Worksource Oregon
INITIAL ASSESSMENT REPORT
NEAR-TERM RECOMMENDATIONS
OVERVIEW
The coronavirus pandemic dealt a blow to Oregon’s economy, one that was felt disproportionately by younger workers, women, lower-wage earners, and BIPOC communities. Responding to ongoing high unemployment coupled with strong workforce needs, the state legislature tasked a governor-appointed Continuous Improvement Committee (CIC) with assessing the effectiveness of WorkSource Oregon (WSO), the state’s public workforce system. The Committee—made up of state agencies, institutions of post-secondary education, non-profit service providers, and local Workforce Development Boards from all corners of the state, both urban and rural—understood that access to talent and workers is imperative to economic development and growth. The CIC contracted with Coraggio Group to complete an Initial Assessment Report of WSO that included near-term recommendations to improve user experience and outcomes for disenfranchised communities and those most impacted by the pandemic.
APPROACH
After engaging in external research and reviewing documents and data provided by the CIC, we facilitated a series of work sessions to understand WSO services and processes, interdependencies, pain points, and opportunities for improvement. During these sessions, we created system and value stream maps, bringing needed light to the complexity of WSO. Concurrently, we engaged in significant stakeholder outreach, conducting 17 one-on-one interviews and six focus groups, as well as analyzing over 895 responses to a uniquely designed survey. With this deeper understanding of the system and input from core customers (job seekers and employers), we worked with the Committee to identify 14 core findings representing areas of focus to improve WorkSource Oregon. We then partnered with subject matter experts to outline four near-term, immediate recommendations for improving the system.
After the completion of the Initial Assessment, Coraggio was contracted for a second phase focused on assessing system governance and accountability. The scope of phase two included the following activities:
Current-state mapping of WorkSource Oregon’s partnership structure, funding and resource flows, core programs and services, and decision-making roles and responsibilities.
Review of national public work force best practices.
Benchmarking of Oregon’s public workforce system to six competitive set states.
Actionable recommendations focused on improving the system’s structure, decision-making roles, and customer accountability.
OUTCOMES
WSO now has two assessment reports that not only make clear the current state of service delivery, but also include actionable recommendations that address improving outcomes for disenfranchised communities across the state, as well as the governance of the system.
System and value stream maps for key customers of the system: job seekers and employers. Given the complexity of WSO and the general lack of awareness of its reach by both customers and service delivery partners, stakeholders now have a baseline from which to understand and improve upon the system.
The stakeholder outreach process helped repair damaged relationships with customers and partner organizations, resulting in a new framework for developing better relationships going forward.
“Access to talent and workers is one of the top issues impacting economic development and business growth. Through our work together, the State of Oregon now has a more robust system to match displaced workers to job opportunities, directly impacting the economic prosperity and health of Oregon communities.”
— Todd Nell, Director of Oregon’s Workforce & Talent Development Board