About the team

Maryland’s Family and Medical Leave Insurance​​ (FAMLI) system ensures that all workers in Maryland have paid time off for medical and family reasons. As a digitally native government service, the FAMLI team strives to make their program inclusive, simple, and easy to use. They’re engaging the people who depend on them—workers, employers, caregivers, and insurers—to learn what they need, and responding to those needs swiftly, respectfully, and meaningfully.

FAMLI is a $2 billion social insurance system, delivered as a digitally-native public-facing service. The Digital Services Team is central to bringing a modern, product-oriented approach to creating, launching, and continuously improving the digital platform powering family and medical leave in Maryland. The team is responsible for providing intuitive and user-oriented experiences to workers who need to take paid leave, to employers who need to interact with our office, and to the government employees processing claims and engaging with the public.

As a part of the Digital Services team you will be on the front line of making paid leave for Marylanders possible. Through human-centered approaches to product development the team aims to create pathways for all Maryland employees and employers to interact with their program and receive this critical benefit in times of need.

This is a greenfield opportunity to be a part of building the tools and organization that will be delivering critical benefits to millions of Marylanders.

The team is hiring

The FAMLI Division is currently hiring a head of user experience and service design. See the full job description. This position reports to the director of digital services for FAMLI and collaborates with teams across the division, including community engagement, policy, and communications. This is a hybrid position, based in the Maryland Department of Labor in Baltimore, MD. 

Diving Deeper

What are you looking for in a candidate? 

This role is a critical part of the FAMLI Digital Services leadership team. As the head of user experience and service design we’re looking for someone who can bring multiple years of experience in user research, service design, and/or project management to the team. This role will oversee and help prioritize multiple concurrent threads of user research as well as supervise up to three product owners in their management of the most crucial software-development workstreams for FAMLI.  This is a first-line supervisory position and a second-line managerial position.

The head of user experience and service design position is a career-defining opportunity for someone passionate about using a human-centered approach to deliver essential benefits to our users. The head of user experience and service design will have the opportunity to help shape the foundation for all of FAMLI’s digital products. The ideal candidate will have experience with human-centered design, building and executing a digital product vision, and collaborating and communicating effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders.

How do these roles contribute to the organization’s broader mission? 

This role is a critical part of the FAMLI Digital Services leadership team and is responsible for holding the organization accountable to our goal of building software that serves our end users and staff with respect and compassion. This role sets the standards for product ownership and user research across the program and also maintains the shared understanding of how our users interact across our services.

What does the hiring process look like? What should a candidate expect? 

Candidates must submit their applications by the posted deadline. Phone interviews will start about a week after the application period closes. Selected candidates will participate in two interviews with different members of the FAMLI team. 

Any advice for a candidate applying? 

We recognize that everyone brings skills and experiences to the table and that not everyone “checks all the boxes.” Apply anyway! Tell us why you’re the right fit for the job. Don’t forget to attach your resume and cover letter to your application. 

We’re interested in talking to candidates from diverse professional backgrounds who are passionate about building a human-centered product that will touch the lives of all Marylanders.

Why should a candidate consider applying to any of these roles? 

Joining the FAMLI team is a rare opportunity to shape a new program that will lend financial stability and job security to millions. By joining the FAMLI Digital Services Team, you’ll be at the forefront of this innovative approach and creating lasting impact.

Resources

• See the full job description
• You can read more about FAMLI on our website: https://www.labor.maryland.gov/famli/.
• Check out the State of Maryland’s employee benefits here: https://dbm.maryland.gov/jobseekers/pages/benefitsemployment.aspx. 

Forms are a key part of what makes government work: they facilitate a conversation between officials and the public, are crucial for public service delivery, and can enable the government to operate more effectively.

Co-hosted by Code for America (CfA) and the Digital Service Network (DSN) at the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation on November 8, 2023, FormFest 2023 brought together representatives from government agencies across the United Kingdom, Canada, France, New Zealand, and the United States for a half-day event to showcase how governments and organizations are using and improving forms to make government more accessible. The event featured U.S. government agencies from the city, county, state, and federal levels, as well as civic tech organizations, sharing new initiatives for improving digital forms.

After an initial welcome from Marlena Medford, director of communications at CfA and Kirsten Wyatt, Beeck Center fellow and director of the DSN, attendees heard from Mina Hsiang, administrator of the U.S. Digital Service. 

Hsiang emphasized that when forms meet citizens where they are and leverage information an agency already has, they have the potential to increase efficiency and access to government services. She underscored the importance of removing potentially redundant questions and improving user interfaces to make forms more interactive and user-friendly. 

