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One-Stop Employment Center Office Hours
Effective November 1, 2011, the One-Stop Employment Centers in Flagler and Volusia Counties will be open to the public from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Staff will still work 8:00AM to 5:00 PM.
What the purpose for introducing this new schedule?
In recent years, the One-Stop Employment Center was the recipient of additional federal funding. The government’s reasoning for providing the extra capital was that, as a result of the recession, the One-Stops needed more resources to handle the increased demand for employment and training services. Plainly put, we needed more money to help more unemployed individuals.
Now that our economy is slowly recovering, the additional funding has ended. Consequently, we had to make significant changes in our organization; which include working with fewer staff.
Unfortunately, the modest improvements in the economy are yet to translate into less unemployment. This means our staff continue to face an overload of data entry, paperwork, and electronic communication with customers.
This new schedule will enable our staff to focus on helping our customers and handle the administrative duties in a more productive manner. Please know that part of our responsibilities involves keeping proper records for each job seeker that we assist. We are subject to regular audits to ensure that we maintain our records in order. Our past performance has been excellent, and we want to continue to perform at this level.
The Center for Business Excellence (CBE) weighed and tested several options. In July, we began closing the Centers to the public the third Friday of every month. However, it was not soon after we implemented the closure, that the State of Florida changed the requirements for filing unemployment claims. We chose to discontinue this schedule, so customers may be served five days a week.
Knowing that our staff still need a sensible arrangement to complete internal responsibilities, we decided to close to the public an hour earlier – a time in which traffic through the Center is typically low. This reserved “duty time” will enable our staff to keep up with the increased caseload, while preserving the integrity and excellence we require of them.
Your understanding is greatly appreciated. If you should have any questions, please let us know.
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