment benefits,” she said.
