Workforce Development Board Human Centered Design

About the Program

Category: Personnel Management, Employment and Training (Best in Category)

Year: 2016

One of the goals of the San Bernardino County Workforce Development Board (WDB) has been to find ways to implement new processes that will help our customers be more successful. WDB took an initiative and applied a Human-Centered Design (HCD) model to generate solutions for improving customer service, streamlining processes, and increasing productivity. The principle of HCD provided an opportunity to employ empathy, put the customer in the center, leverage collective expertise, and solve real problems with innovative solutions. As a result, WDB developed Best Practices, a Team Approach concept, and an Internal Collaborative Partnership that were implemented in all three America’s Job Centers of California in the county. The objective of using the HCD model was to improve the overall customer experience in the centers by creating a welcoming environment, where customers are surrounded by teams of experts, providing a sense of comfort and support. The WDB’s efforts were recognized nationally as part of a Department of Labor Challenge, for improving customer experience and outcomes for shared One-Stop customers. Subsequently, the San Bernardino County Department of Workforce Development was invited to showcase Customer-Centered Design strategies at the Customer Centered Design White House Learning Exchange in Washington, D.C.