Gov. announces review, reform at labor agency

Layouts BreadCrumbs BreadCrumbs SANTA FE – Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Friday announced an overhaul at the Department of Workforce Solutions intended to begin the process of improving the agency’s operating systems, with a specific emphasis on the unemployment benefits program that has disbursed almost $4 billion in relief to New Mexicans in need over the course of the pandemic, as well as the agency’s ability to effectively field and process calls and other outreach from unemployment claimants. Cumulatively targeted at both improving the agency’s handling of unemployment claims as well as its ability to function effectively and help New Mexicans find and retain gainful employment, the announcement encompasses several overlapping areas: Increasing staff and enhancing performance at the agency’s Unemployment Insurance Operations Center; bringing in an outside expert to comprehensively review call center operations and recommend strategic short- and long-term improvements to more effectively resolve claimants’ needs; Aggressively targeting fraud through a partnership with federal and state law enforcement authorities as well as state agencies; Bringing in an independent consultant and expert to conduct an agency-wide forensic review, coordinate the creation and development of a management and operations overhaul of the department, and create and implement an action plan for addressing short- and long-term critical priorities. “New Mexicans expect and deserve a state government that can deliver for them no matter the circumstances,” said Gov. Lujan Grisham . “Too many agencies for too many years – even decades – were underfunded, hollowed out from the inside, unprepared for emergencies. It’s our job to fix it – to get solutions now and to make sure everything we do has a long-term evaluatory impact. We will keep getting New Mexicans the unemployment assistance they are entitled to, and we will help New Mexicans who are able to work get back to work, and this department – this entire government – will always be accountable to New Mexicans.” ADDRESSING OPERATIONS CENTER The administration will hire an additional 110 workers to staff the Unemployment Insurance Operations Center, fielding more calls and assisting more claimants in need; as of Wednesday, June 9, 47 new workers had already been hired and are in training, with another roughly 60 to be hired and trained this week and next. These new hires will bring the total staff at the Operations Center from 270 to 380 individuals, an almost 300 percent increase from the center’s staffing level (103 workers) at the outset of the pandemic. (Over the course of the pandemic, the administration has sporadically and temporarily brought in groups of state government workers to assist the Operations Center.) The intent is to ensure 100 percent of callers each day are answered. With the supplemental staff, the agency estimates its Operation Center will have the capacity to handle about 7,000 unique calls each day. Over the past three weeks, the center received roughly 6,000 unique calls each day. In addition, in an effort to improve call center and constituent responsiveness operations at the agency, state Sen. Michael Padilla has volunteered in his personal capacity to review and recommend policy changes with respect to the effectiveness of the agency’s call center and response operations. Padilla, as president and chief executive of Altivus CRM Solutions, which provides multi-modal contact center operations and consulting services for customer relationship management, has two decades of experience in designing and implementing contact centers and strategies for effective constituent or customer engagement. Padilla’s assessment is intended to maximize efficiency and identify opportunities for more and more effective claimant resolutions while recommending a strategic approach to call center staffing going forward. “We have added staff, and we will add and train more,” said Gov. Lujan Grisham . “But I want our approach to be strategic – I want us to ask why these systems didn’t always work the way they needed to in an emergency and get to the bottom of how they’re going to work better. An outside, expert perspective will be invaluable in helping us answer these questions, and I’m grateful Michael has volunteered to help lend his experience to this effort on behalf of New Mexicans.” “This will be a lot of work, and I’m glad to do it,” said Sen. Padilla . “This is what I do – we’re going to take a comprehensive look at what works and what doesn’t and where we can improve, and I think at the end of this process we’ll have a great roadmap for strategic, structural improvements that will really make a difference for New Mexicans now and for years to come. I’m happy to volunteer my time in this way.” ENHANCING FRAUD DETECTION, RESPONSE The administration has established a multi-agency Fraud Specialist Team – incorporating fraud specialists from the Human Services Department, Taxation and Revenue Department and Department of Information Technology – to assist the Department of Workforce Solutions in enhancing fraud detection efforts, minimizing the impact on claimants who are entitled to benefits and improving the labor agency’s referral processes with federal and state law enforcement. The state will also partner with the state Attorney General’s Office to accelerate prosecution and recovery, in coordination with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General, on behalf of New Mexico taxpayers in instances of fraud. “Fraud is an ongoing issue at labor agencies across the country, and during the pandemic we have seen an increase in identity thieves seeking to take advantage of state systems,” said Acting Workforce Solutions Secretary Ricky Serna . “We want to protect bona fide New Mexico claimants as well as the integrity of our state system, and by bringing in partners to help us accurately detect fraud and enhance data analysis to identify…