Washington State Employment Security Department Innovating UI Programs through Business Process Reengineering Steve Ruggles, UI Benefits Administrator

Who is Washington State UI? Unemployment Insurance Benefits Division – Approximately 300 staff Two main Claim Centers, Special Programs, and Office of Special Investigations Two Claim Centers – Spokane and Lacey Special Programs – Shared Work, Training Benefits, Trade Readjustment Allowance, Job Search Review Center, Special Wage & Benefits Office of Special Investigations – Fraud, Identity, and Data Mining units Central Office – Budget, Lean, Training TAA = Trade Adjustment Assistance

We travelled down both roads

Where we started UI Benefits started the transition to continuous improvement/Lean in 2012 Inconsistent processes (150 adjudicators using their own process) Various answers depending on who you asked (policy, sups, leads, Spokane, Seattle) Unpredictable production levels Our first efforts – standard work in adjudication Adjudication teams (2) Continuous improvement teams ( - lesson learned) Template teams (+ lesson learned) Standard work teams

Process mapping at our first kaizen

Our journey Greenbelt training (slam dunk projects) Blackbelt training Lean/Continuous Improvement Project Manager Outside Lean consultant Visual management boards Lean leadership training for sups/leads ( - lesson learned, start this earlier than we did) Staff involvement (use their ideas) Communication (there is never enough, but make this a priority – 7 ways/7 times) Certified 60 staff in Lean/Six Sigma Green Belt training Completed numerous “slam dunk” projects in training Certified 3 staff in Black Belt Lean/Six Sigma training Hired Divisions Lean/Organizational Development Manager Brought in contracted Lean Business Consultant Partnered for Lean Leadership training for managers, supervisors, and lead workers Get staff involved – asked them what needed to be fixed Communication – this was a major focus on all efforts. Communicate early and often. Be transparent.

Green Belt projects Peer to peer training MG (gross misconduct) issue Pension/School specialization D2/D9 project Quarterly review (formerly SST) Staff privacy on emails Huddle improvement Reduce reoccurring questions Standardize standby Reduce 1099 calls Reducing defects in job search review Streamline and document UCX/UCFE process Talk about a few key projects

Other improvements Continuous improvement teams - One Fix-It Team for UI processes (Future Investment eXamining Improvement Team) Template team SharePoint teams Policy question process Hybrid – combining intake & adjudication for first call resolution Visual boards/huddles Adjudication quality

Quarterly quality (BTQ) scores Had consistently not met BTQ goals for separation decisions. Team of about 10 met in June 2013 to do root cause analysis and make recommendations. Kaizen & Improvement efforts

Baseline data collection & root cause Number of decisions with these defects 2nd quarter 2012 through 1st quarter 2013 Reviewed 287 written decisions Focused efforts on the top three

What we did about quality Due process quick win Kaizen event Quick checks Quality reviews Umpire consistency

Due process adjudication defects Baseline data was a review of the 287 decisions written Success measures was based on a review of 1,578 decisions written March – August 2014 Other things done – Implemented a quick check form so that sups and leads can review a large number of decisions quickly focusing on just the top three areas. Later implemented a more thorough quality review of the entire decision

Quality reviews Quick Checks Quality Reviews Large volumes conducted by supewrvisors/leads Do we have an issue Date of separation Start date of the decision Due process followed Quality Reviews Review two decisions per adjudicator each week Immediate in person feedback Training and learning focused

Quarterly quality (BTQ) scores As you can see we made significant improvements and with little exception, we have sustained it for several quarters Kaizen & Improvement efforts

2016 Call connect rate

2015 vs 2016 Call connect rate 2016

Where are we now? Building on lessons learned Improving and using visual management boards Going live with a new UI System Customer First Initiative – one piece flow

Any questions?

Thank you Steve Ruggles, Administrator Spokane UI Claims Center 509-893-7001