Deputy Employment Security Commissioner

Richard Lavers

‘A day spent working hard in a job like this can have a profound impact,’ says Richard Lavers deputy commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Employment Security. (Courtesy photo)

As deputy commissioner of New Hampshire Employment Security, Richard Lavers has been incredibly busy for the last year and a half. Record numbers of people filed unemployment claims during the pandemic, new programs and computer upgrades were initiated on the fly, and workers from other state agencies and even the National Guard helped answer phones and assist the jobless.

Lavers, 42, joined the department in 2010 as an attorney in the legal section. He worked for a state senator in Massachusetts as an undergraduate in political science at Boston College, and attended Suffolk University Law School at night while working full time for the Massachusetts Legislature.

He, his wife and their two children, ages 12 and 9, live in Hopkinton.

Q. After the pandemic began, did it strike you that you would be entering a historic period of demand for services from your agency?

A. It did, pretty early on in 2020. It started to hit quickly, and from what I saw it really reminded people in the department why they came to work here and why they enjoy it. A lot of them have been part of this department for decades, and it reinforced why they came to work here — the opportunity to help individuals.

We didn’t have to ask people twice to double-down their time away from families. For a lot of them, it was really just working and sleeping — fortunately not the two of them together. They remained in an office environment closed to the public. They were working, 12-, 15-, 16-hour days.

You’d leave late at night and the parking lot was busy like it was the middle of the day. In May of 2020, we had 120,000 people who were part of the unemployment program. We ended up having more people accessing services in a year than in the entire prior decade.

Q. What kind of public feedback did you get?

A. I usually deal with people who’ve had some sort of problem, some struggle with the system. It was a matter of working with people and figuring out what was the barrier for them.

Someone called who was very critical of the website. At the time, we were dealing with historic claim volume and also launching a new website. The person had some good points. They weren’t finding the things they needed to find. We took some of that criticism, and we were able to help build improvements into the system.

Q. Did you get criticism that unemployment compensation made it too easy for people to avoid working?

A. A lot of it was intentional. In the early part of the pandemic, as public health learned more about how Covid travels, as a common-sense type of measure, we were not requiring people to be out there actively searching for work.

New Hampshire, along with every other state in the country, did not require this. It wasn’t until spring of this year that we reintroduced the work search requirement.

We’ve really seen a big increase in people returning to the workforce.

Virtual job fairs have blown up in terms of popularity and gone a long way to help employers connect with workers. Jobseekers have had some significant demands and expectations. A lot of people, sight unseen, wanted remote work. That’s a tough ask. Some people are able to be more selective. Some people want to wait until the end of summer. We’ll have to see how that plays out.

Q. Do you think some of the changes that occurred during the pandemic will continue?

A. It does appear that there will continue to be more people working remotely. Less windshield time is great for the worker. Some employers have productivity concerns, but they can also have less expense on brick-and-mortar offices. We’ll see how that balances out.

Q. What do you like about your job?

A. I love working with people. I knew that from day one in the public sector. It’s an incredibly rewarding job. You work with other incredibly dedicated, passionate people who are very mission-driven. You get to work hands-on with people. In a small state like New Hampshire, you see the impact right away.

Before the pandemic, people didn’t know who I was. Now sometimes when I’m out for a walk with my family, people will come up and say, “Thank you for what you did during the pandemic.”

Q. As an attorney do you ever regret not going into private practice, not becoming a partner in a large Boston law firm?

A. I’d be lying if I said I’ve never thought about it, but there’s never a day when I really second-guess what I’m doing.