During the multi-hour event, attendees heard from a range of presenters during deep dives and demo sessions, and had opportunities to network with their fellow attendees.

Breakout Sessions

Deep Dives

Measuring a Form’s administrative burden…in real time

During the session, Measuring a form’s administrative burden…in real time, Quinten Steenhuis and Bryce Willey from the Suffolk University Law School Legal Innovation Technology Lab introduced attendees to the automated tool RateMyPDF. The RateMyPDF tool helps courts improve the readability and usability of court forms by running an automated analysis of a form and identifying opportunities to improve. 

Improvements include reducing the time required to complete a form and ensuring that a form is in line with the reading and comprehension level of users. The tool can help courts identify forms that they might prioritize for improvements based on the tool’s score. While the tool was designed for court documents, RateMyPDF can also parse other kinds of government forms, making it a valuable tool for improving forms vital to public service delivery.

When we can’t do digital: Flexibility in paper forms

In the session, When we can’t do digital: Flexibility in paper forms, Debra Scott from the DC Housing Authority discussed how the agency collaborated with The Lab @ DC to improve the housing voucher application process. The DC Housing Authority decided to implement a paper-based form revision rather than digitizing the form. Their reasoning was that digitizing forms is time consuming, some users may prefer paper forms and would be better supported in-person by case managers, and digitization could be complex since the housing voucher application process involves multiple agencies. 

Nellie Moore and Ryan Flynn from the Lab @ DC explained how they used a “modular logic approach” by reducing the number of forms and questions that users need to fill out and incorporating clearer instructions and section labels for users to improve user experience and reduce delays in processing applications. The transformed paper form is significantly shorter and specific to the type of voucher the user is applying for, employs skip logic to improve wayfinding, and eliminates redundant questions.

Building accessible forms at Code for America

Margaret Thorpe, Devon Hirth, Karen Chou, Alex Gonzalez, and Cypress Borg, presenters from Code for America, shared insights on developing accessible Java Spring-based application forms. Their session, Building accessible forms at Code for America, highlighted how engineers strive to create user-friendly forms, aiding agencies in efficient form-creation processes. The tool aims to make forms perceivable, understandable, operable, and robust using accessible rich internet applications (ARIA properties) and rigorous testing through tools like Assistiv Labs and WAVE browser extensions that flag accessibility issues on forms. Features include language selectors, meaningful labels to guide text inputs, and live templates which are default codes for common buttons, inputs or entire screens that engineers can create using just a couple lines of code.

No coding needed: Empowering teams to build digital forms

In the session, No coding needed: Empowering teams to build digital forms, Tim Arney, Sam Sadasivan and Carolyn Connors from the Canada Digital Service discussed the creation of GC forms, a self-service form builder tool to help Canadian agencies publish application forms quickly and easily without coding. 

The team shared how the process of rolling out GC Forms focused on early and continuous delivery of valuable software and a simplistic design to create a Minimum Valuable Product (MVP) through an iterative process. The GC Forms MVP was improved based on feedback from agencies through demo and support requests, and research sessions to better meet the needs of agencies.  

Lessons learned from GOV.UK Forms private beta launch

During the session, Lessons learned from GOV.UK forms private beta launch, Betty Mwema, Hazal Arpalikli, Oliver Quinlan, and Iain Boyd from the GOV.UK Forms team discussed the feedback they have received on a new form building tool they are developing to help civil servants create more accessible forms for the services their department delivers. They received feedback from 11 select government agency partners in the “private beta” phase of their project, and their plan to improve their tool in their “early access” phase based on the feedback they received. 

While this tool served as a good template for application forms across agencies, the GOV.UK team understood that some agency problems were better solved using agency-specific tools. Currently, the team is working on adding more features to improve the functionality and efficiency of the form-building tool, including allowing for more complex routing as well as options to upload documents and preview the form as it’s being made.

Aotearoa/New Zealand’s form builders find the sweet spot

Shelley Campbell from New Zealand’s Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment discussed the execution of Formbuilder.govt by Business Connect, a government service which aims to make it easier for businesses to contract with the government, in the session, Aotearoa/New Zealand’s form builders find the sweet spot. Business Connect’s Formbuilder.govt platform is an open-source, form-building software designed by the government to facilitate the application process for businesses contracting with specific government agencies. The platform aims to improve both the user experience for businesses and the overall efficiency of government agencies involved in contracting processes by prototyping user-friendly and accessible AA 2.1 compliant forms in a couple of hours, saving time and money for agencies. 

