United We Succeed!

- A Message from Ron Kreher, Chief of Field Services -

Over the last week or so, it has been necessary to redistribute work from the Central Region to offices across the state.  The Director and the division’s leadership team asked me to share with you their belief and expectation that our ability to provide direct services and supports to our clientele requires a collective commitment and, at times, a statewide effort to ensure that needy Alaskans get the services and supports they require.

The Workload Challenge: We all anticipated the economic downturn to hit low income families and the working poor hard.  Initially, its affect on Alaska’s neediest individuals and families was not as sudden or as extreme as it has been in many states in the lower 48. We have been monitoring the impact on our work closely and over the last six months virtually every DPA office has seen an increase in the numbers of households seeking our assistance. 

While we’ve seen only modest growth in the Temporary Assistance, APA, and Medicaid caseloads, our food stamp caseload has grown by 16% over this time last year.  We can also anticipate, like every year, an additional spike in applications and requests for our services in the coming winter months.  

Every office and region is seeing more people and staff strain to manage the work. However, the impact on the Central Region has been staggering. Over 60% of the state’s ATAP caseload, almost 55% of the APA cases and close to 50% of Alaska’s Food Stamp cases are found in the Central Region.  In the last the last 6 months application volumes in the region have, on average, increased almost 20%.  In the previous 12 months, the Central Region averaged almost 3,500 applications from all programs every month.  Excluding DKC and Senior Benefits, that’s almost half of the applications received statewide. Given the number of applications normally received in the region, the 20% increase has generated an enormous volume of work. 

This is a challenge for the Division, not just the Central Region and I have asked every region to pitch in and help out.  Our regional managers have collaborated to craft a plan that, with the collective effort of every possible staff person, will give Central Region the support that ensures clients in Anchorage get the services and supports they need.  Volunteers have also stepped forward from Quality Assurance, Policy and Program Development, System Operations, the Field Services Support Unit, and Program Integrity and Analysis.

Over the next four weeks about 1,000 new applications will be distributed to the Northern, Southeast and Coastal Regions. About 250 safety net cases are in the process of being transferred to Kenai,  and 350 APA cases are going to the Southeast  Region. Pending our ability to get a non-permanent position approved, over 500 APA cases will be going to Fairbanks.  These are not permanent arrangements, but will serve as stop gap measures essential to ensuring clients in Anchorage get prompt service.

Maintaining our client focus:  Virtually every person that comes to our agency is in crisis or needs some service or support for themselves or a family member that only we can provide.  Your ability to consistently deliver excellent customer service is a hallmark of our agency.   It is not, however, just a matter of professional competence.  Our staff, your co-workers, are caring, compassionate, and sensitive to the issues confronting people in need. 

There is no denying that the jobs of Eligibility Technician and Office Assistants can be, even in the best of times, a challenge.  The work is complex, there is a lot of work to be done, and performance standards and expectations are high.  Meeting these expectations and maintaining a focus on the people we serve and our concern for their needs becomes more challenging and even more essential whenever, and for whatever reason, the workload demands increase.

While our commitment to excellent customer service is a fundamental quality of everyone in our agency, we also excel at teamwork.  DPA employees have a tremendous sense of a common purpose and a desire to help every Alaskan who needs our help regardless of where they live.  You have consistently demonstrated your willingness to help our clients and your co-workers every time it has been necessary to reassign work. You recognized the importance of seeing our statewide caseload as a collective responsibility when DKC was struggling with an enormous backlog of applications and again when we were deluged with Heating Assistance applications. When we were under threat of a Food Stamp sanction, Quality Assurance staff stepped forward to provide help with Clean Sweep case reviews. There have been many other times when an office or unit was short staffed and you were there to help. Your flexibility, willingness, and proven aptitude in assisting your teammates across the state helps guarantee that all of our clientele receive the services and supports they need. Your recognition that managing the Division’s workload is a statewide responsibility is deeply appreciated.

What is else is DPA doing to help? I know I am asking a lot from all of you and I also know that you are wondering what we are doing to respond to workload demands across the state, not just in the Central Region.  What follows are some of the major things underway that we are doing or have in the works to provide support for you so you can manage the work and continue to provide the best possible service to the needy individuals and families that rely on us to help them meet their basic needs.

First and foremost, regions are aggressively recruiting to fill vacant positions.  Our recruiting methods have become more sophisticated and I believe we are hiring the best possible candidates for our jobs.  Statewide, the vacancy rate is the lowest it’s been in a long time and this is especially true in the Central Region.  

Efforts are underway to improve our business practices and streamline processes. The method for documenting case notes was recently revised to help reduce the amount of time and effort that is expended documenting case actions.

The new Eligibility Technician Resource Guide will soon be finalized and implemented.  This is a compendium of recognized best practices from throughout the state that experienced ETs have been using to ensure the best possible service to our clients to provide quality results.

Regional managers continue to work closely with Staff Development and Training to provide a range of training opportunities to build on and refresh core curriculum training.

The Regional Managers are developing leadership procedures manual that will be a powerful tool to help orient new leaders and supervisors to their roles and responsibilities.

We are also in the initial stages of developing and implementing Electronic Document Management (EDM), in other words paperless case files.  This technology will make it much easier for us to manage the flow of case records and improve the efficiency of transferring applications and files between offices and regions.  In visits to other states, we’ve learned the EDM is essential to support other process improvement initiatives such as call centers and on-line applications.

We are planning a meeting in October of a cross section of DPA staff to take a new look at critical business practices and processes in order to ensure that we can sustain a strong customer focus while making certain  that every step in our core processes is efficient and value added.

Enhancements to EIS are in development to make it more user friendly and we are in the initial stages of researching alternatives to this venerable and powerful tool.

Last but not least, we are moving forward on the ET Classification Study. We have every expectation the study will help establish a stronger career ladder within the job class and that it will also recognize the complexity and professional nature of the work and make these positions more competitive and desirable in the job market.  I have met with the Division of Personnel team assigned to the ET study and we have put together our team to begin the work. I’ll be providing more information on our plan of action shortly.

Well, I suppose you could have finished an interview, completed a case review, or registered a handful of applications in the time it took to read this message. But, I hope that it gives you some sense of why we needed to add more to your already full plates and what we are planning to help make your jobs easier and the workload more manageable.

My thanks again to each you for everything you do each day. United we stand.