“No administration has ever faced anything like that before,” said Mark Reihl, DWD unemployment division administrator. “We have done everything possible as quickly as possible to bring as many people on as we could … Frankly, I think we have done a great job in this period of time. Is it as good as we would like? Certainly not.”
I see a lot of excuses and slow action. I see very little leadership or results. Take a look at this MacIver story that tracks their very, very, very lethargic reaction and refusal to think outside of their bureaucratic bubble.
When Safer at Home went into effect, DWD had 57 employees at its unemployment call center, and the phone system could handle 450 calls at a time. On Mar. 26th, the day after the lockdown went into effect, DWD was getting 160 attempted calls a second, over half a million an hour.
DWD reacted by transferring 75 of its 1,606 full time employees to help out at the call center, bringing the total up to 132. It also boosted its call volume capacity up to 690 calls at a time, which meant more people would be able to wait on hold.
DWD’s unemployment line got 1.5 million attempted calls during the first week of Safer at Home, but only 115,679 people successfully filed a claim. Not all of those claims were filed over the phone. DWD begged people to file online, citing a 98 percent success rate for the 19,000 who did.
With the call center completely overwhelmed by demand, Frostman added another 18 people to its staff during the second week of the shutdown. That brought the total up to 150. Even though DWD still had over 1,400 full time employees not working at the call center, it announced plans to hire 85 new employees to help process unemployment paperwork.
Frostman said out of date IT infrastructure was the problem, and it “has forced DWD’s staff to work overtime, nights, and weekends to process unemployment claims to support out-of-work Wisconsinites.”
However, they weren’t taking calls 24/7. Phone lines were only open from 7:30 – 3:30, Monday to Friday.
They’re doing the best they can, ya big bully! Lowering your expectations would go a long way toward solving all of their problems. Questioning their commitment and/or competence might make them cry. It’s you, not them.
They should have just gaveled in and out. That is the Republican definition of doing everything possible.
He represents all State bureaucrats very well.
They get their paycheck, so what’s the big deal??
>They should have just gaveled in and out.
Oh so were they called to a special session by their twice corrected governor to fix DWD issues? I missed that, do you have any info on it?
Jason, what could they have done? Their hands were tied?
Typical Liberal governance.
Awful. Just awful.
Jason:
They clearly underestimated just how fragile the Trump economy was. I mean, a strong economy would not have hemorrhaged jobs this fast.
Trump criticized Obama’s H1N1 response as awful, but I don’t remember unemployment going up to 14% during that. Do you?
>They clearly underestimated just how fragile the Trump economy was. I mean, a strong economy would not have hemorrhaged jobs this fast.
Oh Randall, I had such high hopes… you talk such a big game. You didn’t answer my question. You’re no better than Johnny who can only pivot away when called out on something stupid he said.
Randall, such an uneducated hater.
The problems in Wisconsin are the product of an incompetent petty tyrant.
Like you said, elections have consequences. And in Wisconsin, they are screwed because Herr Evers doesn’t have a clue what he is doing.
Almost as bad is Dementia Joe.
“Randall” is another waste of oxygen. Going forward, PASS!
Oh Dad29, you’re so dramatic.
Did I miss your plan for what DWD should’ve done? Or Owen’s sketch of how they could’ve ramped-up their phone and entry system to match the demand, on a dime?
Golly, business is so simple! There’s a thousand employees over here, just move them over there, how hard could it be?
Is that what your decades of business experience and wisdom tells you how easy it could be?
Particularly when the 1,000 “other” employees don’t have much to do b/c Fake Death-Cooties……yes. They can move and be trained.
The problem started when Tony/Gau/Palm apparently decided to put several tens of thousands of Wisconsin people OUT OF WORK. Did they notify DWD? Did it occur to ANY of them that this might strain resources? And since Tony put State LTE’s off-duty but continues to pay them, would they not be a nice addition to the DWD staff?
And when your phone system begins to emit smoke, isn’t it time to expand the hours–say to 8:00 PM, to accomodate the volume a bit better?
Nope. They’re State employees. They don’t do that sort of thing. Not their job description–and they get paid no matter what, so………
See, Johnny? There are lots of questions you failed to ask. No surprise.
