Contents | Video introduction |Overview | Report on performance | Management and accountability | Financial statements | Other mandatory information

Developing a culture of client service excellence

In 2005-06 we made significant progress in entrenching a culture of client service excellence. It is a key objective of the change programme implemented following the release of the Palmer and Comrie Reports.

Overview

We recognised that we need to better understand client expectations and needs. During the year we actively sought client feedback through:

• Value Creation Workshops and other focus groups, where staff were able to hear the views and concerns of clients directly
• the establishment of a Global Feedback Unit to record, track, and refer all client feedback received by post, email, and the Client Service Feedback Line
• senior staff visits to state and territory offices to observe client interactions first hand
• consultation with over 700 external stakeholders on a new Client Service Charter
• the establishment of Client Reference Groups in lead state and territories.

The feedback from these processes is an important element of our approach to improving our delivery of services to clients. For example, the Value Creation Workshops highlighted that clients want to:

• be informed of what to expect
• know where their application is in the process
• be treated with respect
• receive consistent information
• have easy-to-understand forms and letters
• primarily interact with us face-to-face or by telephone, with some people citing the Internet as their channel of choice.

We are drawing on this feedback as we move to improve our services through better training, systems, and implementation of government programmes.

Client Service Improvement Programme

A new Client Service Charter and an increased emphasis on ‘listening to’ and ‘acting on’ client feedback are just two elements of the comprehensive Client Service Improvement Programme launched by the Minister at Parliament House on 2 June 2006. The programme develops the themes of ‘our commitment’, ‘our presentation’, ‘helping you’, and ‘hearing you’.

We acknowledge that in recent years we occasionally lost sight of clients as individuals with individual needs and we were rightly criticised for this. This is why our reform agenda centres around improving our client service focus.
Some of the other initiatives under the Client Service Improvement Programme are outlined below:

• We are establishing a panel of client research service providers that all of us can draw on. Client surveys, focus groups, and workshops will be conducted routinely over coming years to make sure we stay in touch with client expectations.
• Work has begun on analysing and understanding how we interact with clients through different communication channels – telephone, facsimile, email, and Internet – and better understanding client needs and preferences to create more meaningful and targeted service.
• We are upgrading our public contact areas to ensure we have a professional, comfortable, and client-friendly environment.
• A dress policy has been drafted to promote a professional and consistent image across the department.
• We have adopted a Stakeholder Engagement Model that, whilst recognising that in recent years we have undertaken a range of formal and informal stakeholder consultations, aims to ensure we engage with stakeholders in a more effective and consistent manner across all of our programmes.
• We have introduced the monthly Secretary’s Award for Client Service Excellence to recognise best practice in client service. Winners are profiled in our internal publication, DIMApeople, providing clear examples to staff about what management is seeking from client service delivery staff.
• We are upgrading our www.immi.gov.au website to make it easier to use and give clients useful, specific, accurate information in plain language.

Queensland Leadership Talk Ethics The St James Ethics Centre has commenced sessions with compliance officers on ethics. This important new initiative recently commenced as part of the Compliance Officer Pilot Training Programme - DIMA College of Immigration. The sessions will assist our officers gain a broader understanding of how to apply ethics in the workplace and to ensure that ethics is involved in all decision making. These sessions were adapted by the Immigration College due to the success of the Values and Behaviours Workshop, facilitated by the St James Ethics Centre, in early 2006 with members of the Queensland Leadership Group. The workshop was held as part of the DIMA Queensland Project work to address organisational culture through promoting a dialogue around values and behaviours within DIMA Queensland. The Leadership Group went offsite to attend the workshop, which comprised practical exercises, discussions and information sessions, and workshopped the differences between ethics, law, and values. The workshop was also used to introduce the group to the St James Ethics Centre’s Ethical Decision Making Model, used to ensure that decisions made are ethical and justifiable. Following the workshop the Leadership Group also attended a dinner with keynote speaker, Mr Brendan Butler SC, who spoke of his experience in leading an organisation through change. Staff who attended praised the day and said it gave them the confidence to continue the discussion with their staff. Attendees also noted the need for continued education and discussion on the topic.

Profile
The Miller family Moving house is widely recognised as a significant source of stress. This stress is compounded when the move involves migrating to a new country.
Simon Miller, his wife, Tracy, and six children were already feeling the strain when a few days before they moved from New Zealand in June 2006 they discovered that, contrary to local advice, they needed a visa to enable them to live and work in Australia. ‘The panic we were thrown into was unbelievable,’ said Mr Miller. They turned to us for assistance. In line with our commitment to have fair and reasonable dealings with clients, our New Zealand staff treated the Miller family the way they would wish to be treated in the same circumstances. 'Staff not only kept us informed every step of the way regarding procedures and legalities but did it all with a smile, patience, humour, and understanding,' said Mr Miller. Staff advised the family that as long as their documentation was in order they would grant them residency as soon as possible. Soon after, they received a phone call from the Miller family’s case officer advising them that their residency applications had been granted. The family of eight boarded their flight a few days later thankful that ‘what could have been a proverbial nightmare’ had been a ‘smooth transaction,’ noted Mr Miller.

