Behavioral Insights
Our Behavioral Insights (BI) team applies behavioral science to help solve complex challenges facing the workforce system. By understanding how people make decisions, we can help improve compliance, reduce improper payments and streamline processes.
Our Approach:
- Innovative: Inspires fresh ideas and approaches
- Iterative: Uses a "try, test and improve" approach
- Informed: Leverages data and research
Featured Resource
UI Overpayment Recovery Guide
*A NASWA member log-in is required to access this resource in the Library.
Why Behavioral Insights?
Behavioral Insights offers a framework for understanding people’s behaviors and choices which underlie the things they do. These insights can be helpful to government programs, as they strive to address behaviors that contribute to program challenges.
Behavioral Insights can address fundamental behavioral problems in programs, such as:
- Helping claimants better understand UI program requirements
- Nudging claimants about expectations when there is still time for them to meet the requirements
- Identifying and reducing obstacles to customer compliance in tax and benefits systems
- Helping claimants plan and execute better work searches
- Supporting staff in communicating program changes to customers
What We Offer
We can help your state with the six areas of support outlined below.
Communications Support
● Plain Language Reviews
● Form Redesign
● Pop-up Messages/ Reminder Messages
● Communication Strategy Development
● Desk Aid Creation
Systems Design
● Business Process Analysis
● Process Audits
● Journey Mapping/ Behavioral Mapping
● Behavioral Diagnosis of Problems and Barriers
Capacity Building
● Intensive Trainings
● One-time Workshops
● Organizational Upskilling
● Plain Language & Evaluation Guides
Measuring Impact
● Surveys
● Data Analysis
● Analysis Plan Development
● Formative & Impact Evaluations
User Experience (UX) Design
● Website/ Portal Redesign
● Prototype Design
Customer Research
● Participatory Research and Design
● Interview & Focus Group Guide Development
● Interviews and Focus Groups
● Usability Testing
Resources
Available to NASWA members only. Login required.
The BI Beat
The BI Beat is our monthly newsletter column, featuring insights, practical examples, and interviews from the field. Check out the most recent editions below, and view past editions here.
Tools for Compliance: Work Search Log
It’s fun to complain about paperwork—try asking a nurse, police officer, or a taxpayer at your next dinner party. Red tape has a magical way of sapping our energy. Behavioral and cognitive scientists have done a great deal of work to map out how we exhaust our limited energy (“cognitive bandwidth”) with unnecessary paperwork (“sludge”). Conclusion: paperwork is a drag. And yet, of course, we need medical records, police reports, and tax filings. As Mary Poppins might sing, this is a “spoonful of sugar” kind of problem. We need the medicine, but can we perhaps make it less bitter? One simple trick is to make the red tape as simple as possible.
Let the System Do It: Simplifying the Claimant Portal
To support states’ efforts in improving the experience for claimants and for reducing errors, the Behavioral Insights team has compiled an Intervention Idea to clarify work search and earnings reporting requirements in online claims. The project demonstrates a key philosophy of design: rely on the system to make the process easier.
When "Action Required" Isn't Enough - The Behavioral Side of Overpayment Recovery
We are excited to announce a new resource for NASWA members, Using Behavioral Insights for Unemployment Insurance Overpayment Recovery: A Guide for State Workforce Agencies. A collaboration with Behavioral Insights, State Engagement, and students from the Master of Behavioral and Decision Sciences program at the University of Pennsylvania, the guide tackles the tricky issue of overpayment recovery. By considering frontline state realities and blending best practices in collections with behavioral science, it offers practical solutions to recover more overpaid dollars.
Meet Our Team
We are available to provide virtual or in-person assistance for your agency.
