2024 – Improving How We Serve You

As one of California’s largest state departments—almost 10,000 employees and more than 225 offices—the Employment Development Department (EDD) is a stabilizing force for Californians. EDD provides billions of dollars a year in unemployment, disability, and Paid Family Leave benefits. We collect approximately 40 percent of the State’s General Fund, making it the largest personal income tax collection entity in the U.S., second only to the Internal Revenue Service.

In 2024, EDD continued modernizing multiple benefit systems and processes to improve customer service and increase self-service options. These efforts enhanced customer service, improved efficiency, and strengthened EDD’s commitment to helping workers, jobseekers, and employers.

Federal Performance Metrics Show EDD Strengths

Based on pandemic lessons learned, we implemented all 21 California State Auditor (CSA) pandemic recommendations for fraud fighting and operational improvements and took action to speed payments. In 2024, nearly 78 percent of unemployment claims met the U.S. Department of Labor’s prompt payment requirements, exceeding the national average of 73 percent. California also met the federal Payment Integrity Information Act requirement to keep improper payment rates below 10 percent.

The Department transparently posts unemployment payment information on its online data dashboard, consistent with the CSA’s mandate.

In 2024, we made landmark investments to improve multilingual outreach and resources. The Department continued to implement the EDDNext project to modernize its benefit systems and enhance the customer experience. We continued to be a critical resource for California’s workers and employers, implementing cutting-edge technologies, expanding services, and ensuring a more inclusive and equitable labor market. We furthered technology modernization, customer service enhancements, fraud prevention, and outreach to underserved communities.

We look forward to building on this momentum in the coming year to further improve our operations and customer service.

---

Simpler, Faster, Better – What You Think of the New Unemployment Application

We made big changes to our online application for unemployment benefits in October. This includes simpler questions and instructions to make it easier to complete, and less questions and jargon.

We now have customer feedback which shows the new application is a hit. Over 78% of you say you had a good experience!

Here’s what you told us.

• The updates help you better understand what information is needed.
• The application process feels quicker and smoother.
• Many of you love being able to complete it easily on your mobile device.

One customer said it best, "This site is so easy to navigate and intuitive. It made an unfortunate situation (losing my job) a little less awful."

Quick Stats from the Survey

• 23,000 responses were submitted.
• 45% of responses included comments—about 10,000 in total!
• We analyzed 1,000 of these comments to see what’s working.

What’s Next

Looking ahead to 2025, we’re excited to share an updated online disability application is in the works! Like unemployment, the disability application will include plain language changes to make it easier for you to read and fill out.

We’re committed to making the benefit application process simpler and improving your experience every step of the way. Stay tuned for more updates—we’re just getting started!

---

Disability Contact Center Upgrades That Put You First

This year, we started to upgrade our disability contact centers to the Amazon Connect platform to improve the customer experience—making communication smoother and helping us deliver services faster. So far, we’ve had a strong start with all disability offices now using this new system.

Milestones

• Amazon Connect Launch- In late November 2024, we rolled out a new automated phone system with secure, self-service options for disability customers, also commonly known as an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system. You can now check claim and payment statuses in English or Spanish.
• Unified Systems- All disability service calls are now through Amazon Connect and supported with Salesforce technology and systems.

Coming Next

• More Feedback- A new survey will give us better insights into your experience with the new system. That way, we can continuously improve as a result of your feedback! Our Chico office will host the first pilot.
• Expanding Services- We’ll start adding Non-Industrial Disability Insurance, and both disability and Paid Family Leave State employees into the automated phone system.

We’re excited to keep improving our contact centers. Stay tuned for more updates next year!

---

Improving the Paid Family Leave Online Experience

We're working hard to make it easier for you to manage your Paid Family Leave (PFL) benefits. Starting now, you can view your claim information in myEDD! (Before, customers could only check the status of their claim by calling us.)

You can view and manage your PFL benefits whenever and wherever you are. Checking your payment status, certifying, and viewing your claim history are only a click away!

We’re integrating systems behind the scenes to process benefits faster. This also will reduce our calls. This includes sending us forms to certify and re-open a claim. This update makes the claim process simpler online with less-

• Paperwork for you to fill out.
• Waiting time for mail to get to you, and then back to us.
• Time calling us for claim information.

We’re here to make sure you get the help you need quickly, with more self-service options that won’t slow you down.

We’re your EDD. We’ll help you get there.

---

EDD Wrapped! A Year of Big Changes and Bigger Impact

To improve is to change. This year, we made change our best friend to make things better for you, our customers.

From exciting improvements like adding in direct deposit as a payment option. Or making our online unemployment application easier to understand. 2024 was just the beginning.  Here is a little of what we accomplished. Numbers below are through October 31, 2024, and still growing!

 

---