As a continuation of the case study that I have been using during this course, the creation of a Leave of Absence and Accommodation Team, I have considered the data needed for evaluation metrics as follows:
What do we want to know: We know that requests for leaves of absences and accommodations are not handled consistently. There is “spotty” collaboration with the 3rd party vendor who processes the claims for LOAs and there is little visibility to the process for HR and the managers. We know that Managers are being approached by their associates who have a need for a LOA or an accommodation and are divulging medical information. This places the managers in a precarious position. We know that there is little consistently in the criteria that is used for requests of accommodation, which places the organization at risk. We know that this does not make for a positive experience for managers and associates.
How will we know we have been successful: Success would look like the creation of a process for the organization to handle requests for LOA and accommodations. Roles and responsibilities of associates, managers, and HR Managers would be laid out. Associates will clearly understand what they need to do in order to request an LOA or an accommodation. There will be clear communication. Metrics around LOAs and Accommodations will be tracked in order to make improvements to the process in the future.
What specific kinds of data will we need:
- The number of requests for LOA
- The number of requests for accommodations
- The number of cases regarding mis-handling of LOAs and accommodations against the organization
- The amount of time that is required to handle the calls regarding LOA and accommodation
Do those data exist? If so, where? Who owns them? Can we get them? The data does not exist today. Part of the change effort will require the selection of a system / tool / technology that will track these metrics. These metrics will need to be accessible to only a few necessary professionals, due to the fact that they will contain associate medical information.
How should we display the data: The data should be reportable, meaning that a small group of necessary professionals will need to be able to pull the information and receive reports on it.
How often should data be collected? How often can they be collected? Who will collect them? The data should be collected on a daily basis in order to be tracked. The small group of necessary professionals (i.e. the Leave of Absence and Accommodation Team) will need to collect them to analyze and report out as necessary.
Do we need permission to access the data: The Leave of Absence and Accommodations Team will not need permission to access the data. However, managers, HR professionals, etc. will be required to request reports on this information due to the fact that it contains associate medical information.
What resources do we need: We will need access to Legal Team in order to ensure that we are addressing and mitigating risks to the organization. We will also require the help of our Marketing Department to help create a communication plan around the new process.
DATA PLAN:
The number of claims for LOA and accommodation will need to be tracked. There will need to be a system that the Leave of Absence team can access, when they receive a call from an associate, and log the nature of the call in the system. The system will need to have the capability to track the associate who called so that future calls or steps taken with that associate can be tracked for historical purposes. – These metrics will need to be tracked on a daily basis, and reviewed on a monthly basis in order to evaluate the themes.
Administrative rights will need to be provided to the Leave of Absence Team and they will need to be trained on the system.
The system will need to track historical information so that the Leave Team member will be able to see the history of claims.
There needs to be migration with this system to the 3rd party in a way that the two systems “speak to each other”. Since the 3rd party handles the claim and researches for state / local coverage, this will need to be tracked in our system as well. – Calls will be scheduled with the 3rd party on a weekly basis, to start, in order to evaluate the relationship.
Cycle time of decision on the claims should be tracked in order to ensure that the associate doesn’t have to wait an unreasonable amount of time to get a decision on their request.- Will be reviewed on a monthly basis in order to track themes.
“Complaints” from associates need to be logged in the system as well- Will be reviewed on a monthly basis in order to track themes.
The system should track communication with the associate’s manager as well so that we can refer back to those notes in the event of a discrepancy. – Will be reviewed on a monthly basis in order to track themes.
The time that is required for each claim needs to be tracked in order to determine the appropriate number of resources required to do the work on the Leave of Absence team. – Will be reviewed on a quarterly basis in order to consider additional resources (i.e. headcount).