RESTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MAXIMUS (NYSE: MMS), a leading provider of government services worldwide, announced today that it is part of a team that has been selected as a winner of a U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) challenge to identify innovative solutions for services extended to job seekers and employers at the nation’s One-stop Centers. The winning team, dubbed the WIO A-Team, is comprised of Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) partners, including MAXIMUS, Employ Milwaukee, and other local employers in the hospitality and restaurant sector. MAXIMUS has been providing workforce services to employers and job seekers in Milwaukee since 1996.
The Customer Centered Design (CCD) Project Challenge required teams to use a structured “design thinking” methodology to address one of six key topics identified by DOL as key issues in workforce development. The WIO A-Team answered the challenge: “How might we put employers in the center of our sector strategies and Career Pathways work?” Following the required CCD curriculum and process, the team conducted research and interviews with both employers and job seekers, and distilled insights into an approach to provide better career-seeker-to-position matches through more individualized, more accessible, and more engaging employer-specific position information. The team developed and tested a prototype of a visual career pathway that uses short videos of currently employed staff explaining what they do, how they got there, and where they can go next for each position along the pathway. The “Follow My Path” prototype generated excitement among employers and job seekers as a promising approach.
The WIO A-Team was one of only 15 teams chosen from more than 80 entrants and will convene at The White House on Monday, September 19, 2016, for a special Learning Exchange and Celebration with DOL staff.
“MAXIMUS is honored to have had the opportunity to participate in this ground-breaking challenge, and we are equally excited to have been selected as a winner,” commented Richard Montoni, Chief Executive Officer of MAXIMUS. “Our collaboration with Employ Milwaukee and our other WIOA partners was truly fruitful. The diverse expertise that we each brought to the table enabled us to develop a tool that people in the real world are hungry for. And that’s really exciting.”
“Our small internal team produced big results,” added Peter Coffaro, Employ Milwaukee Vice President of Business Services. “I would like to thank MAXIMUS and the other partners for a great collaboration. The Milwaukee WIO A-Team did an incredible job identifying a topic, conducting interviews and creating a high quality, and ultimately winning, project.”
About MAXIMUS
Since 1975, MAXIMUS has operated under its founding mission of Helping Government Serve the People®, enabling citizens around the globe to successfully engage with their governments at all levels and across a variety of health and human services programs. MAXIMUS delivers innovative business process management and technology solutions that contribute to improved outcomes for citizens and higher levels of productivity, accuracy, accountability and efficiency of government-sponsored programs. With more than 16,000 employees worldwide, MAXIMUS is a proud partner to government agencies in the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit maximus.com.
