ESD reports call and payment timeliness gaps, outlines separations project and UI modernization plan

UI claims center staff reported the department is missing federal targets for several core performance measures and outlined a portfolio of projects aimed at improving timeliness and customer experience.

"So the orange bars are showing you the average number of high call volume messages ... The blue line ... showing percentage of calls that are being answered timely ... between 70–80% of our calls are being answered timely," a presenter said while reviewing recent months. The presenter told the committee the Department of Labor target for first‑payment timeliness is 87%, and the department has been at about 61% since March. Nonmonetary decision timeliness has been around 40% (target 80%).

Staff described three priority projects: a separations discovery project focused on mapping workflows and customer/staff pain points to reduce the separations backlog; a Striking Workers phase‑2 project to support the statutory report, claimant notifications (including overpayment warnings), and adding work‑search flags; and a UI modernization roadmap being produced by a vendor assessment that will identify costs and needs but would require additional funding to implement.

Officials said the separations project will produce recommendations that could generate future portfolio initiatives and that modernization would need budgetary decisions to proceed.