Participation in the Webinar

1. Participation in the Webinar WELCOME- While you wait • Today’s Webinar Organizer: Carole Dotson; Presenter: Vail Dutto • Control Panel – located on the right hand side of your screen • Audio box on your control panel: • If you see a message asking you to enter a pin, please do so now followed by # • The pin can be found in the audio box when you have selected ‘use telephone’ • Click on the double arrow icon at the top of the control panel to hide • Telephone • All participants will be on mute until the organizer allows speaking access • Do not use speaker phone when speaking • Organizer will allow questions from the group at different intervals in the meeting • To ask a question: • Audio: If you would like to be taken off mute to speak to the group-Raise your hand by clicking the hand icon on the control panel next to your name • To send a question in text; type in the questions box on the control panel. Only the organizer can see any question typed into the question box and will either respond directly to you or address them with the group

2. InTelegy Basics: CSCG Educational Series Conference Calls Topic: Managing by Metrics:Focused Information Equals Results!

3. Table of Contents • Best Practices in Managing by Metrics • The Supervisor’s Three Focus Areas • Best Practices in Metrics Management • Examples from Tulare CountyGuest Speakers: Ian Moustaka, InTelegy Senior Consultant Jeff Blackmon, Tulare Service Center Manager • Key Metrics Management-Phone Productivity • Productivity Calculator- Task Productivity • Next Steps

4. The Supervisor Role • The Supervisor’s Role is equal parts Customer Focus, Employee Focus and Leadership Focus • Leadership Focus is the focus on meeting and exceeding service center goals and objectives. • Managing individual productivity and accountability is essential to the success of the service center operation.

5. Unbalanced Supervision An unbalanced Supervisor management focus means a collapse in all areas of supervision. If goals are not met, the customer is not served and the employee is not happy

6. Supervisor “Day in the Life” Beginning of Shift: • Review in-work projects, new tasks, email, and voice mail • Greet team/walk the floor/ensure workers are properly logged in/started • Complete attendance log • Review yesterday’s performance for your team; provide immediate feedback if necessary • Review phone activity reports; follow-up as required • Review task assignment and completion rates for each worker, identify priority tasks Throughout the Day: • Monitor and manage queue and service levels • Ensure sufficient phone coverage; Log On additional resources as required • Distribute work as needed to maintain productivity during any slow periods and discuss any changes with the Service Center Manager • Ensure adherence to lunch/break schedules for EWs • Answer questions/issues from EWs and handle escalated Services as required • Review tasks and calls based on the established QA/QC schedule and record results • Work with Clerical Support to prioritize tasks and maintain distribution of tasks • Deliver coaching, development, and feedback to workers End of Shift: • Finish any pending tasks for the day. • Ensure that staff have logged off from the phone and data systems Metrics Management Priorities

7. Employee One:One Meeting Content • Previous week/month TMT reports (open tasks, completed tasks, pending supervisor review) • Previous week/month phone reports (Weekly User Report, Occupancy Report ) • QA call review and case reviews • Monthly work schedule • Open Action Items- last meeting notes • Performance Improvement Plan

8. Best Practices in Metrics Management Best Practices – Metrics Management • Take complete ownership over your team’s outcome measures achievement. You control your team’s productivity, areas for improvement and overall ability to meet those outcome measures. • Thoroughly understand the definition of each Outcome Measure and the potential impact each metric has on the Service Center and the client. • Make sure that your employees also thoroughly understand the definition of each outcome measure and the potential impact each metric has on the Service Center and the client. • Understand what reports are accessible to you and how to read and analyze those reports. Utilize all reports available to you to consistently observe your team’s performance against each metric on a daily, weekly, mid-monthly and monthly basis. • Prepare and provide the appropriate coaching to your employees on their performance against the metrics. Provide consistent, honest and specific recognition and feedback. • Understand what your daily, weekly, and end month activities should include. Make goals focused on performing those activities thoroughly and consistently

9. Examples from Tulare County Guest Speakers: Ian Moustaka, InTelegy Senior Consultant Jeff Blackmon, Tulare Service Center Manager • Key Metrics Management - Phone Productivity • Productivity Calculator - Task Productivity

10. The Challenge in January 2009 • Case levels rising • Staffing levels falling due to budget situation, recruitment ban • Customer service levels dropping • Pressure on staff morale • Quantity of open tasks increasing

11. Jan 09 Situation: Case Levels Rising Case Growth 42% Growth in 12 months

12. Jan 09 Situation: Staffing Level Falling • 8% decrease in EW staff by Jan 2009 • Recruitment ban implemented in October 2008 due to budget crisis • Number of eligibility workers gradually falling – even with support workers (e.g. Staff Development, QA) transferred to line roles • Lay-offs being planned for Feb-Mar 2009 with a further round of lay-offs likely

13. Jan 09 Situation: Service Level Dropping Analysis by Quarter for 2008: Service Level versus AHT • Service level goal – 80% of calls answered in 20 secs • Performance steadily declining before recruitment ban, as AHT rises. • AHT not closely managed. • Summary – A bad situation. Not only was our workload increasing rapidly during a recruitment ban, our phone staffing efficiency was dropping.

