Report 2020-128/628.1 Recommendation 14 Responses

Report 2020-128/628.1: Employment Development Department: EDD's Poor Planning and Ineffective Management Left It Unprepared to Assist Californians Unemployed by COVID‑19 Shutdowns (Release Date: January 2021)

Recommendation #14 To: Employment Development Department

To assess the effectiveness of its call center, by May 2021 EDD should implement a policy for tracking and monitoring its rate of first-call resolution. EDD should review first-call resolution data at least monthly to evaluate whether it is providing effective assistance to callers.

The Unemployment Insurance Branch (UIB) has implemented the Every Customer Has Opinions (ECHO) Survey on January 19, 2022. The ECHO Survey is an after-call survey that allows select customers calling into the Virtual Contact Center (VCC) platform to provide feedback regarding first-call resolution, representative professionalism, and representative knowledge and experience. Additionally, the ECHO survey will allow customers to leave a 90-second recording about their experience with the UIB during their call. On February 23, 2022, the UIB implemented the ECHO Survey in Cantonese, Mandarin, Spanish, and Vietnamese. The UIB will use the ECHO Survey results to improve first-call resolution, provide targeted agent training, and recognize good customer service efforts. When a customer is offered to provide feedback via the ECHO Survey, they will be automatically sent to the survey after their current call ends. However, if the customer opts into the survey and the call is disconnected the customer will receive a callback at the number they provided when opting into the survey within two to three minutes from the call being disconnected.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Fully Implemented

We reviewed documentation and data provided by EDD of its ECHO survey and data of its first call resolution percentages for January and February. Based on these sources of data, it appears EDD has useful information to evaluate whether it is providing effective assistance to callers and identify opportunities for improvement.

The Employment Development Department's Unemployment Insurance Command Center Division has worked in collaboration with the Information Technology Branch (ITB) to provide the after-call survey questions that focus on first-call resolution, as well as, a 90-second option for customers to provide feedback regarding the experience with the Unemployment Insurance Branch. The after-call survey prompts have been provided to the ITB and the project is on track for implementation by January 31, 2022.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

The Employment Development Department's Unemployment Insurance Command Center Division (UICCD) has begun tracking and monitoring its First Call Resolution (FCR) data associated with the FCR policy developed in May 2021. The UICCD has also identified an after-call survey technological solution to align with the FCR policy and data. The UICCD has collaborated with the Information Technology Branch to implement the "Every Customer Has Opinions" automated survey into the Virtual Contact Center platform.

To address the comments provided by the California State Auditor, the UICCD has also attached a copy of the FCR report for August 2021 titled, "First Call Resolution Metrics (August 2021).pdf".

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Partially Implemented

We have reviewed the FCR report EDD provided from August 2021 and are encouraged EDD has begun collecting these data. We look forward to EDD providing additional data and its evaluation of whether these data indicate it is providing effective assistance to callers as well as any actions it intends to take in response to the data. We also look forward to the results of the automated survey EDD indicates it has implemented.

In May 2021, the EDD's Unemployment Insurance Command Center Division has developed a First Call Resolution (FCR) policy and will continue to research technological capabilities to support the FCR policy, which will include an after-call survey to align with the October 2021 date to determine whether the EDD is providing effective assistance to its customers.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Partially Implemented

We reviewed the policy that EDD has developed for tracking and monitoring its rate of first-call resolution. As of this assessment date, EDD has not provided evidence it is reviewing the first-call resolution data. We look forward to reviewing the department's efforts in this area and EDD's evaluation of its effectiveness at providing assistance to callers.

The EDD is currently working to develop and refine policy to track and monitor First Call Resolution data by May 31, 2021.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Status: Pending

All Recommendations in 2020-128/628.1

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.