The Welcome Team and Dislocated Workers

1. The Welcome Team and Dislocated Workers Gayle Age 7/23/19

2. What is the Welcome Team • The Welcome Function is performed by an integrated team who: • Greet customers • Conduct initial assessments • Oversee resource rooms • Ensure applicants are registered in Jobs4TN • Offer basic career services • Refer customers to partner programs as needed

3. Frontline staff should be highly familiar with the functions and basic eligibility requirements of each program so that they can properly assist customers and make knowledgeable referrals to partner programs as needed and appropriate.

4. What is a Dislocated Worker? • Has been laid off or terminated, or received notice of termination or lay off and is unlikely to return to previous industry of occupation, • Has been terminated or laid off, or has received a notice of termination or lay off, as a result of permanent closure of, or substantial layoff at a plant or facility, • Was self-employed and now unemployed because of a natural disaster, • Was self-employed (including farmer, rancher, or fisherman), but is unemployed as a result of general economic conditions in the community in which he or she resides or because of a natural disaster, • Is a displaced homemaker, or • Veteran or qualifying spouse

5. What Does a Customer Expect? • To be seen • To be heard • To have their needs responded to All of these things are the heart of empathy.

8. Are we asking enough questions so that we can determine what the customer actually needs?

9. Customers • A customer is the most important visitor on our premises • They are not dependent on us, we are dependent on them • They are not an interruption in our work, they are the purpose of it • They are not an outsider in our business, they are a part of it • We are not doing them a favor by serving them – they are doing us a favor by giving us the opportunity to do so

10. Remember: • Smile! • Concentrate on one person and one issue at a time • Be patient • Make the customer feel important

11. Dislocated Workers • Title I Dislocated Worker Program • RESEA • TAA/TRA • UI Assistance

12. Determining who is a Dislocated Worker • Did you lose your job recently? • Have you received unemployment benefits within the past 5 years? • Were you laid off from an employer who was not required to pay into UI insurance such as a church or other non-profit? • Are you a homemaker that has been dependent upon the income of a family member who is no longer supporting the family? • Are you the spouse of a member of the military on active duty? • Were you self-employed but had to close your business due to a downturn in the economy or because of a natural disaster? • Have you recently been released from military service

13. RESEA Program • Have you been laid off and/or filed for unemployment? • Did you receive a notification that you had a requirement to report to the AJC today at this time? • Have you had your benefits cut off due to not reporting to a meeting?

14. TAA Program • Were you involved in a mass layoff? • Did you get laid off due to a shutdown or was an entire line or department laid off? • Is the plant planning a shutdown of the entire plant or a department? • Did the company have a Rapid Response meeting? • Why is the employer closing? • Do you know if the work has been sent to another country? • Do you know if a trade petition has been filed?

15. Title I Dislocated Worker Program • Are you here to see a specific staff person? • Are you participating in, or here to receive information about a program that assists with training or supportive services? • Is this program through the SNAP (food stamps program)? This question will determine if the customer is at the AJC for SNAP E&T staff or Title I staff

16. What Happens When Customers are Misdirected? RESEA • Claimants don’t receive their unemployment benefits • This results in increased work loads for • Customer Care representatives - when claimants call to find out why their benefits are denied • RESEA coordinators – must complete forms to have the claimant backpaid if the claimant is not paid due to being misdirected in the center • Central office RESEA staff – must coordinate the payment of missed weeks • UI adjudication staff – must correct the claim to ensure that the claimant receives any payments due to agency errors

17. TAA If a petition has not been filed on the worker’s behalf and the AJC does not recognize that they are potentially trade affected: • A petition may never be filed by anyone on behalf of that worker or his co-workers – petition filing is time sensitive • This could result in the worker missing services which provide significant financial assistance, such as: • Job search assistance • Job search allowances • Relocation allowances • Up to 130 weeks of paid training, including tuition, books, fees, and required tools • A potential to receive a weekly monetary benefit if in full time training and their benefits become exhausted • Mileage allowances while in training • Re-employment Trade Adjustment Assistance for workers over 50 • Opportunities for on-the-job training or apprenticeship programs