Director Joel Sacks speaking at Worker Memorial Day 2014 with Governor Inslee (seated).

One of the most exciting appointments by Governor Jay Inslee was Joel Sacks as Director of the Department of Labor & Industries.  Joel is determined to improve performance at the agency by changing its culture.

In 1998 a former Director set a similar goal, and sought to improve workers’ compensation claims management.  He struck a deal with the business community that was summarized in the state operating budget.  In exchange for funding 24 additional claims managers and increasing the pay for existing managers  the Department would reduce time loss duration by 7.5%.   In the end claim duration went up, not down, but the Department retained the funding anyway — and some wonder why so many are frustrated with government!

This year, as part of a much larger agency-wide improvement plan, Joel is also trying to improve claims management.  But he brings a unique skill set to the job, and consistent with the Governor’s Results Washington government accountability plan, Joel and his “Golden Erasers” just might pull it off.

A Lifetime Preparing

Sitting down with Joel, one is struck by the universal college boy features of his appearance.  An outgoing personality adds to the image, but after being the Director now for over a year there is a noticeable new seriousness to his demeanor.  Changing an agency is not easy but unlike most agency Directors Joel has been preparing his whole life for this challenge.

Joel grew up in New Jersey, attended Haverford College in Pennsylvania where he was selected in his junior year for a Harry S. Truman scholarship, and then the City of New York City Urban Fellows program.   As part of his fellowship in 1991 he was project manager for the Total Quality Management program at a city agency.

Postgraduate work in public management followed at Syracuse University for a year then he was selected for the Presidential Management Internship program.  He ended up as a program manager at the Occupational Health and Safety Administration overseeing consultants tasked with reinventing OSHA.

Joel followed OSHA Director Joe Dear back to Washington State where Joel rose to Deputy Director, first at the Department of Labor and Industries and then the Employment Security Department.  In January 2013 he was appointed by Governor Inslee to head Labor and Industries.

Results L&I

Building on the Governor’s Results Washington state government strategic planning initiative, the Department of Labor and Industries has established goals and metrics at the agency level.  “Results L&I” has five overall goals, (1) Make workplaces safe, (2) Help injured workers heal and return to work, (3) Make it easy to do business with L&I, (4) Help honest workers, businesses and providers by cracking down on the dishonest ones, and (5) Ensure L&I is an employer of choice.  It is disappointing that all of the metrics have still not been developed at both the state and agency level, but many are already in place.

For example, the overall target under Goal 2 is to decrease the number of injured workers who are still receiving time loss benefits after 12 months.  In the baseline year of 2012. for every 10,000 injured workers an average of 436 injured workers were receiving benefits after the first year.  The target for June 2015 is 377. In the last quarter of 2013 the Department was doing well at 416 claims.

On some of the sub-targets like the percentage of injured workers who return to work within six months, the Department actually lost ground in that 4th quarter.  Overall Joel and his Assistant Director for Insurance Services, the veteran Vickie Kennedy, are both optimistic.

Nonetheless,  several former directors developed goals and metrics.  What Joel believes will make the difference in his case is the implementation — the focus is not on achieving specific numbers (it would be easy to arbitrarily close injured worker claims faster). Joel is using the goals to drive agency values and impact the way front line staff think about their jobs.   The focus is on, “creating a culture of return to work” and “reducing the development of preventable permanent disability.”

To create this culture Joel is building on the foundation left by his predecessors.  Joel is relying on the front line staff to standardize and optimize operations so they can focus on what is really important.

A Golden Eraser.

Cross-divisional teams have been formed to redesign most functions in the agency.  As Joel says, every time something goes wrong in government it adds another process.   Now Joel is rewarding every team that eliminates duplication or inefficiencies with his “Golden Eraser” award.  In the claims management arena Vickie and the teams are streamlining administrative processes and focusing on making a difference upfront, in the first six months of a claim, refining the use of predictive analytics and utilizing new initiatives.

The results to date are exciting and there is a sophistication to Joel’s approach that we have not seen in a long time. He is also committed to maintaining a dialogue with business, labor and other stakeholders, something that has been a trademark his whole career.

But Will It Work?

The task is daunting.  In his new book, The Rule of Nobody, Philip Howard explains that because of the existing morass of laws, regulations and court decisions not even Presidents can implement significant change…government is on autopilot.   A perfect example is the attempt by our state legislature two years ago to provide injured workers a structured settlement option to close controversial claims.  The legislation was passed after a tough fight between employers and the unions, but administrative rulings and adjudications have undercut any significant change.

Joel is trying to drive change from within.  But he faces an extraordinary backdrop of existing laws, administrative interpretations, and court decisions that also drive outcomes.

It will be difficult but the most important question is whether the front line staff at L&I respond to Joel’s leadership and the staff empowerment he is depending on as the central piece of this endeavor.

The Washington State Wire will keep you posted.

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