Performance against the charter service standards

A key element of our approach to improving client service will be the introduction of improvements in the articulation, measurement, and reporting of client service standards in 2006-07.

In recent years we have measured 13 client service standards outlined in our Client Service Charter developed in 1998. These included officers:

• identifying themselves in client dealings
• issuing receipts
• explaining decisions
• sending information within three days of request
• seeing clients with an appointment within 10 minutes of their arrival and those without an appointment within 30 minutes
• acknowledging applications or additional documents within seven days.

In 2005-06, eight of the 13 service standards were met.

We have made significant progress in improving the service we provide to our clients. Projects demonstrating this improvement include:

• the redesign of our website to make it easier to navigate and find relevant, accurate, up-to-date information
• establishment of a new call centre in London, in addition to the existing centre in Ottawa. These centres service clients in the UK, Northern Ireland, and the North America region, giving our clients access to a responsive inquiry service
• implementation of a staff identification policy in May 2005 that will help us meet the commitment in our Client Service Charter to 'identify ourselves'. An integral part of this policy was the introduction of name badges for staff working in public contact areas. The staff identification policy has now been extended to include all staff - name-badges have been created and all staff are required to wear them.

Client feedback

This year we actively encouraged clients to use defined feedback mechanisms through the Global Feedback Unit (GFU) in Melbourne such as our Client Feedback Line (ph 133 177), our web feedback form, and GFU mailing and fax addresses. This is the first step in establishing a centralised client feedback system that enables tracking and management of client feedback. Feedback is received in the form of complaints, compliments, and suggestions.

In terms of performance, 2005-06 saw a slight increase of three per cent in the total contacts to the GFU. With an organisation going through such a high level of change we were not surprised to see a decrease in positive feedback from clients.

Over the course of the year we have put more effort into resolving issues at first point of contact, and where issues are more complex, ensuring on-forwarding and follow-up with the relevant business unit.

We will undertake further work in 2006-07 to develop the reporting and analysis functionality required to identify trends and systemic issues. We will use client feedback to ensure our services better meet clients’ needs and expectations. Systems development combined with the development of protocols, staff education, and client communication will result in more consistent handling of client feedback.

Developing well trained staff

Having well trained and supported staff is one of our strategic themes and in 2005-06 we developed a comprehensive departmental training strategy.

We have now established a College of Immigration and its pilot course will start on 3 July 2006 in Canberra. Meanwhile, our staff attended a number of specialist courses that will ultimately be part of the college curriculum. These included courses in decision-making on the basis of reasonable suspicion, using all available methods to identify people, issuing search warrants, and case management.

The quality of leadership across the department was one of the key concerns raised in the Palmer Report and also by staff in the 2005 staff survey. Steps taken to address this include:

• developing our leadership model which outlines expected leadership behaviours
• publicising the model in regular communications with staff and in planning documents
• running the Executive Leadership Programme for all executive level (EL) staff with over 495 attending during 2005-06
• running our Development Programme for emerging leaders and staff in key service delivery roles.

Police liaison and training

A police liaison and training initiative got under way in December 2005. This initiative aims to further strengthen our already strong and long-standing working relationships with state and territory police in relation to compliance activities under the Migration Act by providing police with new and improved information and services.

In 2006 we established the Immigration Status Service (ISS), a 24 hours-a-day, seven days-a-week support service to help police establish the identity and status of certain individuals. By 30 June 2006, ISS operators had answered over 1500 calls from police Australia-wide.

A new, nationally consistent compliance awareness package was also developed for police information on the ISS services and is a key component of that package. In June 2006, a successful trial of the package was conducted with a focus group of police in Canberra. The first version of the package should be available for delivery to police by our officers in August/September 2006.

Compliance Policy and Case Coordination Division has had an important role in the DIMA-wide response to the Palmer Report. State and territory police can now pursue immigration inquiries through a dedicated 24 hour-a-day hotline, which provides rapid resolution of issues in the majority of cases and the capacity to escalate complex issues should that be necessary. The hotline facility also operates for consular officials seeking information regarding people in immigration detention. State and territory police are further supported through the delivery of nationally consistent information awareness activities.

Over the last year, enhanced training for compliance staff has focussed on the application of ‘reasonable suspicion’, emerging legal issues, identity investigations, and search warrant training. Key compliance Migration Series Instructions (MSIs) have been reviewed and reissued with work continuing on the remaining MSIs. These are supported by a newly improved Compliance Policy Helpdesk. Rural and remote compliance activities in NSW are trialing a purpose-built trailer to facilitate field operations in those areas and to ensure that clients are dealt with in a fair and efficient manner. In conjunction with the NSW and Victorian State Offices, work continues on the analysis of Bridging Visa E holders and overstayers.