Santa Clara County Chapter

The CalSAWS Innovation Committee is a joint effort between county management and SEIU 521 members to create more sustainable and efficient workloads for the folks that do eligibility work. 

Through months of hard work and collaboration, the committee has created workflows, goals, and benchmarks for a project testing phase that will involve trying out a unit-based tasked model with the goal of making life better for workers and the clients you serve.  The best part?  You get to have a direct impact on what the project will look like through volunteering for an Intake or Continuing Pilot.  (Note that for Generic Intake we will be focusing on Medi-Cal only.) 

Participating in the project will be a year-long testing phase where you’ll work with a team of eligibility workers and supervisors to test out the new unit-based task model in either Intake or Continuing.  As a project volunteer, you will work closely with the committee to figure out what works, what doesn’t, and what can be improved.  You’ll meet with the committee members on a regular basis to provide feedback, uplift issues that may occur, and bring your own ideas to the table the committee may not have thought of.  By the end of year long test phase, the goal is to have a solid project that works better for clients and workers that we can apply on a broader scale. 

We’re looking for volunteers to participate in special units that will be testing out these new models of operation.  Interested in testing out and having a voice in a unit-based task project? Sign up today! 

Need more info? Attend one of our info sessions!  RSVP for one here: https://calendly.com/ashley-swank/calsaws-innovation-project-volunteer-info-sessions 

Sign up to volunteer for the project here by Friday, November 1: https://seiu521.click/calsawsvolunteer
Even if you’ve already signed up via your manager, be sure to use this form!  This will ensure we’re able to capture everyone interested! 

• • While your SEIU 521 team is collaborating with county management on pilot concepts on what might be a “new and improved” business model for DEBS, we also recognize that there are present day-to-day operational issues in DEBS that continue to persist and impact the livelihood of clients and your coworkers and further yielding conflict between the union and management.  Therefore, we established bi-weekly meetings for SEIU and management to engage in a systematic, solution-oriented approach that addresses and resolves ongoing work issues, and advances the interests of DEBS workers, the county, and the community. This is led by: Hannah Vu, James Foreman, Rosalinda Nunez, Rosemary Freitas, Mary Hernandez, Marsha Porch, and Julie Barajas.

• • Current wins: Management will not discipline workers for having a high number of tasks to be completed.  An email should be going out to everyone soon, if it hasn’t already. What does this mean?  It means there is no current numerical standard for the amount of tasks that need to be completed on a daily/weekly basis.  For example, you cannot be reprimanded for having more than 40 tasks in your bank.  However, if a worker is completing far fewer tasks than the average for their office, their supervisor will begin a conversation about how or why their work is below average before any telework could be removed.

• • The CalSAWS Innovation Committee has brought on subject matter experts from each unit to help develop workflows.

• • The SEIU members of the committee have interviewed EWs from LA and Riverside counties around how their caseloads are handled.  They will be meeting with Fresno and Kern counties next.

• • The committee is working with county council to define required state mandates to evaluate ways to be in alignment with state mandates while eliminating erroneous work for EWs and Clerical.

Upcoming Union Visits

Ready to learn more about what’s happening at the CalSAWS Innovation Committee and give feedback on your experience?  Join one of our virtual or in-person Info Sessions.

Virtual Sessions

Virtual sessions occur on Tuesdays and Thursdays during lunchtime.

You can sign up for a virtual session here: https://calendly.com/ashley-swank/seiu-calsaws-updates

1867 Senter Rd

10:00AM – 12:00PM – There will be an SEIU table in the main cafeteria
12:00PM – 2:00PM – RSVP for small group sessions in X Conference Room

Conference room TBD

• • August 28

• • September 11

• • September 23

Sign up for a session here: https://calendly.com/ashley-swank/1867-senter-rd-seiu-visit

1877 Senter Rd

10:00AM – 2:00PM – RSVP for small group sessions in Neptune Conference Room

• • August 21

• • September 18

• • September 30

Sign up for a session here: https://calendly.com/ashley-swank/1877-senter-rd-seiu-calsaws-updates

1919 Senter Rd

10:00AM – 2:00PM  – RSVP for small group sessions in TBD Conference Room

• • August 30

• • September 16

Sign up for sessions here: https://calendly.com/ashley-swank/1919-senter-rd-seiu-calsaws-updates

North County

10:00AM – 2:00PM – RSVP for small group sessions in Jupiter Conference Room

• • August 19

• • September 12

Sign up for sessions here: https://calendly.com/ashley-swank/north-county-seiu-calsaws-updates

South County

10:00AM – 2:00PM – RSVP for small group sessions in the Gavilan Conference Room

• • August 26

• • September 9

Sign up for sessions here: https://calendly.com/ashley-swank/south-county-seiu-calsaws-updates

A lot has happened with the CalSAWS Innovation Committee in the last couple of months and we want to make sure you get all the information.

Before we dive into where we’re at, let’s start with a recap of the scope and purpose of the committee:

• • During contract negotiations, we negotiated a side letter to address workload and CalSAWS-related issues. Click here to read the side letter.

• • The CalSAWS Innovation Committee with SEIU and Santa Clara County management was formed

• • 10 EWs from across the county form the SEIU side of the committee

• • The committee is tasked with analyzing our current processes, researching other counties, and forming pilot programs to radically improve how we operate in DEBS for the better

We officially kicked off the CalSAWS Innovation Committee with a meeting with county management in February.  Since then we’ve divided into 4 workgroups, each tasked with a different mission:

1. 1. Bright Spots: This workgroup identifies and uplifts processes, protocols, and tools that currently work for everyone in a way that can be emulated across all of DEBS.
   2. Leveraging Technology: This group has really dived deep into the CalSAWS programs, what it can do, what it can’t do, and what it should do.  In addition, they uplift issues brought to them by workers so they can be directly addressed by CalSAWS and/or management.
   3. Data: This group looks at data related to benefits, CalSAWS, and staffing here in Santa Clara County and across the state.
   4. Equitable and Sustainable Workloads: This is where most of the magic is happening!  This group has divided into Intake and Continuing groups and are using the information gathered from the other work groups to figure out what the future of DEBS could look like.

We’ve already been able to implement a few small wins, including:

1. 1. Won a 48-hour callback for CBS.  Originally we needed to call back within 24 hours.
   2. The technology group has been able to implement requests made from EWs and Clerical.  Keep an eye out for a Chewable Byte with more information.
   3. Chewable Bytes have been consolidated into a more easily searchable list.

We’ll also be doing a roadshow to the DEBS offices across the county to provide updates, get feedback, and eventually distribute copies of the new contract!  We’re still working on dates and locations but here’s what’s been scheduled so far!  All events are from 10AM to 1PM.

1. 1. May 29 – 1877 Senter Rd – Neptune Conference Room

1. 1. June 5 – North County – Jupiter Conference Room

1. 1. June 10 – 1877 Senter Rd – Neptune Conference Room

1. 1. June 12 – 1867 Senter Rd (TBD)

1. 1. June 18 – 1879 Senter Rd (TBD)

1. 1. June 26 –  South County (TBD)

1. 1. TBD 1919 Senter Rd

We’ll also be launching our CalSAWS Updates page by the end of this week.

Looking forward to seeing everyone at the road shows!