Performance against the Client Service Charter
All agencies delivering services directly to the public have been required to have a Client Service Charter in line with the government’s Client Service Charter principles since 2000.
In 2005-06, as part of broader organisational change, the department undertook a major project to create a new Client Service Charter, focused on building a culture of client service excellence. After an extended period of consultation, the DIAC Client Service Charter was launched on 2 June 2006. At the same time the department launched its Client Service Improvement Programme (CSIP).
The launch of the CSIP and the Client Service Charter marked the start of a series of ongoing initiatives to develop and implement service improvements across the department – a process which started as part of the department’s response to the Palmer and Comrie reports.
Client Service Improvement Programme
During 2006-07 the department undertook a number of activities in order to understand the needs of its clients better.
Roy Morgan Research conducted the department’s first client satisfaction survey in early 2007 and found 80 per cent of clients to be satisfied with the service provided. Clients also provided suggestions on where services could improve and a programme of regular client surveying has been developed. This will be continued and expanded to include the department’s offshore network in 2007.
The department held regular value creation workshops and client reference groups to listen to the views of clients and stakeholders. Client suggestions have been addressed through better complaints resolution, analysis and reporting in the department’s centralised Global Feedback Unit (GFU) and the development of a comprehensive Compliments and Complaints Policy.
The client experience has been mapped end-to-end and this has lead to the re-engineering of a number of core business processes to better target services.
Client service standards clearly articulate what clients and stakeholders can expect and a comprehensive consultation process with stakeholders on external service standards in early 2007-08 will form the basis of ongoing organisational reporting on client service.
Increased understanding of departmental clients has informed and driven a number of positive changes across the department’s service network, including:
- monthly Awards for Client Service Excellence, where the secretary recognises a person or team whose conduct embodies ‘people our business’
- a new email management system – implemented in several locations both on-shore and offshore – increasing efficiency, accountability and responsiveness
- improvements in the department’s overseas contact centres – which have enhanced the timeliness and quality of our responses to clients
- the establishment of a programme to ensure consistency and quality in departmental letters to clients
- the refit of departmental offices to make them more welcoming and client-friendly – the Sydney CBD, Parramatta and Melbourne CBD offices have been refitted and others will follow as refurbishments are due or new leases are entered upon
- enhanced caseload management in our overseas network through the development and distribution of training material and information on caseload management, pre-posting training and additional resources for short periods to address backlogs and workload peaks
- every state and territory office and overseas region has developed and implemented Client Service Action Plans that incorporate department-wide initiatives and commitments, as well as local actions to improve client service
- a contact centre summit, in response to low levels of satisfaction with departmental phone services in the first departmental client satisfaction survey
- a detailed analysis of service channels by Booz, Allen and Hamilton resulting in the development of a comprehensive channel management strategy to ensure that services match client attributes, needs and expectations.
Performance against the client service standards
In 2006-07, the department focused on embedding the Client Service Charter and developing a series of significantly expanded internal and external service standards and associated performance indicators and methodology.
The internal service standards were developed in discussion with staff. These were approved by the secretary in May 2007 and promulgated to all staff shortly afterwards. External standards have also been developed in workshops with staff across the department and will be finalised after a comprehensive stakeholder consultation process in early 2007-08.
The new standards give a clear description of the level of service that clients can expect when they deal with the department and provide a robust framework for measuring, reporting and improving the performance of the department’s service delivery network.
Sample groups of clients responded favourably to proposed service standards in a series of value creation workshops in June 2007.
The completion of the department’s first client satisfaction survey, which included nearly 4000 respondents, provided a baseline of client satisfaction levels by service channel, service delivery location and measured organisational performance against draft service standards.
Eighty per cent of respondents expressed satisfaction with the department’s client service; 85 per cent reported being treated courteously by staff; 93 per cent said staff were neatly dressed and well presented; and 83 per cent said staff listened well at the departmental counters.
However, only 67 per cent of respondents reported staff to be wearing their name badges; 40 per cent were not aware they could provide feedback to the department and only 60 per cent expressed satisfaction with the phone service.
The department has responded to the findings of the survey in a number of ways, including:
- holding a contact centre summit to look at ways of quickly improving its phone services
- increasing the prominence of its feedback mechanisms – this has been achieved by moving the Compliments and Complaints link to the home page of our website, producing feedback posters and brochures detailing how clients can provide the department with their compliments and complaints and developing a comprehensive departmental Compliments and Complaints Policy
- inserting key actions – for example, staff will identify themselves – in the draft service standards for the Service Delivery Network and Client Service Action Plans.
Client feedback
The departmental Compliments and Complaints Policy is to be launched in July 2007 to support and expand on the commitments made to clients in the Client Service Charter.
It sets out the principles that the department has adopted to handle client feedback quickly and appropriately and importantly it details how the department will act when services have not met the client’s expectations. The policy will be supported by a detailed set of business guidelines on procedures to resolve client feedback appropriately.
The department also participated in a complaints culture survey (in conjunction with the Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals and TMI Australia Pty Ltd) to assess the level of staff and client satisfaction with the department’s complaint handling system. Results from this survey, and a benchmarking study are being used in the development of complaints handling policies and processes that meet client needs.
The Global Feedback Unit (GFU), established in 2005, continues to provide valuable support to clients through the client feedback line (133 177), web feedback form and GFU mailing address and fax line. Feedback includes complaints, compliments and suggestions. The centralised client feedback system has enabled better tracking and management of client feedback.
Work was also undertaken on reporting and analysis processes to help identify trends and systemic issues. The first reports were released in June 2007 and will ensure that client feedback is used by the department to improve its services.
The level of client feedback received by the department has increased substantially over the past 12 months with 9085 cases recorded compared to 2379 in 2005-06. Included in the 9085 cases are:
- 1222 compliments
- 4996 complaints
- 278 suggestions
- 1888 general enquiries
- 98 dob-ins
- 50 out of jurisdictions
- 426 undetermined at the time of reporting
- 122 other
- 5 duplicate cases.
Such an increase in all types of feedback is expected as the department continues to seek out feedback and promote a commitment to listening to clients.
By actively seeking, measuring and analysing client feedback, the department can continue to enhance its services and increase community confidence in its operations.