I would note that 49 other states also saw a rush of unemployment and Wisconsin is one of the states having the worst problems. Several other states managed to reallocate staff, fire up an overflow call center, and expand hours to actually serve the public. In Wisconsin, DWD took weeks before even reacting and then moved at a plodding pace.
We all get that this was a huge rush, but others managed to step up. Wisconsin did not. This is a failure of leadership and management. b
I looked for New York and found this.
Do I need to do it for the other 49?
Looked for California, found a story from two days ago saying they’re still trying to fill 1,800 positions to handle claims.
If last summer DWD had said they needed to upgrade systems and cross-train people to handle a future rush of claims, the WisGOP talking points would’ve included make do with less, we all need to belt-tighten, you don’t need a rainy-day fund, and the economy is better than ever so we don’t need unemployment infrastructure, and the COBOL isn’t broken so don’t fix it.
I’m sure you can think of a few more, right?
Yah, Randall, you uneducated hater. Why can’t you have a reasonable conversation without having to resort in tossing out insults and demonizing those you disagree with. Haven’t you learned anything from the highly educated individuals that dominate this site. Please just a little more civility.
>Did I miss your plan for what DWD should’ve done? Or Owen’s sketch of how they could’ve ramped-up their phone and entry system to match the demand, on a dime?
Oh good, if you want to require a plan of action before any criticism of anything a person doesn’t like, we will never hear from you, RandallFlunk, Pat, or Leroy again. Ah, the future looks bright!
Yah, Randall, you uneducated hater. Why can’t you have a reasonable conversation without having to resort in tossing out insults and demonizing those you disagree with. Haven’t you learned anything from the highly educated individuals that dominate this site. Please just a little more civility.
You are right Pat, I should act more “Christian” like Kevin.
Thanks for being a fan Jason. Hope you have a good Summer at Camp Crystal Lake.
>>I would note that 49 other states also saw a rush of unemployment and Wisconsin is one of the states having the worst problems
I would note 49 other states didn’t have Scott Walker as Governor for 8 years.
>> “Randall” is another waste of oxygen. Going forward, PASS!
Clearly dad29 believes in the Derek Chauvin method of dealing with those he disagrees with. It can’t be a coincidence he posted this.
>If last summer DWD had said they needed to upgrade systems and cross-train people to handle a future rush of claims, the WisGOP talking points would’ve included make do with less, we all need to belt-tighten, you don’t need a rainy-day fund, and the economy is better than ever so we don’t need unemployment infrastructure, and the COBOL isn’t broken so don’t fix it.
Funny you say that while you directly call out two states that are heavily led by Democratic party for many years. Why bring the WisGOP into this when you linked to an article about New York lamenting antiquated systems and no action taken. Hardly the GOP in that scenario. Of course your simple mind missed that nugget.
>I would note 49 other states didn’t have Scott Walker as Governor for 8 years.
Randall Flunk, blaming his boyhood priest and Scott Walker for everything. Narrow minded fool that he is.
Trump blames Obama, I blame Walker. Seems fair.
What they’re saying: Peyton Cannon, a north Florida resident, filed for unemployment on March 28 after being laid off from a Goodwill store.
A month later, his application is still pending. He tells Axios he’s called the unemployment office, but the phone lines have been jammed.
About 7 of every 8 Florida residents that filed for unemployment between mid-March and early April were still waiting for their applications to be processed as of last week
Remind me again which party leads Florida?
https://www.axios.com/creaky-unemployment-systems-plague-jobless-americans-b5244634-f72b-4b33-a65d-dbc2f0f5492a.html
I guess that proves that Johnny Smartypants is completely wrong to blame WisGOP for Wisconsin’s antiquated system for Unemployment Insurance. You and I have proven both parties are equally culpable. So as I said earlier, Simple Minded jjf missed a big nugget of truth because he’s a partisan bitch.
Yup, we have proven it Jason. Don;’ forget the other partisan bitches who think it is one parties’ fault (Mar, dad29, Owen, Karen…)
You’re now projecting that others have been partisan in this discussion. I dont see Owen complaining about the big D’s here. I see him opining on a single bureaucrat who is bragging while doing a shit poor job. Way to go Randy Flunk.
Denial is clearly more than just a river in Egypt….