EDD Contact Center Training

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On May 3, 2021, our Union met with the Employment Development Department (EDD) to meet and confer over the implementation of Phase 1 of the contact center training and quality management tools.

The department explained this implementation is intended to provide training and oversight of employees in the contact centers in a telework environment. New and updated technologies will help EDD continue group and side-by-side employee interactions while the teleworking model is largely in effect. These new technological tools and systems will be implemented in phases over the next 6-9 months.

Some of the major details from the meet and confer include:

  • Our Union team discussed the contact center implementation timeline and urged the department to stay mindful of other upcoming implementations and roll-outs. EDD management heard the Union team and committed to reviewing the enterprise-wide timeline to avoid unreasonable conflicts.
     
  • The Phase 1 roll-out will consist of a coaching and shadowing tool which will provide new agent trainees opportunities to interact with trainers on live customer calls in real-time.
     
  • The coaching/shadowing tool will include a Whisper Coach feature where the customer cannot hear the interaction between trainee and trainer and a Barge/Takeover feature which will allow trainee agents to remain on the line while their trainer assists customers.
     
  • This tool already exists in the Tax and Disability branches. The Unemployment Insurance branch plans to roll out the tool beginning in June and expected to last through August of this year.

As the phased implementation proceeds, our Union will continue holding ongoing conversations to ensure members rights are upheld throughout this process. If you have any questions, be sure to reach out to your bargaining unit via email at unit1@seiu1000.org