Written By: Doug Howard, Senior Vice President, U.S. Services, Maximus
State government leaders across the nation face familiar challenges: balance shrinking budgets, meet growing demand, and manage staffing constraints. Resolving these challenges calls for innovative solutions that help you and your agency reimagine how work gets done.
A blended workforce supported by intelligent automation brings together the best of people, processes, and technology. It allows you to build capacity, improve responsiveness, and deliver services and benefits efficiently while maintaining quality.
Blended Workforce: The Right Workforce Mix at the Right Time
A policy change, an increase in applications, a shift in economic conditions, or even a natural disaster can create a sudden surge that stretches your program beyond its limits.
A blended workforce—a mix of agency and contracted staff—offers you the flexibility to adapt when those surges happen.
Contracted teams scale quickly to handle administrative or high-volume tasks, such as document processing and customer inquiries. Meanwhile, your agency staff can stay focused on compliance and oversight, or be redeployed to more mission-critical tasks.
This strategy brings balance back to your program by expanding capacity when and where you need it, and ensuring your agency staff serve people where they are when there is a spike in demand. When that surge subsides, you can scale back as quickly as you ramped up.
Recent federal guidance offers states more discretion in determining the optimal staffing mix to serve people effectively. It opens the door to more strategic, efficient uses of blended workforces. This crucial shift can translate to faster service, the prevention of backlogs, and greater flexibility to meet people’s needs in real time.
Intelligent Automation Streamlines Repetitive Tasks
When applied thoughtfully, intelligent automation amplifies what people can do. By automating repetitive manual work, a blended workforce of agency staff and contractors focuses on complex, human-centered tasks that require judgment and experience.
We can see this principle in action during document processing.
Programs that receive stacks of paper forms and documentation can utilize Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) to scan, extract critical information, sort, and route these materials automatically. This means cutting hours, or even days from processing time.
On the front lines of customer service, artificial intelligence (AI) supports human agents behind the scenes. It analyzes caller intent, suggests next steps, and generates call notes in real-time. Instead of splitting their attention between data entry and conversation, agents can focus entirely on how to better support individuals and communities.
Faster, More Informed Program Decisions Supported by Advanced Technology
Intelligent automation and predictive analytics give agency leaders faster access to data—enhancing their decision-making.
As AI-enabled tools evolve and mature, the ability to support complex tasks related to data accuracy and program integrity has also grown. IDP and AI-powered verification tools check benefit applications against the data in case documents and third-party systems, flagging potential errors for human review and correction.
In customer service environments, AI utilizes natural language processing and machine learning to analyze patterns in calls and interactions, providing clear and objective insights that enable agency and program leaders to enhance service delivery. Subsequently, supervisors use that information to identify training needs and continuously improve service quality.
This kind of real-time feedback turns every interaction into an opportunity for an enhanced customer experience. It’s advanced technology working with people.
People, Process, and Technology Working Together
When intelligent automation is integrated thoughtfully, it strengthens your entire operation:
- Faster processing through automation of routine work.
- Fewer errors through guided workflows and data validation.
- Better responsiveness with real-time analytics and insights.
- Improved experiences for your staff and the people who rely on your program.
But it’s not just about technology. It’s about balance.
The most effective systems keep the “human in the loop” because people bring understanding and discretion that technology can’t replicate. Together, they form a more innovative, more resilient service model.
Investing in the Future of Service Delivery: A Call to Action
When your agency finds itself scaling up in a reactive mode, an AI-enhanced, blended workforce model lets you break that cycle.
By building flexibility into both staffing and technology, you can respond faster to changing needs and maintain steady performance even under pressure.
The future of human services is about doing better with what we have. It’s how you move from incremental improvement to transformational change.
Building a blended, AI-enhanced workforce starts with three practical steps:
- Assess where automation can make an immediate impact. Look for repetitive, high-volume workflows that slow down your staff and frustrate the public. By completing a program assessment, you can identify and document ineffective components of your current business and technical processes.
- Develop a blended workforce strategy. Identify where contracted support can add value to your program without disrupting consistency or oversight. What are the administrative or high-volume tasks, such as document processing and customer inquiries, that can benefit from intelligent automation and additional staff support? Where can you redeploy agency staff to more mission-critical tasks?
- Adopt a “human in the loop” mindset. Ensure technology supports decision-making and maintains a human connection. Human services address complex social needs through eligibility, case management, and benefits delivery. While AI excels at data processing and patterns, people best understand nuanced circumstances.
When you align these pieces with the right mix of workforce innovation and AI-driven tools, you unlock a new kind of efficiency rooted in flexibility, insight, and compassion.
That is the future your agency can build. Contact Maximus today to learn how we can build it with you.
About the Author
Doug Howard
Senior Vice President, U.S. Services at Maximus
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The viewpoints expressed in this post are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the policies or views of APHSA.