XPost: can.politics   
   From: fritz@spamexpire-201403.rodent.frell.theremailer.net   
      
   March 18, 2014   
      
   Please help us and the clients we serve-BC's under/unemployed.   
      
   On April 2,2A!2, the province of BC rolled out its new   
   Employment Program of BC (EPBC), along with its new database,   
   the lntegrated Case Management system (lCM). Just before doing   
   so though, it had all EPBC case managers and contractor staff   
   sign a gag order, in which we agreed not to discuss the internal   
   workings of the program (which is why this is being sent to you,   
   unsigned, via an anonymous server).   
      
   (Madam Premier, if ICM is so great, WHY THE GAG ORDER? Are you   
   worried that the taxpayers may find out how much this software   
   is costing them in cash and resources?)   
      
   While our alleged mandate is to help British Columbians find the   
   shortest, most direct routeback to sustainable employment, the   
   effects of working within the EPBC's ever-changing policies and   
   procedures, along with the ever-increasing administrative burden   
   of having to try to keep the government's "Quality Assurance"   
   staff happy in terms of where and how data is entered into the   
   ICM is seriously impeding our ability to meet the needs of our   
   clients. Moreover, EPBC contractors are paid on a fee-for-   
   service basis, which over the past two years has resulted in an   
   ever increasing pressure on staff to be creative in their   
   billings and a predominant focus on the part of our employers to   
   ensure maximum profitability for their agencies, effectively   
   resulting in the needs of our clients taking a very distant back   
   seat. (NOTE: Prior to April 2, 2012, case managers were not   
   responsible for worrying about billings-that was the work of   
   their employers-and could focus their attentions entirely on   
   assisting clients with getting back to work, which is, after   
   all, what we were trained to do.)   
      
   The ICM initially came with a reported price tag of   
   S186,000,000. By early 2013, ongoing revisions to the ICM were   
   rumoured to have cost British Columbians an additional 5200   
   million. God knows what the figure is now. Meanwhile, in order   
   to ensure that case managers and staff are entering data   
   correctly and in the right "applets," the agencies have had to   
   hire additional administrative staff to ensure "data compliance"   
   and, more recently, staff to go through every case manager's   
   files on an ongoing basis, trying to anticipate and/or meet the   
   needs of the government's Quality Assurance staff, who also   
   audit all of our files to ensure every "1" is dotted and every   
   "t" is crossed. The focus of agency staff meetings is on   
   billings, the latest changes to EPBC policies and procedures,   
   Quality Assurance requirements, billings and sustainability for   
   the agencies and so forth. ln short, BC taxpayers are paying   
   through the nose and then some, for a system that is seriously   
   broken and has long since ceased to be driven by the needs of   
   the clients.   
      
   Case managers and staff are burning out and jumping ship at an   
   ever escalating rate, due to a sincere desire to help our   
   clients with their employment needs that is increasingly   
   thwarted at every turn by: the ever changing, ever growing, and   
   entirely unmanageable administrative burden of the ICM; the   
   relentless onslaught of ever changing policies and procedures;   
   the constant changes to in-house policies and procedures that   
   occur as a result of trying to meet contractual obligations and   
   the demands of 'Quality Assurance Gone Wild,; the acute and   
   growing pressure on case managers and staff to maximize billings   
   and profitability for their employers; and an ever increasing   
   sense of overwhelm, incompetence and exhaustion in the face of   
   it all.   
      
   Christy Clark and her government may argue that this is all   
   being done in the name of transparency and accountabilityto the   
   tax payers of this province, but I can assure you that if the   
   taxpayers understood what is really going on in this sector and   
   how much it is costing them, they would be outraged, and rightly   
   so. Hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent on this   
   program, but it is certainly NOT making it easier for British   
   Columbians to get back to work or get the training that they   
   need to do so.   
      
   And for the record, while our business signs, cards, letterheads   
   and so forth are littered in government logos, the case managers   
   of this province do not have the benefit of a government wage   
   nor pensions. We work for private and/or non-profit contractors   
   who, far too often, have become so preoccupied with their profit   
   margins that the needs of their clients and staff have come to   
   take a very distant back seat. lt is no wonder that so many Work   
   BC case managers are taking stress leaves, seeking jobs with   
   WorkSafe (for significantly better wages, a pension and no ICM)   
   or changing careers altogether.   
      
   Please help us - there's a huge story here, if only journalists   
   & the public would pursue it.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)