Monday, March 20, 2006
Contact: Spence Jackson, 573-751-0290
Blunt’s Directive to Improve Efficiency Adds Up at Labor
JEFFERSON CITY–Gov. Matt Blunt’s common sense directives to improve efficiencies and save taxpayer dollars led the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DOLIR) to $489,000 in savings.
“Our ongoing efforts to root out waste, take advantage of opportunities to reduce costs and constantly seek ways to improve efficiency are adding up to real savings for Missouri taxpayers,” Blunt said. “I applaud the Department of Labor for making common sense changes to offer quality customer service and get the most out of every tax dollar.”
More than $340,000 of the savings is a result of process changes for large quantity, outgoing mail pieces. DOLIR sent 5.8 million pieces of mail in 2005, mostly relating to unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation claims. The largest savings took place when the department began processing most mail through the University of Missouri. The partnership led to a 55 percent savings for each piece of mail sent.
DOLIR realized additional savings by redesigning seven of their large quantity mail pieces to allow bar coding. The capability enables the state to take advantage of 100 percent of discounted rate savings available from the post office.
“This is a significant improvement in the way we process mail,” said Katharine Barondeau, acting director of DOLIR. “While the programming to add the bar coding feature is time consuming, we will continue to work on redesigning other large quantity mass mail pieces so that additional savings may be realized by the department moving forward.”
The remaining cost savings occurred when the department implemented common sense policies to help reduce travel expenses. The most significant change was emphasizing the importance of communicating with constituents by phone. Many of the services the department offers require initial contact with customers; however contacts can be managed over the phone, without jeopardizing customer service. The department also reduced the amount of out-of-state training and limited the number of employees who attend the same conferences and trainings. In calendar year 2005, DOLIR reduced travel costs to $490,822, a 23 percent decrease from $638,168 in 2004.
For more information contact Tammy Cavender at the Labor and Industrial Relations Committee at (573) 751-7500.
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