1.7 Customer Service Standards

1.7.1 Routine Contact Requirements

Effective Date: July 1, 2026

DWD-DET requires career planners to attempt at least one qualifying contact every 30 calendar days. This requirement applies to all participants enrolled in the WIOA Title I Adult Program, Dislocated Worker Program, Youth Program, or Dislocated Worker Grant (DWG) Program, and must be maintained throughout the participant's period of participation.

Routine contact helps to identify participation-causing services that keep a participant's record open.

Note: The 30-calendar-day standard represents the minimum required contact frequency. DWD-DET strongly recommends that career planners increase contact frequency during critical phases of program engagement, such as initial enrollment and onboarding, training transitions, and active job search. In this way, contact approaches may be customized by participant phase.

Routine Contact Standards

DWD-DET requires all contact—whether attempted or successful—to be meaningful, individualized, and documented. Qualifying contact may be initiated by either the career planner or the participant.

For the purposes of this section, DWD-DET defines qualifying contact as:

• Meaningful, when it directly advances a participant's goals; addresses specific barriers or service needs; provides program information relevant to the participant's enrollment, services, or next steps; and/or addresses relevant questions or concerns raised by the career planner or participant;
• Individualized, when it reflects a tailored interaction based on a participant's specific circumstances and aligns with their goals, identified service strategies, and/or current phase of program engagement;
• Documented, when it is accurately recorded in ASSET in accordance with the Documentation Standards outlined in this section.

Note: Contact initiated by the participant—such as a message relaying updates on goals, barriers, or service needs, or in which program information relevant to the participant is exchanged—qualifies as successful contact under this policy, provided it is made through an acceptable communication method, relates to the participant's individual circumstances and/or program progress, and is documented by the career planner.

A contact attempt is any documented outreach effort made through the acceptable communication methods listed below, regardless of whether the participant responds. Successful contact occurs when the participant directly engages with or responds to the career planner.

Note: Examples of qualifying contact include, but are not limited to: a phone call discussing job search progress and updating the employment plan; an email with a job posting specifically selected for the participant's goals; a text message checking on training progress and addressing a barrier; or an in-person meeting to review milestones and adjust services.

Successful contact resets the 30-calendar-day contact period. The contact escalation timeline is triggered only when no successful contact occurs within a 30-calendar-day period.

Acceptable Communication Methods

DWD-DET provides the following communication methods as acceptable forms of attempted or successful contact, all of which must be documented in ASSET:

• In-person or virtual meetings with the participant, including telephone conversations.
• Voicemails or other recorded messages that provide the participant an opportunity to respond.
• Electronic communications—including email, text messages, or direct messages via social media (e.g., Facebook, Instagram)—that provide the participant an opportunity to respond.
• Postal mail sent to or received from the participant.

Note: Meaningful and individualized contact documented by a co-enrolled WIOA Title I or partner program is considered qualifying contact, provided it meets the Routine Contact and Documentation Standards, as specified above and below, respectively. When counting co-enrolled contact, the WIOA career planner must verify that the partner contact meets these standards and must enter a corresponding case note in ASSET.

Note: Mass communications—including mass job postings—are not considered qualifying contact. However, if a participant responds directly to a mass communication, the career planner's individualized follow-up may qualify as an attempted or successful contact, so long as it adheres to the Routine Contact and Documentation Standards.

Contact Escalation Steps

If a participant does not respond to any contact attempts within a 30-calendar-day period, DWD-DET requires the following progressive steps:

1. After 30 Days (Initial Period): If no response is received within the first 30 days, career planners must document the attempted contact and make at least one additional contact attempt during this period using a different communication method than the initial attempt.
2. After 60 Days (Second 30-Day Period): During the next 30-day period, career planners must make at least two contact attempts, using two different communication methods (e.g., phone, email, text, mail) on two separate dates. An Exit Warning Letter must also be issued to the participant during this period, using any of the acceptable communication methods, notifying the participant that continued non-response may result in program closure if no participation-causing services are active or planned.
3. After 90 Days (Final 30-Day Period): If contact remains unsuccessful after 90 days of no response, an Exit Final Letter must be sent to the participant during this period, using any of the acceptable communication methods, notifying the participant that continued non-response, combined with the absence of active or planned participation-causing services, will result in program exit.

Note: The Exit Warning Letter and Exit Final Letter are case management tools designed to notify participants of the potential consequences of continued non-response. These letters do not, in themselves, cause a participant to exit the program. Program exit occurs only when 90 consecutive calendar days have elapsed since the participant's last participation-causing service and no future services are planned.¹ Contact and case management activities—including contact attempts, exit letters, and routine check-ins—are not participation-causing services and do not extend or prevent program exit. Career planners may use the routine contact process outlined in this section to identify whether participation-causing services are needed to keep the participant's record open, where appropriate. See Sections 8.7.2 and 11.4.1 for DWD-DET's Exit Policy.

Note: If a participant requests that contact cease or expresses a desire to exit the program, the career planner must document the request in ASSET and follow applicable exit procedures under Sections 8.7.2 and 11.4.1.

Note: See Section 1.7.1 Resources for Exit Warning Letter and Exit Final Letter templates. Exit Warning Letters and Exit Final Letters may be sent electronically using any of the acceptable communication methods.

Note: When a participant is being reassigned to a new career planner under Section 1.7.2, the 30-calendar-day contact period under this section is paused during (a) any period in which the participant does not have an assigned career planner, and (b) the 10-business-day reassignment window established in Section 1.7.2. The 30-calendar-day contact period resumes upon the newly assigned career planner's first documented contact attempt. If the participant does not respond to the newly assigned career planner's contact attempts, the escalation steps outlined above apply. See Section 1.7.2 for additional guidance on career planner reassignment situations.

Documentation Standards

All documentation must be entered into ASSET in accordance with Section 12.2.5, and the case note must include, at minimum:

• The date and method of contact;
• Whether the contact was successful or unsuccessful; and
• A brief summary of the interaction, including updates to goals, services, needs, issues addressed, or next step

• ¹ 20 CFR § 677.150(c)(1)(i)