16-15 Rapid Re-Employment

Purpose

Update standards, guidelines, and procedures for our rapid re-employment service

Background

Unemployment insurance claimants register with Workforce Solutions as a condition of receiving their benefits.  We work with these customers (as we do with any others) to get them to a job as quickly as possible.  Claimants usually have good skills and work history - they are likely appropriate candidates for many of the current job openings we have available.

We contact a subset of claimants - identified through profiling as individuals likely to exhaust their benefits before returning to work - and require them to interact with us.  Once we have called in a profiled claimant, that individual must contact us or risk losing his or her unemployment insurance payments.

We are making changes to our existing service for these customers that include:

• Refocusing the work of the call-in team
• Adjusting the process for orientation
• Adding a requirement for employment planning
• Reminding recruiters/staffing specialists of the value of these candidates

The Re-Employment Team

We have a staff team dedicated to work with profiled claimants (formerly called the Placement Team).  Our Re-Employment Team initiates the letters that call in profiled claimants to Workforce Solutions.

These staff also provide service to claimants that contact the team in response to our call-in letters.  They may also refer a claimant to an office for in-person or expanded assistance.   The Re-Employment Team works primarily as a call center, working with customers and other Workforce Solutions staff by telephone and email.   The team is available by phone at 713.334.5900 or through email at reemploymentteam@wrksolutions.com .

Orientation

Our call-in notice to profiled claimants gives them three ways to contact us and complete the initial requirements to maintain their benefits.

1. Claimants may access the Workforce Re-Employment page on our website.
2. Claimants may telephone the Re-Employment Team.
3. Claimants may visit any Workforce Solutions career office.

  Attachment 1 to this Issuance shows the detailed process for each of these options.

Employment Plan

As a part of our service for these customers, we must work with each profiled claimant who contacts us (regardless of the way in which he or she contacts us) to complete an employment plan and take concrete steps to return to work.

The process in Attachment 1 describes how the employment planning takes place.

Candidates for Open Jobs

Recruiters and staffing specialists in particular should look to new claimants and newly profiled claimants as good candidates for currently open job postings.

Remember:

Claimants and profiled claimants are customers just like any other.  Listen carefully as a customer describes his wants and needs; ask good questions about skills, work history, employment goals, and needs for skill upgrading; and provide appropriate professional advice to help this customer return to work.

Staff can connect these customers with all the service available through Workforce Solutions including:   ü  Job search seminars ü  Career counseling, guidance and planning ü  Financial aid for skill upgrading, retraining, or support

Action

1. Make sure all staff at every level is aware of the information in this issuance.
2. Make sure that office managers, supervisors, and staff know the process for serving profiled claimants.
3. Make sure that office managers, supervisors, and staff know how to record service for profiled claimants in TWIST and WorkInTexas.com.

Questions

Staff should ask questions of their supervisors first.  Direct questions for Board staff through the electronic Issuance Q&A.

Rapid Re-Employment Service Process

1. Call-In
   The Re-Employment Team generates the letters to claimants which call them in to Workforce Solutions.  These letters provide the customer with the options for contacting us and receiving service.

2. Contacting Workforce Solutions
   Claimants may complete the requirement to contact us by:

a. Visiting the Workforce Re-Employment page at www.wrksolutions.com.

After reviewing the online information, the customer must send their contact information and completed employment plan in an email to reemploymentteam@wrksolutions.com.

Workforce Solutions staff will respond by sending the customer:
i. Acknowledgement the claimant completed the required contact.
ii. Referrals to jobs appropriate to the customer's employment history and skills and
iii. An invitation to visit or call a career office for additional assistance.

b. Calling the Reemployment Team at 713.334.5900 or a career office at 888.469.JOBS to receive an   orientation over the phone.  Staff who complete an orientation by phone will:

i. Provide information about Workforce Solutions and guidance on how to look for work and job search assistance through a series of web links
ii. Establish an employment plan (i.e. the first section of the job search map)
iii. Provide referrals to jobs appropriate to the customer's employment history and skills

c. Visiting a Workforce Solutions office where staff will provide the orientation.  Staff  who complete an orientation will:

i. Provide information about Workforce Solutions and guidance on how to look for work and job search assistance    through a series of web links
ii. Establish an employment plan (i.e. the first section of the job search map)
iii. Provide referrals to jobs appropriate to the customer's employment history and skills

Rapid Re-Employment - Recording the Services

Regardless of how a profiled customer contacts Workforce Solutions (online, by phone to the Re-Employment Team or career office, or walking in to an office), we record our service in both WorkInTexas.com and TWIST.

Following are the requirements for recording rapid re-employment service.  These requirements are in addition to the regular and usual information we include in a customer's record to indicate our service and provide explanatory information or notes.

1. TWIST
   Record an employment plan in TWIST Counselor Notes.  You may record an employment plan based on your conversation with the customer or copy and paste the first section of the job search map (see example below).
   Counselor note subject line: Rapid Reemployment Plan
2. WorkInTexas
   Service Category: Assessment & Planning ] Service: RRES Orientation
   Service Category: Assessment & Planning ] Service: Employment Plan

Return To Top