Modernizing our systems to provide better customer service, faster access to information, and overall efficiency

Red Tape Awareness Week (RTAW), organized by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) challenges governments to focus their efforts on unnecessary regulations that hold back small businesses.

This year’s RTAW runs from January 23 to 27 with each day devoted to a different announcement or event. On Tuesday, the CFIB released its Red Tape Report Card, which grades federal, provincial and territorial governments on their commitment to eliminating red tape. The report card looks at political leadership, public measurement, and constrains on regulations. For 2016, Nova Scotia was rated most improved of any government in Canada with a score of B, up from a C+ in 2016 and a D- in 2015. You can read the full report card here.

As we mark our 100th year of operation this month, WCB Nova Scotia is committed to making it easier to business with us through better customer service, faster access to information, and overall efficiency.

We are undertaking a major, multi-year modernization initiative as one of the pillars in in our 2016-2020 Strategic Plan. The changes will enable continued long-term progress in reducing the human and financial toll of workplace injury in our province.

Improvements include developing new secure online service channels, and more significantly, replacing the 25-year-old systems that power claims processing and management and employer rate assessments. WCB began enhancements in 2015 with the introduction of online registration for employers, the expansion of direct deposit so more workers could receive their payments faster, and an enhanced self-serve phone system. In 2017, we will introduce online service channels to improve online communications and access to information via secure online services.

But the transformation isn’t just about technology. Over time, it will mean a more efficient, modernized organization, with a workforce that continues to focus on service excellence, and serving customers as they have asked to be served.

For employers, changes will allow them access to more data about injury trends and better assessment information, with less time spent chasing paper. Workers will get real-time access to their own claims information, and a streamlined claims process overall that’s faster and more consistent. Service providers, like physiotherapists, will get quicker approvals and payments, and WCB employees will have updated tools, resources and skills to support new ways of doing business.