Research and Action in the Public Sector

Background »

Public sector organizations are under increased pressure to provide better services and improve customer satisfaction despite shrinking budgets and dwindling resources. Furthermore, they must also contend with taxpayers' tendencies to have negative views of government service providers.

Our government client operates multiple service locations, a number of which have recently been privatized. This department is quite unique in that their service can only be provided on-site; there is no phone or mail option. This distinction combined with the effects of a recent labor strike contributed to a very high rate of complaints over poor service. By conducting research with In-Touch, the department aimed to improve service levels in the remaining government-owned locations. They also hoped to build clear customer profiles for each location and improve public relations.

A survey program was launched in 32 locations. Kiosks were placed on-site for approximately ten months, and information was collected monthly to monitor changes.

Actionable results and measurable change »

In-Touch reported the data on two levels: overall and for each individual location. The research revealed:

• the key drivers of customer satisfaction, in order of importance, are wait time, promptness and efficiency of staff and staff courtesy;
• satisfaction in rural locations was significantly higher than in urban locations;
• a significant gap existed between the expected and actual wait times, particularly in the urban areas;
• comparisons showed that satisfaction was on the rise prior to the strike, but had fallen dramatically when service resumed;
• there was a correlation between poor satisfaction ratings and services sought by customers in specific age groups.

In summary, the department obtained hard data to drive improvement initiatives as well as a benchmark against which to measure improvement. They plan to conduct further research to examine the differences in customer satisfaction levels between government-owned locations and private issuers.