DES MOINES, IOWA (April 27, 2022) — Iowa Workforce Development was recognized for its work to preserve integrity and efficiency in a critical area of its unemployment insurance (UI) system. Announced by the National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA), the national award applauds IWD for its strong integration of the State Information Data Exchange System (SIDES) to better serve employers and claimants.
IWD is one of twelve states to be recognized for their SIDES system performance in 2021. The award was presented at NASWA’s 2022 SIDES Seminar in St Louis, a gathering for state workforce members, employers, and third-party administrators to discuss developing trends in unemployment systems and how SIDES can be used to enhance integrity measures, streamline claims-processing, and reduce agency costs.
“Iowa is once again a national leader when it comes to preserving the integrity, efficiency, and cost savings in our critical unemployment system,” said Governor Kim Reynolds. “I commend IWD employees and their hard work in continuing to set the standard for how these systems can best serve all Iowans, even in the face of recent unprecedented challenges.”
The SIDES system, created by a coalition of federal and state workforce organizations, brings greater efficiency and accuracy to unemployment insurance by giving employers a secure way to receive electronic notices of UI claims applications, thus reducing the time it takes to process and verify information. SIDES allows workforce agencies to receive timely and accurate separation information from employers while reducing administrative costs and the frequency of errors on paper forms. The SIDES system has also been instrumental in quickly identifying ID-theft for immediate notice to employers and IWD in instances when a claim was filed by a fraudster.
IWD’s award signifies Iowa’s position as one of the top performing states in the usage of SIDES to help improve UI administration.
“On behalf of all IWD employees, I am honored to see our agency’s work in preserving UI system integrity recognized at the national level,” said Beth Townsend, Director of Iowa Workforce Development. “The integrity of the UI system is and will always be central to our mission of serving Iowans.”
For more information about NASWA, visit https://www.naswa.org/.