14. Jan 09 Situation: Task Backlog Increasing 46% growth in 15 weeks

15. Solution • Emphasize individual productivity measurements • Change the way supervisors use individual productivity measurements • Empower EWs with the information on a more regular and timely basis for self-management • Make it focused and rewarding • Challenge EWs to meet objectives in “Focus Day” • Reward achievement with a change of phone schedule (1/2 hour less on phone each day if objectives met) • 3 Key phone objectives at individual level • AHT < 7:30 for every worker (< 6 for Center) • Not ready + work time < 25% of logged on time • Logged on time > scheduled time

16. 3 Key Components of Implementation Plan for Feb 25 Metrics “Focus Day” • Led by Manager – e.g. Jeff spoke passionately to each team, convincing them of the need to change and to take responsibility for managing their own time. • Much better feedback - Daily feedback early each morning. Focus on objective results in monthly 1-1 meetings. Results included in annual reviews, promotion considerations. • Supervisors buying into new role – More time helping to improve performance (e.g. coaching re productivity goals and QA), less time answering calls or ensuring that workers in the right phone mode (workers manage their time far better).

17. Results of Metrics “Focus Day” on Feb 25 • Productivity for phone workers up 30% immediately, sustained since. • Quality of service improved – both timeliness and independent phone QA. • Phone workers answering more phone calls AND doing more tasks • Less use of case maintenance workers for phone back-up – 1847 calls answered in January down to 50 in August

18. Feb 25 Initiative- A success! Service level up (with reduced phone schedules) due to improvements in schedule adherence and AHT Logged on time unavailable to clients (i.e. Not Ready + Work) dropped from 45% to 17%. Decrease in after call work is major reason for 30% improvement in productivity compared to January. Talk time has not decreased. With reduced phone schedules for both phone staff and particularly back-up staff, more resources available for case maintenance activities Maintaining improvements depends on regular feedback and coaching

19. Call Handling Statistics - 2009

20. What Could Go Wrong? • Reduced quality of customer service? • This effort is combined with a QA focus from Supervisors • Scores went up since February • 3 per EW per month • Reduced management attention when stats are high? • Reduced staff (slowly dropping) • Increased calls (currently increasing) • Change happens, staying on top of the information allows you the ability to make better decisions about process and resources

21. Example 2 - Productivity Calculator • The overall challenge applied to tasks and phones- cases up, staff down, work up! • To help improve individual, team and center performance, we needed to share apples to apples comparisons with peers (and over time) • Stats and comparisons allowed quick objective identification of: • Benchmarks for strong performers; and • Areas where urgent improvement required

22. Tulare Productivity Calculator

23. Tulare Productivity Calculator Data Sources

24. Steps to using calculator • Collect data sources and complete calculator for the month • Individual level reports used in monthly One:One meetings with Supervisors and Staff- Compare with individual productivity objectives • Unit and Individual level reports used in Manager: Supervisor meetings

25. Monthly Comparison: Tasks Completed Per FTE

26. Monthly Comparison: Phone Calls Answered Per FTE

27. Results

28. Summary of Tulare Examples • Emphasis on metrics led to improved productivity • Caseload almost doubled: Dec 2007- 30,259 vs. August 2009- 57,425 • Staff Decreased by 11%: Dec 2007- 98 EW vs. August 2009 87 EW • Latest Oct 09 results - Tasks completed/FTE increased by 30% since Dec 2008 introduction of productivity calculator; • Latest Oct 09 results - Calls completed/Phone FTE up 36% since Feb 2009 “Focus Day” to implement individual phone metrics • Customer Service improved significantly: 90% Client calls now answered in 20 seconds or less; Vast majority of RRR’s, QR7’s and MSR’s completed on time every month; QA scores up • Planning for the immediate future: • Workload continues to grow (winter peak season ahead); • Staffing continues to shrink; • Moving quickly to recruit eligibility workers ASAP • Need to plan (and take action) for the longer term. Continue to look at options for efficiency beyond current service center functions.

29. Next Steps In Improving Performance Management in Tulare • Provide more objective assessments for case maintenance workers – e.g. QA scorecard for review of key case work; Overall performance scorecard with weighted score of productivity, quality and other performance measures • Several other recommendations to be implemented when priorities allow, for example: • Service Center Manager to review Supervisor’s focus: implement stronger coaching guidelines, training and best practice examples to improve coaching and supervisors’ contribution to performance management • improve dashboard reports with better QA and TMT info • introduce stronger client focus via regular client surveys

30. CSCG: Coming Up The next CSCG Conference Call: Feb 17 Service Center Technology: The Next Generation Agenda • Discussion on the impact of a state-wide IVR • Appointment Scheduling • Self-Help Kiosks Guest Speakers: Service Center Technology Providers- TBD