In April 2020, in order to understand how the public workforce system responded to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Heldrich Center surveyed 160 frontline staff and managers in the public workforce system in seven states and conducted three virtual roundtable discussions with 31 participants. These workforce professionals are on the front lines as “second responders” to the crisis, helping millions of Americans cope with abrupt unemployment.

Prior to the COVID-19 crisis, most workforce development services were provided by staff in offices with minimal technology tools or virtual service delivery. Given the nature and extent of this crisis, the Heldrich Center wanted to understand how the public workforce delivery system initially adapted to working in virtual teams and providing virtual services to customers.

The Heldrich Center is pleased to release Suddenly Virtual: Delivering Workforce Services in the COVID-19 Environment, which details the findings from the survey and roundtable discussions. The purpose of this brief is to understand the urgent challenges workforce professionals are facing and to identify and share successful practices and solutions that state workforce areas are implementing.