Designing inclusive forms with the U.S. Web Design System (USWDS)

In another session, Designing inclusive forms with the U.S. Web Design System (USWDS), Anne Petersen from USWDS and Austin Hernandez from 18F discussed 17 inclusive design patterns from the US Web Design System. These design patterns are based on the premise of creating an inclusive user experience, increasing transparency and consent, and protecting users by only collecting relevant data. The USWDS is a plain-language resource for practical usability advice drawn from user-experience research, which includes pattern recommendations and important terminology definitions to help both agencies and users. 

Their pattern recommendations focus on improving questions that agencies frequently ask, including name, gender identity, and race questions. These recommendations guide agencies to incorporate appropriate user input options and provide users with clear instructions and sample response examples.

From paper trails to digital pathways: France’s form journey

During the session, From paper trails to digital pathways: France’s form journey, Paul Chavard from beta.gouv.fr discusses the features, uses, and challenges of Démarches simplifiées (Simplified Procedures in English),an open-source, self-service, form-building tool that provides a template for local administrations in France to build and publish forms quickly. 

Chavard noted that while this tool increases efficiency, it can be challenging to develop forms because administrations may have different technical capabilities and users face different digital access issues. Nonetheless, the tool has helped administrations publish forms quickly with its various features, including options for file attachments and conditional fields. Démarches simplifiées has already helped agencies develop forms in emergency situations in just days or weeks. 

Demos

Demo: Unemployment insurance forms and rules as code

The demo session Unemployment Insurance forms and rules as code highlighted two different projects: New Jersey’s efforts to improve their Unemployment Insurance forms and the work by the Digital Benefits Network (DBN) to explore standardized rules as code to improve government operations and service delivery. 

In the demo, team members from the New Jersey Office of Innovation walked through New Jersey’s work to make the state’s Unemployment Insurance claims process more accessible. The team emphasized how the state intentionally incorporated user feedback, built trust within the team and with partners, and took a “tool agnostic” approach in order to better serve residents. 

Ariel Kennan and Tina Amper of the DBN also presented on the idea of rules as code,exploring how the creation of standardized, open source, and computer-consumable eligibility rules as code could improve transparency and efficiency across public benefits programs. As Amper and Kennan noted, standardized rules as code can help agencies avoid duplicative work and enable cross-program and policy comparisons.  

Demo: Forms in Boston, MA and Seattle, WA

In another demo session, Demos: Forms in Boston, MA and Seattle, WA, representatives from the City of Boston discussed the creation of gender-inclusive forms while the City of Seattle provided a demonstration of Civiform, an open-source, no code, form building and integration tool that creates “forms on the fly.” 

Paul Chong, Candace Nguyen, and Stephanie Cariello from the City of Boston demonstrated their human-centered approach to building gender-inclusive marriage license forms.. The team’s demo offered recommendations to make forms and certificates more gender neutral, and shared a gender data collection playbook to help city-wide agencies appropriately collect gender data. 

From the Seattle team, Elise Kalstad and Miguel Jimenez discussed Civiform’s features that improve staff and resident experiences in applying for and receiving public assistance. The tool flags eligibility conditions that users need to meet for programs, enables status messages for staff to give updates to residents, recommends programs for users to apply for based on their previous applications, and includes options to auto-fill answers to universal questions across benefits program application forms.

Demos: Forms in Sonoma County, CA and Syracuse, NY

In the demo session, Demos: Forms in Sonoma County, CA and Syracuse, NY, the Sonoma County team shared Sonoma County’s journey to digitization, and the City of Syracuse team discussed their efforts to make procurement and city contracts more accessible and fair for diverse local vendors competing with larger firms. 

Cieara McKetcnie-Stanley, Gregory Williams, and Carolyn Staats from the Sonoma County team walked attendees through the creation of their digitization strategy and implementation plan, which leveraged tools like SimplyGov,Adobe Sign, and DC Pro, partnerships with subject matter experts in the agencies to design and educate staff about digitization, and analytics to track and manage projects. 

From  Syracuse, Rebecca Lumpkin and Jordanna Coutinho joined Mia Capone from the Harvard Kennedy School Government Performance Lab to discuss the City’s efforts to transform the Minority or Women-owned Businesses (MWBE) vendor certification process. The team updated application resources and websites, created a renewal and expansion application process to address active vendor drop off and keep vendor profiles up to date, and established a digital directory for complete vendor profiles.

Humanizing the form experience

After the day’s breakout session presentations, FormFest concluded with a closing panel featuring Caroline Jarrett, the forms and surveys specialist at Effortmark Ltd; Dana Chisnell, the executive director for Customer Experience of the Department of Homeland Security; and Stephanie Wade, the founder and CEO of Ascendant. 

