This is not a blog about unemployment. But many laid-off individuals have told me they found my posts helpful, and I hope that has made things slightly better for them. I want to illustrate another problem and solution here that I hope gets the attention of someone who can do something about it…
This morning, I recorded one of the half-dozen calls I made to the Department of Unemployment Assistance to re-open my claim. The problem is, when you call the DUA, you get a message that says they are too busy to take your call. That wouldn’t be so annoying if it did not come 3 minutes into each call, after you have punched your way through a phone tree of questions and typed in AND CONFIRMED your social security number and year of birth. Listen to the call to see what I mean.
Legal note: It is a crime to record any conversation, whether oral or wire, without the consent of all parties in Massachusetts. The phone call above was never answered;I would have terminated the recording had a person answered. An unanswered phone call is not a conversation; there is no person’s privacy to violate, and no intent to record a conversation, since the entire purpose was to document the automated system.
For a person who is trying to file a claim over the phone, this is what they must deal with. I’m not exaggerating when I say I called them 4 times today, 3 times yesterday, and several times the day before.
Apparently, the 4th try was the charm this morning…I was then greeted by “the average wait time now 42 minutes.” About 42 minutes later (at least the system is accurate!) I got through to a person. The conversation when something like this:
Me: Hi, I need to reopen an existing claim.
DUA: I see you had income last week. Did you work for someone or are you self-employed?
Me: Self-employed.
DUA: Ok, your claim is now re-opened. You can file tomorrow online.
Me: Thank you.
I’ve got a novel idea. How about adding this to the phone tree of questions. “Press 1 to re-open your claim.” Or, even more radical, how about modifying the online process to allow submitting the information online?
An even better idea would be for the Commonwealth to hire me as a CIO for resolving some of these issues. I KNOW the problem is not technical; it would not take an MIT engineer to figure out how to optimize the process. But someone needs to want it badly enough to push through the bureaucracy and make small improvements here and there–to look at this from the perspective of the people using the system, and realize that it’s not just about making my filing easier, it’s about getting me off hold so other people with more urgent claims can get through.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve had the same experience! And, had the same thought that this should be automated some how. Keep writing Dave, it’s comforting to know I’m not the only one.
-Rachel (@bostonmarketer)
Amen to that- and that doesn’t even count trying to OPEN up a claim. Their process is VERY antiquated. Now going to nominate you for CIO over there….
I’ll second your nomination for CIO…if you hire me as your deputy!
Seriously, I’m on hold with DUA as I type due to my filling out the form incorrectly (well, correctly to my perception but bad to theirs). But rather than push-dial the options, I’m half pretending I have a rotary phone to see what happens and half frustrated the form cut me off before I could correct the error.
If you are calling for an extension or just anything, when it ask you to enter your social…just keep hitting 0 it will then take you to the operator.
i find it amusing how it told me to just call back tomorrow, yet after hitting 0 and waiting 15 mins i was able to speak to someone.
I totally agree that more has to be done online. The process isn’t complicated but definitely doesn’t work.
Last November I had the same experience on the phone so I went downtown one afternoon to take care of it in person. I brought a book because I knew it would take a while. After driving around awhile to find a meter spot, I headed to the building on Staniford Street, only to find a hand-written sign on the locked door. It was only 3:00 but they closed the office early because there were too many people in the office.
You’d think this could all be done online now… I was able to open a new claim on Saturday after waiting only (!) 35 minutes, but I screwed up the weekly income number so I have to call first thing tomorrow, because the call volume is so bad now that you’re restricted to calling only on certain days based on the last digit of your SSN. If I could change this online I would, but you can’t. At least you can do the weekly thing online.
Still, beats driving to the closest office which for me is Haverhill.
I find it amusing that they have the stones to call it the Division of Unemployment Assistance.
Wow. As we look at visionary ways to do government, there is still so much wrong at the baseline tech level (I say as I gather paper documents from the Web, hunt for my son’s IDs and schedule time off work to register for kindergarten).
Good lord. I moved to Boston in October, and got laid off from my IT job in CT the week that I moved. Thus, I had to file in CT. You can open an initial claim over the phone (long hold times, then a clerk takes your details.) After that, you can file a continued claim once a week on the phone (fully automated) or online.