DHS interacts with over one billion people every year, from travelers passing through our air, land, and sea ports of entry, to businesses importing goods into the country, to noncitizens applying for benefits. Right now, DHS customers experience services that are a mish-mash of digital and paper-based, with lots of data entry for both the customer and government workers. Through these interactions, DHS imposes over 190 million hours of "paperwork" burden on the public each year. Reducing this burden, or eliminating "time taxes", is a key component of improving overall customer experience and rebuilding trust in our government and agencies.
But What Does “Burden” Have to Do With Equity?
A lot, it turns out. Historically underserved communities experience disproportionate levels of burden when trying to access government services. Human-centered design practices help build equity and eliminate barriers to services for people who belong to underserved communities.
When we include customers in our research and design practices, we can build more equitable, accessible, and inclusive experiences. We can understand the concrete impact of that work by measuring whether services to historically underserved communities have increased, whether backlogs or wait times have decreased, or whether burden hours have been reduced.
Read more about Why CX Matters and Burden Reduction at DHS. Then you can take your knowledge and skills to the next level with our curated CX Resources.
Do you have any ideas to share with us or the CX Community at large on how to reduce burden by improving customer experience? Send us an email at CX@hq.dhs.gov.