California’s unemployment call center is cutting its hours
The embattled unemployment agency call center, finding people usually have trouble getting through only on weekday mornings, is cutting back its hours.
Instead of the current service, which operates from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week, the center will operate from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday starting March 3..
The reason for the change is that since federal benefit programs ended last year, “call center volume has fallen dramatically,” said a statement Friday from the Employment Development Department.
EDD found that at most, people have to repeat dial two or three times to get through, usually during the busiest weekday hours, which tend to be in the morning.
It found little traffic now at night and on weekends.
Overall, calls to the service are down 95% from a year ago. Instead of the 27 million calls that came in last January, this January saw 1.3 million calls. Evening demand is off 47% since November.
EDD wants to take staff who work during the slow hours and use them to help resolve eligibility issues.
EDD’s call center woes
The call center has been the source of ongoing consumer frustration for nearly two years. When the COVID-19 pandemic first exploded and triggered a sudden economic collapse, the call center was quickly overwhelmed.
It operated only from 8 a.m. to noon at the time, and the month after the pandemic hit, Gov. Gavin Newsom expanded the hours. Additional staff was provided, but the problems persisted.
State Auditor Elaine Howle found that at one point, the call center answered less than 1% of calls.
EDD quadrupled its available call center staff to more than 5,600 people, but Howle found, “these staff were often unable to assist callers and only marginally improved the percentage of calls it answered.”
She said the problems should have been addressed years ago.
“Despite knowing for years that it had problems with call center performance, EDD has not yet adopted best practices for managing the call center, leaving it ill prepared to assist Californians effectively,” Howle said.
This story was originally published February 12, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
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