Oceanside Unemployment Office Eases Benefit Hassles : Government: Office changes after complaints from claimants and now receives compliments on its smooth-running operation.

Get this: There was no line last week at the unemployment office in Oceanside.

And there was a big sign that actually told people what to do in simple language. It said: “Start Here.”

“Here” is a booth staffed by Employment Program Representative Lydia Collazo who directs incoming claimants to the proper form and line.

Collazo was on the phone when a claimant approached, yet she raised a finger to acknowledge the man’s existence. And she smiled.

When she hung up the phone, she immediately asked the client how she could help him.

Extraordinary behavior in extraordinary times.

The smooth-running office is the result of changes initiated last July by office manager Arthur L. Samaniego, in response to widespread claimant complaints.

With unemployment peaking in August at 9.8% in California and 7.9% in San Diego, state Employment Development Department offices are busy places these days, placing strain on both office staff and those who have to stand in line to apply for benefits.

And while up until now, the state’s claims offices haven’t exactly enjoyed a reputation for efficiency or treating applicants with much sensitivity, there’s something going on in Oceanside.

“Coming here was a complete pleasure,” gushed one unemployed applicant.

Words like that would have been scarcea few years ago, as this office, along with the other employment facilities in the state, enjoyed a less than stellar reputation for speed or competence.

“More than one person told us that they considered forgoing their benefits rather than come down here,” admits Judy Kelley, supervisor of intake for the Oceanside office.

Kelley is sort of the front-line general for the unemployment office. She monitors all the counter activity and patrols the lines with an ear open for irate claim-filers.

But mostly, what Kelley is hearing nowadays is how nice the office is. People tell her that when they were unemployed 10 years ago, they came to the office and waited and waited and waited. But now, they are in and out in record time. And the clerks are polite, knowledgeable and helpful.

This despite the fact that claim-filing volume is at an all-time high.

For most of 1991, this office processed 120 new claims a day; now the average is about 210 claims per day.

So what made the difference?

Credit should go in part to Samaniego, who took over as manager of the branch office 18 months ago.

Samaniego spends a lot of time listening.

First he listened to the claimants.

“Let’s just say it wasn’t pretty,” he says about what he heard.

So he turned to his employees.

“What can we do to improve this place?” he asked them. And he shut up and listened some more.

A few suggestions, like the phone-in-for-appointments plan, didn’t quite cut it. It was scrapped.

But several other suggestions, like the Start Here booth, work like a charm.

Under the old system, clients had to read a fairly complicated network of signs directing them to specific forms, depending on their circumstances.

More often than not, people would spend several minutes or hours standing in the wrong line or would fill out the wrong form. Once the error was discovered, the claim-filer would invariably be invited to wait in yet another line. Throw in a surly ill-informed clerk or two and you get the picture.

“All and all,” says Samaniego, “not a very good system.”

With the Start Here booth, everyone sees an information clerk, such as Collazo, first.

She listens to their circumstances and gives them the correct form. She then offers them a choice: she will direct them to a line and tell them the approximate wait, or schedule them for a group appointment, generally within the next day or so. There is a separate line for people with complicated problems.

And that’s it.

It sounds so simple, Samaniego admits, but the system, implemented in July, has sped up the process tremendously and eased tensions.

Long, slow-moving lines are virtually nonexistent, and when they do start to form people have an option of making an appointment. Everyone has the right form and is waiting in the right place. The place is quiet; the staff is helpful.

The results have shown up in the customer service questionnaires.

In the 1991 calendar year, only 53% of the people filing claims rated the efficiency of the office as excellent; 20% said it needed improvement. In the most recent evaluation, 81% gave it an excellent mark and just 5% said improvement was needed.

Their comments have a new spin too.

Some examples: “I imagined the whole experience as a nightmare,” wrote one woman. “It was anything but. I was elated be shown such courtesy and helpfulness.”

Another: “Your system has made unemployment as painless as it could be. I was treated with respect at all times. Thank you.”

Still another wrote: “I dreaded coming in and was amazed by the courtesy and helpfulness of your staff.”

The office has also gotten statewide recognition as being a leader among unemployment offices. Last week, a delegation from the Palm Springs office paid them a visit to learn about the new operation.