Innovations in Hybrid Service Delivery: Workforce Programs Combine Virtual and In-Person Strategies

During the COVID-19 pandemic, workforce programs that provide employment and training services faced new challenges as they responded to public health restrictions and shifts in the needs of employers and job seekers. As part of the Building Evidence on Employment Strategies (BEES) project, researchers conducted virtual interviews from November 2021–April 2022 with staff members at 10 such programs to learn about how they used technology to adapt their services during the pandemic. Anticipating the end of restrictions on in-person service delivery as the pandemic slowed, many program staff members intended to maintain some of their newly developed virtual strategies, using a hybrid model that would blend in-person and virtual service delivery. This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation snapshot highlights three lessons that demonstrate how workforce programs leveraged a crisis to create important opportunities for streamlining and improving services.