The panelists emphasized that form-makers should be intentional about the questions they ask users on forms and avoid asking users to input more data than is necessary. Although fixing and revising forms can be a challenging undertaking, the panelists underscored that improving forms can have a transformative impact by reducing administrative costs and saving money, and most importantly, making life better for the public. 

All videos from FormFest 2023 are now available on the DSN’s YouTube channel. Sign up today to stay connected with the DSN, and check out the DSN resource library at https://DigitalServiceNetwork.org

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) provided funding to modernize unemployment insurance (UI) by appropriating $2 billion to the Department of Labor (DOL); however, $1 billion was later rescinded under the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023. The DOL inaugurated the Office of ​​Unemployment Insurance Modernization (OUIM) to guide and manage ARPA investments against three main goals: expand equitable access, improve timeliness, and strengthen program integrity. OUIM has supported states in their modernization journeys through grants, technical assistance, services, products, and resources. 

States have shown resilience in facing ongoing challenges and have found creative ways to apply the ARPA grants, such as developing layered modular systems, ensuring adaptive technology, improving data security, and balancing accessibility and fraud prevention. However, due to the cyclical nature of UI funding and the uncertainty of future administrative funding streams, states must exercise caution with budgetary allocations and investment decisions. It will be important for Congress, DOL, and states to continue to invest in improving UI systems to meet the needs of residents ahead of future economic downturns. 

Throughout Spring 2023, the Beeck Center’s Digital Benefits Network (DBN) interviewed state leaders from Illinois, New Jersey, Michigan, and Oregon, as well as representatives from the National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA), about their experiences delivering UI—ranging from customer experience, language access, digital delivery, and data and analytics. The DBN’s outreach has shed light on promising practices emerging from states’ efforts to modernize UI systems—approaches that have potential to improve efficiency, security, and lead to more equitable outcomes. We detail these below to inspire practices for other states to replicate.

Language Access 

Developing multiple language frameworks simultaneously 

Several of the states we consulted prioritized improving the clarity, inclusiveness, and effectiveness of external communications. When claimants understand and navigate UI systems with ease, they are more likely to complete the process and receive the benefits they need. The Oregon Employment Department, in efforts to expand language access, developed different language frameworks simultaneously, rather than translating directly from an English source. This parallel development strategy seeks to optimize equity by tailoring user interfaces to the needs of specific non-English-language communities. To this end, Oregon has offered their UI application in Spanish and created multilingual educational videos. Oregon emphasized that partnering with native non-English-speaking communities and organizations has enabled this process.

Partnering to meet community need 

The states we interviewed recognize the importance of accurate and understandable translations in increasing the accessibility of UI, and have attempted various strategies that prioritize different components of the service delivery process. The New Jersey Department of Labor & Workforce Development is developing a plain language, mobile-friendly application, which they have released using a phased approach — releasing first to 25 users in October 2023, then scaling up to 10% of users in November 2023, 50% by December 2023, and 100% of users by January 2024. They used each of these phases to identify where claimants were getting stuck or answering questions incorrectly in a way that required agent intervention, and made those improvements before the next phase of release. In collaboration with United States Digital Response (USDR), New Jersey piloted a new methodology that utilized subject matter experts on their team and in their community to ensure effective Spanish translation for the new intake application. They began by translating sections of their initial intake application into Spanish and soliciting feedback from front-line call center staff who speak to claimants about their challenges daily in Spanish. They then connected with community partners who work with Spanish speaking communities to review and share additional ideas for improvement, sometimes resulting in the phrase being presented in multiple ways and/or with the English phrase in parenthesis.

Customer Experience 

Developing aids to support claimants

Michigan’s Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA) is working to translate correspondence to jobless workers and develop online resources, such as informational videos, to address the needs of those who do not speak English as their primary language or have visual disabilities. In August 2023, UIA released a new UIA Claimant Roadmap, which consolidates and clarifies filing information into step-by-step guidance. UIA partnered with nonprofit design studio Civilla to iteratively design the guide and seek feedback from the public and agency staff. UIA has started hosting virtual, no-cost “First-time Filer Coaching Sessions” where claimants can receive guidance from trained UIA instructors on how to apply for benefits and understand what they need to do to maintain those benefits.

Improving email communication

New Jersey has updated over 50 emails with clear, trustworthy language that encourages claimants to act with urgency without threatening them or emphasizing negative consequences. By using an action-forward approach, New Jersey has been able to reduce the time for claimants to submit information by 35%. As part of these efforts, New Jersey created a re-usable email toolkit that contains a collection of styles, components, and building blocks to replicate in other states. 

