Secretary's challenge brings out staff innovation

Secretary Andrew Metcalfe threw down a challenge to staff to raise their service to clients to even higher levels, and ingenuity and innovation have flourished. The inaugural Secretary's Client Service Challenge was announced in November 2007.

'Take up the challenge: be inspired and inspiring to others—and realise the positive change you can make for your clients, yourself and your team,' he said. Staff have certainly risen to that challenge.

Case resolution teams in National Office, New South Wales and Victoria were given awards for launching a trial that saw waiting times for resolution of some Bridging E visa cases fall from three years to just six weeks.

Other award winners have included the department's team working in Amman, which displays great sensitivity and ingenuity processing the applications of people living in the region. Many of the clients are still living in war zones with violence and hardship.

In Basra and Baghdad, two of the most dangerous places in Iraq, the team provides a one-stop interview/medical/document completion and despatch service to alleviate stress and danger for clients.

Another award winner is the eVisitor Visa Global Processing Centre in Tasmania. Activity levels of the program have almost doubled since 2005–06 but this dramatic growth has been managed through a range of client service improvements.

A single contact point for international stakeholders, caseload 'working bees' and a dedicated email helpdesk have increased the team's efficiency in spite of growing workloads.

In National Office, the Client Feedback and Service Recovery Team won an award for building an innovative and responsive feedback mechanism, and promotion of excellence, as well as improving the handling of individual complaints to the Ombudsman.

The teams were all recognised for their outstanding commitment to client service.