Modeled on 311
School Call Center For Staff Queries

By MEREDITH KOLODNER

The Department of Education has opened a $30-million call center to field work-related questions from the agency's 135,000 employees.

RANDI WEINGARTEN: 'Will make it easier.'

Dubbed HR Connect, the center is modeled on the city's 311 system, but it is the first one devoted solely to city workers. Officials hope it will streamline DOE's human resources operations and give them more time to focus on recruitment and retention of Teachers and staff. The program, which will cost the city $7.8 million next year to operate, comes in the wake of exit interviews in which a significant number of Teachers cited the department's cumbersome bureaucracy as a reason for leaving the school system.

UFT: 'Big Step Forward'

United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten welcomed the new service. "The most important resource an education system can provide students is its employees," she said in a statement. "Anything that makes it easier for employees to get information that is essential to them is a big step forward. HR Connect holds that promise."

Customer service representatives will answer phones while sitting at computers that list answers to anticipated questions. Most of them revolve around health benefits, payroll, certification processes and other paperwork-related issues. But the system has a tracking mechanism so that if call representatives are fielding a significant number of questions on a topic not covered, answers can be added to the database. If employees call with a question not covered, they are supposed to receive a callback with an answer. The system generates weekly reports that include the content of the call, average wait time and length of call.

The average number of calls per week last month was 7,381.

About 41 customer service representatives have been hired. District Council 37 has petitioned the city to represent them at the bargaining table.

DOE officials hope the new system frees up HR employees to focus more time on staff recruitment and training instead of answering questions about bureaucratic necessities.

Answers on Court St.

Previously, DOE employees had to go to 65 Court St. in downtown Brooklyn to get their questions answered, but for most people that meant having to take time off from work.

"There wasn't just one place you could call," said DOE spokeswoman Melody Meyer. "It meant that de facto, senior staff in the schools, the districts or the regions ended up dealing with the questions."

The system had a soft launch over the summer. Representatives fielded 50,000 calls, mostly dealing with certification issues, and boasted an average waiting time of less than 30 seconds. About $6 million of the total cost of the call center was donated by private foundations.

DOE employees can access HR Connect at (718) 935-4000, Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.