One of the most striking things I experienced through this is that I didn't actually interact with a person when I filed for my benefits. Nobody sat down with me and said, “Let's look at your unique situation. Have you considered this option or that option? If you take this road, the gap with no income is going to happen.”
Once I started my file, it was as though the clock was ticking on my 50 weeks. I didn't find out until the sick leave was about to end; I had a few weeks' notice that I was about to have no income.
Then there was a mistake at the end of my file, at the extension, about when they thought that was going to end. So my income ended abruptly then, as well.
In my unique situation, I personally would have benefited greatly had somebody sat down with me and gone through the situation and helped me make a plan for how to navigate this, and told me what my choices were. There's a federal program, but I'm also a resident of Ontario. Then there are my provincial rights. I needed somebody to help me reconcile the two, because they don't always reconcile. Even though I switched to the OW program and wasn't accessing EI, my province was still protecting my right to return to work.
I think having an intake person make sure that somebody understands all their rights and all their options ahead of time is one of the biggest things we could design into the program, especially for unique situations.