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Impact Report 2024

Helped more than 115,000 expecting parents access benefits to care for their newborns

A man and a woman smiling at a baby in the woman's arms

Project Highlight: Maternity Coverage Timeline Tool

To help working families make sense of their benefits and navigate a complex State program, the Office of Innovation built the Maternity Coverage Timeline Tool in partnership with the New Jersey State Department of Labor. The tool explains what benefits are available to expecting parents and helps calculate the length and timing of paid leave so they can better care for their newborns.

Challenge

Most people who work in New Jersey qualify for paid leave benefits under Temporary Disability Insurance and Family Leave Insurance. However, to use these benefits, parents must navigate a complex application process with confusing eligibility requirements, tracking multiple details and making calculations on their own, increasing the likelihood of making a mistake or delaying access to earned benefits.

Innovation In Action

Working closely with community partners and expecting parents to understand their needs, OOI saw an opportunity to use technology to simplify a confusing aspect of family leave and reduce stress. After asking parents a series of questions, the Maternity Coverage Timeline Tool automatically provides start and end dates for leave based on their specific circumstances and preferences, giving applicants clarity about the benefits they can access and when. New Jerseyans using this resource have the option to leave feedback to improve it, which OOI analyzes to make updates, ensuring the tool is continuously improving and responsive to user feedback. The feedback is anonymized and analyzed by a generative artificial intelligence model, which identifies common trends in even large volumes of feedback that point toward areas for improvement.

Impact

As of August 2024, more than 115,000 New Jerseyans have used the Maternity Coverage Timeline Tool to understand their benefits, and more than 523,000 timelines have been created since the tool launched in May 2022.

"In just six years, the Office of Innovation has made vast contributions to our state and improved the lives of countless New Jerseyans. Their work with the Department of Labor to create the Maternity Coverage Tool has made it easier than ever to understand paid family leave benefits. Increasing use of this critical benefit is a core Nurture NJ recommendation, and this tool has already helped more than 115,000 New Jerseyans plan their parental leave. Through innovations in technology and policy, we will make New Jersey the safest, most equitable place to deliver and raise a baby."

- New Jersey First Lady Tammy Murphy

"I just had a client reach out to us this week that she used the [maternity timeline] tool and was so happy to see exactly when she can start. She hadn’t realized that she can start her claim up to 4 weeks before her estimated due date…You can then clearly see the difference between taking Family Leave bonding time at once or in parts, as that can be confusing as well."

- Dina Ginsburg, Lakewood Resource and Referral Center

Partners

  • NJ State Department of Labor
  • Office of First Lady Tammy Murphy

What New Jerseyans See

The landing page for the Maternity Coverage Timeline Tool
The landing page for the Maternity Coverage Timeline Tool
The landing page for the Maternity Coverage Timeline Tool that walks workers through the benefits they are eligible for.

Read More

See the latest at the Maternity Coverage Timeline Tool project page.

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