Citizen’s advice

It’s debatable whether a contact centre is run differently if the calls come from citizens rather than customers. But for those who work in the government, maintaining service levels is as critical as it is in the private sector – perhaps even more so.Government contact centres have gained a reputation in the industry as being among the most well-run and well-resourced in the country. But when the State Services Commission surveyed 6000 citizens last year it found widespread dissatisfaction with the telephone service being delivered by government agencies.Spokesperson Jason Ryan says that as a direct response of findings in the ‘Kiwis Count’ research, the Commission set up Communities of Practice. This is a forum for 25 contact centres to meet every few months and look at ways to improve service.The first forum in March attracted 100 participants, and it looked at the drivers for customer satisfaction. The second forum in July, videoconferenced for participants from cities other than Wellington, was about planning, forecasting and metrics. The third forum in October will discuss staff engagement.Ryan says presentations are posted on the government intranet, but the information won’t be made available to commercial contact centres. He says the focus is on improving service to New Zealanders, because unlike a commercial centre, citizens don’t have a choice about which organisation to phone. “There is only one IRD,” he points out. Are citizens really so different to customers? MED contact centre manager Jeremy Dickson doesn’t think there so. “If we treat ‘citizens’ as customers then we are on the right track; if not, we have missed it,” he says.But Career Services advice line manager Tracy Clarke says there is a sense of added responsibility that comes when your callers are also taxpayers. “Working in a government agency like Career Services, this means focusing on the best interests of the citizen and meeting their needs,” she says.And Immigration contact centre branch manager Gordon Barlow says a key difference between the public and private sectors is that in almost all situations, government contact centres aren’t trying to sell their callers anything.All agree, however, that collaboration and knowledge-sharing among centres is important to achieve high standards. In addition to the State Services Commission initiative, there are separate government centre conferences, with a major two-day event being held in Sydney this month. Barlow is a keynote contributor to the Sydney conference. He will be speaking about the successful implementation of a staff engagement initiative called Partnership for Quality (PfQ). This was a two-year programme with the Public Service Association, which mended some broken relationships between management and staff, and as a result, boosted customer satisfaction. The entire process has been documented in a YouTube video – go to youtube.com and put in key words ‘Workplace productivity – DoL immigration’.A change in government can affect the way a centre is run. Dickson says they have been asked to “do more with less” while at the same time maintaining service levels. “Our experience has been to reduce head count minimally and, more importantly, to increase occupancy by innovative means.”New Zealand Police communications adviser Rob Lee says legislative changes in criminal justice made by new governments can directly impact on the type and volumes of calls they receive. “Changes to family violence legislation or ‘boy racer’ offending could see an increase in calls from the public about such offences,” he says.Lee says that sharing their experiences with other government centres – especially those that deal with similar life-and-death situations – is enormously helpful to improving the kind of service they offer the public. And collaboration can even save lives, as he explains.“Police were very interested in the Ministry of Health’s ‘Healthline’ – a 24/7 virtual work environment in operation nationally since 2005. “Alongside a small centre in Wellington – where management and team leaders are based – Healthline has 90 registered nurses who are set up with ADSL internet-based workstations in their own homes. They receive phone calls from anywhere in New Zealand and provide ‘first point of call’ triage health advice. Calls are diverted to the next available nurse regardless of their location. “Workflow and performance is monitored and managed, including nurse log-in time, calls taken and time spent on calls. All calls are recorded. “Police have had interaction with Healthline at both a comms and operational level. “Healthline recently took a call from a suicidal Wellington man. A nurse in Invercargill took the call and kept him on the line while sending a desktop message to her team leader in Wellington, asking her to monitor the call. The team leader desk-topped instructions and advice back to the nurse and said she’d contact Police. “The team leader then called Police Central Comms on 111 and a unit was dispatched. Frontline staff arrived at the man’s address to find him still on the phone to the nurse in Invercargill. A great result all round.”Not all collaboration is as dramatic as Lee’s example, but it’s the freedom to be able to swap tips and advice on hot-button issues such as virtualisation that government contact centre managers find valuable. Barlow says this is a key advantage to being in the public sector – in private enterprise the need for commercial sensitivity can stifle conversations between managers. Then again, the basics to creating an environment that fosters excellence in customer service are pretty much universal. Lee sums it up neatly:“Strong leadership and a clear focus on your business outcomes are critical.”