Change rolls on

The world is adjusting to a new reality. With each passing week, COVID-19’s impact builds, and more change comes down the pike.
This week, this website turned its focus mainly to businesses and how they have adjusted in these times. A number of stores have offered some form of curb-side pick-up, but the overall theme has been: It’s just not the same as having the shops open and welcoming foot traffic through the doors. Therefore, like many individuals, many companies are in the process of waiting for some form of assistance to come their way — in some cases, weeks after applying for it. The need for relief is palpable; every life has been touched by this crisis in some way.
That leads to a unique dynamic when someone calls an agency for help: the person on the other end of the line is in the same struggle. Still, those workers press on, trying to get the assistance to the many people who so badly need help.
On Friday, the Vermont Department of Labor (VDOL) took a step which it hopes will allow the department to more quickly address calls from the many thousands of unemployed Vermonters. VDOL is asking people to follow a new alphabetical structure, based on last name, for calls about unemployment claims each week. VDOL Interim Commissioner Michael Harrington called this a “short-term solution” that will be monitored.
“We are asking the public for help in implementing this new call structure, as we look to help those that are in need,” Harrington said in an announcement. “We continue to see the impact that COVID-19 has had on our community and our goal is to be able to reduce call volume so we are helping more Vermonters get benefits faster.”
VDOL has also put out a bid for a call center to take direct calls, so the department’s staffers have more time to get existing claims processed, according to Vermont Senate President Pro Tempore Tim Ashe, during a Facebook Live call on Friday. The department hopes a vendor will be selected next week, Ashe said.
As those efforts continue and another week begins, the human element in this crisis will be increasingly front-and-center. Agencies, state departments and other groups will probably grapple with more changes to their process as they try to respond to the great need, while workers also shoulder their own personal challenges. Any chance we get to offer a word of encouragement or gratitude to another person, that’s an opportunity we should take.

— Gareth Henderson