Data & Analytics

Partnering to hone approach and analysis 

Data collection and analysis offers the opportunity to identify pain points during the UI application and after someone receives benefits. Administrators can identify and alter segments of the process where claimants face difficulties, including technical issues that could inhibit successful filings. The Illinois Department of Employment Security leveraged the expertise and capacity of external associates and surveyed customers using a survey at the end of the application to identify pain points and learn more about their experiences. Administrators partnered with DOL and their Tiger Team to refine the survey questions and expeditiously analyze data using scripts written in the programming language Python. Illinois has also partnered with masters students at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy to explore survey data and customer experience as a capstone project, providing respective recommendations. The state is working to implement an additional pop-up survey throughout the application to understand abandonment and other pain points in user experience. 

Building analytics into migration 

New Jersey is building analytics into their digital services as they migrate from an outdated legacy system. For example, they are creating dashboards using Google Analytics data to understand error rates and the usage of key functions like scheduling an appointment, requesting overpayment waivers, and managing accounts. Additionally, New Jersey issues claimant surveys after the initial claim completion and identity verification, prompting users to comment on challenges or questions they faced, if the user understood they needed to do weekly certification, and completing identity verification. This has created a feedback loop that helps them continue to make improvements incrementally, release them quickly to residents, and gather feedback on the next improvements to prioritize

Digital Transformation

Understanding the claimant experience 

Funded by a DOL equity grant, Illinois is developing three robust data sets that capture claimant information concerning likelihood to file, payment timeliness, and likelihood to exhaust benefits. Administrators plan to use these research findings to inform front-end development, optimizing the accessibility and delivery of UI. The state is also working with private contractors to revamp their online claimant portal user interface to enable mobile access and develop new features, including text message, correspondence, and status tracking capabilities. Illinois state leaders affirmed that self-serve options and users’ ability to access their own information are paramount for equity—they are also prioritizing increasing customers’ ability to access staff, and working on plain language and translation efforts.

Building consensus 

As part of their digital system evolution, Oregon has begun requiring internal communication and consensus between program experts, the UI modernization teams (both internal and external vendor teams), internal communications experts, and their Equity and Inclusion Office on all initiatives. Requiring these teams to communicate and come to consensus has been time consuming but effective in developing a unified UI strategy and changing the agency’s approach so its communications are more understandable to the diverse communities it serves

Going out to the community 

Michigan has partnered with affinity groups and community centers through its Community Connect Program to understand how to best improve and offer service delivery by going on-site to communities that would be most impacted by improvements. The program also works with employers who are anticipating laying off staff. The state also established a UIA Modernization Workgroup made up of business, labor, and jobless advocates who help to guide modernization reforms while prioritizing equity, customer service, and combating fraud.

What’s Next

Since the Beeck Center conducted these interviews, the DOL has released and awarded additional UI grants to states. In July 2023, the DOL announced a strategic approach to distributing the remaining UI modernization funds in Letter No. 11-23. The letter announced additional grant opportunities for Integrity, Information Technology (IT) Modernization, and Tiger Teams. On September 22, 2023, the DOL issued $204 million in UI grants to 18 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands. These grants seek to build upon evidence-based promising practices and support strategies such as modular software development and API-first development approaches.

The DOL has also released a new report celebrating the successes and highlighting the insights from ARPA investment in UI modernization. ARPA investments have not only brought about immediate improvements in states, but have also set in motion the development of sustainable and adaptive UI systems. The collaboration between states and the DOL, guided by a comprehensive strategy, ensures that lessons learned and successes achieved are not isolated instances but catalysts for a more robust and equitable UI landscape across the United States.

Acknowledgements 

Thank you to UI state leaders, including Julia Dale, Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency; Jennifer Phillips, Illinois Department of Employment Security; Gillian Morejon Gutierrez, New Jersey Department of Labor & Workforce Development; and David Gerstenfeld, Oregon Employment Department. Thank you to NASWA leaders Brett Flachsbarth, Benjamin Peirce, and Lou Ansaldi. 

Georgetown students embedded in our teams are central to how we work at the Beeck Center. We are grateful to McCourt School of Public Policy Master of Public Policy candidate Oriel Gomez for designing and conducting the interviews with state UI leaders in the Spring 2023 semester, followed by Georgetown Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Political Economy candidate Maxim Zeidman for writing this summary of promising practices in the Fall 2023 semester. This work has been overseen by Ariel Kennan, Fellow and Research Faculty for the Digital Benefits Network.