November 14, 2011

Rhode Island

Benefit Year Earnings (BYE): Root Causes Identified:

Agency Causes Poorly worded messaging Staff do not “Own Integrity” Workflow issues

Claimant Causes Lack of understanding Sense of entitlement Misrepresentation of fact

Employer Causes Late or incomplete responses to requests for information Misunderstanding of role and responsibilities

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Benefit Year Earnings (BYE):

Planned actions to address: Investigate better messaging techniques through UI messaging sub

committee Employer Education Series Staff education on “Everyone Owns Integrity”

Principle milestones: Conduct Employer Education Series targeting UI Fraud on Nov. 3,

2011 UI Messaging Sub Committee starting in November 2011 Conduct additional Employee Education Session in Adjudication, UI

101 and Benefit Charge prior to the end of November 2011

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Separations (SEPs): Root Causes Identified:

Agency Causes Not addressing returned employer forms in a timely manner Not processing adjudication decisions in a timely manner Poor messaging on fraud and claimant responsibilities

Claimant Causes Misunderstanding reason for separation Misrepresenting reason for separation

Employer Causes Late responses to forms Incomplete responses to forms Not clearly communicating separation reasons to claimant and

the agency

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Separations:

Planned actions to address: Implement UI SIDES Create Employer Form focus group Improve claimant messaging

Principle milestones: Launch UI SIDES (anticipated in November 2011) Increase staff assigned to back office work to address employer

forms (October 2011) Post signage in One Stop Career Centers, customer outreach via

predictive dialer, messages in the newspaper, and other media activity (ongoing)

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Work Search Issues: Root Causes Identified:

Agency Causes Currently do not collect weekly work search for ES claims Do not review work search data randomly (data is not

collected) Limited resources to review work search logs

Claimant Causes Do not understand work search requirement Do not keep work search log Do not conduct work search

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Work Search Issues :

Planned actions to address: Revise messaging to illustrate work search requirement Require work search log as part of weekly certification Gather work search records through Interactive Web Response

system (IWR) Principle milestones:

Revise messaging on Interactive Voice Response (IVR), IWR and update Benefit Rights

Modify IWR to collect work search data Update automated payment system to reject certification if work

search does not meet criteria

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Issue 1: Benefit Year Earnings

Root causes identified: Claimant’s do not understand what earnings to report Claimant’s do not understand when to report earnings Claimant’s do not realize that failure to report earnings has penalties

Planned actions to address issue: Improve messaging by making our language more clear Improve access to information via online knowledge base and one

stop career centers Illustrate that working and collecting is fraud and highlight penalties

Principle milestones: Messaging subcommittee Media Campaign

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Issue 2: Separation Issues

Root causes identified: Late or incomplete employer forms Inability to address employer forms in a timely manner Incorrect information provided at claim filing

Planned actions to address issue: UI SIDES Implementation Employer Form focus group Improve claimant messaging

Principle milestones: UI SIDES Implementation to be completed in November Employer form focus group to launch in November Messaging subcommittee to start in November

Strategies to Support Owning UI Integrity:

Educate every staff member to: Understand the problem Understand how they can help Feel like they can make a difference

Develop processes to: Accept new ideas Foster employee input Respond to changing demands

Management oversight: Regular review of improper payment statistics

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Communication Strategies:

To claimants: Signage in the One Stop Career Centers Instructional videos on agency web site Media outreach

To employers:

Employer Education Series

Additional content on agency web site

Educational material to provide UI 101 to employers

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Communication Strategies, Continued:

To State UI staff: Training Sessions to share data and strategic plan Status updates on progress Method for suggestions on how to improve operations

To the Public: Media campaign Improved messaging illustrating enforcement Media focus on prosecutions

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“Integrity: Own It!”

Questions?

State Contact for follow-up:

Raymond A. Filippone, Assistant Director

Phone: 401-462-8415

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