MADISON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — More than 90% of the calls to the state unemployment office went unanswered during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic, a new audit has found.
Difficulty reaching the call centers and a backlog of unemployment claims have been well documented since the pandemic hit Wisconsin in March. The problems led Gov. Tony Evers to ask Caleb Frostman to resign as Department of Workforce Development secretary last week.
According to the report from the Legislative Audit Bureau, between March 15 and June 30, 38.3 million of the 41.1 million total calls to call centers were blocked or received busy signals. Another 6.2% of calls were abandoned by the callers before they were answered. Only .5% of calls were answered.
Between April 26 and Aug. 22, only 6.6% of initial claims were filed by people who called. Claims can also be filed online.
Between March 15 and July 31, DWD paid workers at the three call centers $9.3 million.
DWD increased its call center staffing from 90 employees on March 31 to 188 on July 31. The agency also increased the hours of operation for the call centers. As of July 30, Wisconsin’s call center hours per week were the second-highest of seven Midwestern states.
One vendor that was contractually required to have at least 500 full-time equivalent staff positions when it began answering calls on May 20 did not actually have that many employees until the week of July 19.
The audit bureau recommended DWD report weekly the number of calls that were unable to reach call centers, make public records of phone call data and require call center contractors to report certain required information on their performance.
DWD’s Transition Director, Amy Pechacek , released this statement Friday:
“DWD continues to work to overcome the unique challenges presented throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and is committed to continuous improvement to better serve Wisconsin residents. We appreciate the Legislative Audit Bureau’s review and recommendations provided through this audit, which will improve the transparency and oversight of UI operations both during and after this public health emergency.
To date, the Unemployment Insurance (UI) Division has processed over 6 million claims and has paid out over $3.7 billion in unemployment benefits over the past six months. These benefits have helped our neighbors navigate extraordinarily difficult times and have helped stabilize entire communities across the state.
UI received an unprecedented number of calls into its UI help center throughout the spring and early summer, receiving nearly 5.8 million calls in one week. Many Wisconsinites impacted by COVID-19 had never before applied for unemployment insurance so understandably had many questions about the program and the application process, as well as about the new programs and changes passed by the federal and state governments. DWD’s antiquated IT system hamstrung DWD’s ability to quickly implement new changes and programs, which prompted even more calls and questions into the UI help center.
By significantly increasing its telephone system capacity, help center hours, and staff, UI has been able to markedly improve its customer service to UI claimants and accept nearly all calls into the UI help center since late July.”
