Methodology

Goals

• Learn how employers or their representatives interact with the UI system, including understanding employers’ level of knowledge around how their actions affect UI claims or payments, and what impact they aim for in those interactions

• Understand the ways in which hiring and termination strategies are impacted by the UI system or vice versa

Process

Based on the goals above, an interview guide was created. First, personal networks were leveraged to reach business owners and HR representatives in California for 3 initial interviews over the phone. This allowed us to test-run the interview guide.

Some additional questions were added to the interview guide at this point, before using the online recruiting tool UserInterviews.com to recruit appropriate participants and schedule further interviews over video conferencing. Interviews were scheduled for hour-long windows, although some were shorter. We used digital research tool Lookback.io to host and record the video sessions and enable screen sharing from participants. In some cases, Zoom was used rather than Lookback due to technical difficulties.

Participants

	Gender	Race	State	Age	Company info
Participant 1	Male	White	Georgia	32	10,001+, taxable, not seasonal
Participant 2	Female	Hispanic	Massachusetts	40	200-1000, reimbursable, seasonal
Participant 3	Female	White	Illinois, but also deals with UI in: AZ, CA, IN, MA, OR, PA, TN, WA, VA & others	37	200-1000, taxable, seasonal
Participant 4	Female	White	New Mexico	39	200-1000, taxable, not seasonal
Participant 5	Female	White	California, but also deals with UI in MI, NC, WI	27	50-60, taxable, not seasonal
Participant 6	Female	Black	Pennsylvania	59	200-300, taxable, not seasonal