An Unemployment Office talks of easier coordination

Read the interview here

Fredrik: We are on the Nyby boat in the middle of Arendal, in Pollen at Arendalsuka. With us we have Katrine Dyrkorn from NAV Bærum and will have a chat with both the municipality of Stavanger and Frogn about how you have been using Nyby during the spring.

Katrine: Yes, we had to figure out how to use this ingenious app and how to make the best use of it. There are a lot of systems within NAV, so coming up with a new thing is not popular even if it's an app and you can have it in your pocket. My thinking was that we need to involve the supervisors representing everyone who is registered in NAV and who has a good overview of them. Then we can implement all the possibilities we have in the form of job positions that we work on, work training, various courses and those sorts of things. So now we have put all the supervisors in one end and then you have us who does the administration at the other end. Then things happen, they use the app and bring it to user meetings. This means that things are updated all the time and you have the opportunity to get in touch and dialogue with the person who gets the opportunity there and then.

Fredrik: Does this mean that you use Nyby as a communication tool between two departments, the marketing department and the supervisors? And previously, you sent emails once a week?

Katrine: Yes, emails and documents that laid somewhere that you never could remember. Now you have it in your pocket and can enter the app at any time. That there is a notification when new things are posted is absolutely brilliant - you have it (device) lying on the desk and maybe working on decisions and then "ding!" - it could be a notification regarding a new job position or work training which I then can pass on to our users.

Gunnar: How is it to use the app for those who want to post content? Is it automatically generated from elsewhere, or do you do it manually?

Katrine: Yes, we enter it manually, but it's super easy. It is quite self-explanatory I would say. Either you just do it via the app or if there are slightly more complex things that needs editing, you just log on the administration board on your PC and do it there. Easy peasy!

Gunnar: Have you considered giving it to the end user/citizen?

Katrine: Sure, I really wanted to have done it this week, but then I end up in Arendal instead.

Gunnar: Exciting. How are you thinking about using it?

Katrine: We think first and foremost in relation to work training, which is an opportunity for people to work somewhere without being employed and gaining some experience and get references that we administrate. Then there are the supervisors and ourselves who work with the users, taking some decisions on behalf of them, that we really have no right to do, because we should not necessarily think we know what they want, what they wish for and what they need, meaning we just want them straight in the app so that they can see the possibilities we provide and make direct contact themselves. It's much easier. I think that will work well.

Fredrik: It is really cool because the area of application and talking through the marketing department and supervisors or directly between two departments in an organization in that way, is something we had not thought of ourselves, but when Katrine and NAV Bærum saw how this works: " Oh, we can use it for that as well! ”. This means we have reduced administrative costs because it is direct. Then the next wave comes, in that you bring in users, so they see more. These are new opportunities. And then maybe a third opportunity comes if we get more people in on it; involve the job marketplaces also, so that they can post internships directly which opens for that we don’t need three months of internships anymore, but perhaps two days, or a couple of hours etc. because coordination becomes easy and opens up for completely new service areas.

Gunnar: I would assume NAV has lots of different systems. Why did you choose another system, we saw that you did, but there are so many interaction systems, why exactly this?

Katrine: Mostly because it's so easy to use and that it's an app that you can have with you all the time.

Gunnar: It's the simplicity...?

Katrine: Yes. And that you can carry it with you everywhere. You have a meeting with NAV, you meet up, find a meeting room, then you sit there to talk - and then: "Yes, I will check something, but it will be till the next meeting that I have that information for you". It takes a very long time and it doesn't have to, we can just figure it out right away and clarify "should you be in that programme or should you not" and then you can move on. It's quick and easy.

Gunnar: Do the employees find it easy to understand? Have you had any training with those who are going to use it?

Katrine: Very little training. I have just sent out brief information and occasionally someone will sit next to me when they are about to download the app. They sit next to me and download, and that goes very well. It is very rare I hear of any major issues.

Gunnar: My experience with the public is that you often problematize data security, has there been a major discussion about this?

Katrine: No, there has not been any major discussion, but it is there with us all the time and we think of GDPR and we have had a lot of dialogue regarding this, so I feel that it is dealt with.

Fredrik: Yes, GDPR is the one side of it, then the other is to create judicial comfort in regards of sharing information etc. Another sector that we also work with is Healthcare, typically in the Home Care Services that work towards volunteerism and towards NAV. Creating judicial guidelines for healthcare professionals who share information with people outside their organization is important. How to document in an enterprise application software system, how to ensure that it is not sensitive information, how to secure consent and consent competence etc. It’s as we usually do with regular PDF, plain sheet or a regular conversation where one review and qualify that the employees have that knowledge.