Indiana's Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment (RESEA) Initiative

Overview

After UI clients have received unemployment for four weeks, they are selected for RESEA.  Clients are sent a notification to their home address on record to participate in the RES program.  Clients are scheduled at week 6 of their claim and required to come to a WorkOne Center/AJC for a Program Orientation and meet other program requirements, which include clients working with a case manager to discuss and deliver current Labor Market Information (LMI), enrolling in Indiana’s Labor Exchange – Indiana Career Connect, creating an Individual Reemployment Plan (IRP), tracking work search activities, and participating in ongoing reemployment services.  If clients have not been successful in obtaining employment at week fifteen clients will again receive notification and are required to come back into the WorkOne Center for Subsequent RESEA to meet with a career manager to reassess the clients work search, resume, and re-employment plan (See figure 1).

How RESEA Helps Job Seekers Obtain Favorable Employment with Employers Expressing Challenges Acquiring Suitable Workers

During the RESEA one-on-one assessment interview, career advisors/case managers enter participant information into a spreadsheet that calculates the regional labor supply based on the industries qualified RESEA job seekers are looking for work in.  The spreadsheet is then used by the regional Business Services Recruitment Team and other American Job Center (AJC) case managers to match RESEA participants with industry demand in our labor exchange system.  AJC staff then assist with job referrals to employers.  This spreadsheet is also used to guide participants to industry centered job clubs and/or job fairs. This strategy has been very effective in the manufacturing, transportation, financial and health sectors.

How In-Person RESEA Services Are Helping Lower-Income and/or Lower-Skilled Workers Secure Suitable Reemployment

Once Indiana’s RESEA program participants have completed orientation at our AJC’s (Work One Offices) in a group setting, all participants receive one on one services geared to meet their individual needs.  This approach facilitates identifying each job seekers unique skills, education, experience, and interests as well as their particular barriers to reemployment. The case manager and participant collaborate on developing an Individual Reemployment Plan.

RESEA’s Importance to Indiana

The Federal RESEA program educates participants and connects them to available re-employment and supportive services through the Workforce System and community partners.  RESEA funds provide the state with the financial resources needed to assist all eligible Hoosier Unemployment Insurance (UI) claimants with reemployment services that increase employability in better, higher paying jobs faster than otherwise possible. 

RESEA also improves Indiana’s UI Trust Fund integrity by reducing both the average UI claim duration and the rate of UI claim exhaustion through earlier Return to Work and a decrease of UI Fraud.  The requirements to verify identity, interact in person and complete UI eligibility reviews are provided throughout program participation.  Even though Workforce and UI are housed within the same agency, RESEA fosters improved planning, collaboration and implementation of program requirements and improvements.  This is crucial to maximizing the efficiency and efficacy of the program.

Outcomes

2019 Indiana RESEA innovation plans include several online and automated initiatives including but not limited to: an online orientation, virtual reemployment workshops, enhanced case management tools, UI issue creation and claimant self-scheduling.  These initiatives provide greater access and flexibility to participants as well as earlier completion of assignments and better communication of work search information. Several time-consuming manual processes will be eliminated allowing case managers more 1:1 time with participants.  Providing claimants with the ability to self-schedule may provide an increase in the claimant show rate which helps achieve better outcomes.  Indiana’s RESEA program and our pioneering approach plays a significant role in claimants returning to work quicker, maintaining our current low unemployment rate (See figure 2).