Chapter 4 - Delivering Results and Reporting to Canadians

The following information is out of date.

Objective: Demonstrate accountable and responsible government by delivering results to Canadians and government, and transparent reporting to Canadians and Parliamentarians.

As the Government of Canada's service delivery network, we are publicly accountable to Canadians for the quality of service they receive, and to report on our results. Part of this involves ensuring Canadians are aware of Service Canada and the range of federal programs and services available to them. Our performance targets allow us to measure Canadians' satisfaction with our service and provide benchmarks for improving our services for Canadians.

The Results So Far

Making Clear Commitments to Canadians through New Service Charter and Service Standards

Our aim at Service Canada is to build a culture of excellence. Our Service Charter (see Appendix 3) outlines what Canadians can expect from us and how they can provide feedback on the quality of service they receive.

Our Service Standards describe how we will meet these commitments in specific, measurable ways, for example, by ensuring the following for Canadians:

• choice in how they get services;
• wide-ranging access to services;
• service that is tailored to citizens' needs; and
• responsiveness to all suggestions, compliments and complaints Canadians submit.

Our Service Standards

1. We provide service in the communities where you live.
   • We provide 90% of Canadians with access to our services within 50 kilometres of where they live. We are doubling our points of service.
     
     
2. We provide more convenient and extended hours of service.
   • The 1 800 O-Canada call centre agents provide service from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Monday to Friday.
   • Service Canada Centres are open for business from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday to Friday, and we plan to extend hours of service in 60 locations during 2006
   • Day or night, Canadians can find the information they need on government programs and services at servicecanada.gc.ca.
     
     
3. We provide service in the official language of your choice – English or French.
   • We provide service in English and French by phone, on the web and in person. Where there is a need, we will increase our service at more locations.
     
     
4. Recognizing the diversity of Canada, we are extending our reach to multilingual communities.
   • We will provide information on our programs and services in a number of languages other than English and French in 2006.
     
     
5. Our services are accessible to people with disabilities.
   • We are making our Service Canada Centres more accessible to people with disabilities.
   • Our most-used forms are available online in formats accessible to people with disabilities.
   • We offer teletypewriter (TTY) service for persons who want to communicate by telephone and are deaf or hard of hearing at 1 800 926-9105.
     
     
6. Our employees are knowledgeable and helpful, and will make sure you get what you need.
   • All front-line employees are trained to guide you to the full range of government services and benefits relevant for you.
   • You can share your views with us if we are not meeting our service commitments.
   • We are committed to increasing our client satisfaction rating.
     
     
7. We let you know when you should expect a decision on entitlement to services or benefits, and if you qualify, when your first payment will arrive.
   • We notify you within seven days of receipt of your application.
   • Passports are issued within 28 days of an application being submitted to Service Canada.
   • We pay Employment Insurance claims within 28 days of filing.
   • We pay CPP Retirement pensions within the first month of entitlement.
   • We pay Old Age Security applications within the first 30 days of entitlement.
   • We issue Social Insurance Numbers and pleasure craft licences in one visit.
     
     
8. We want your views on how well we are serving you.
   • We acknowledge any mistakes we make and take required corrective action.
   • We engage and involve citizens as we improve and expand our service offerings.
   • You can share your suggestions, compliments and complaints with the Office for Client Satisfaction.
   • The office confirms receipt of your feedback within 24 hours and replies within seven working days.
     
     
9. We report on our results.
   • We publish a detailed Service Canada Annual Report.
   • The Office for Client Satisfaction publishes an Annual Report on client feedback and satisfaction.

Telling Canadians How We Are Doing through New Performance Scorecard

Like many high-performing service organizations, we have a standard scorecard to track our performance. Service Canada's annual Performance Scorecard tells Canadians how our performance compares to our Service Standards, showing both positive results and areas that need work.

Our first Performance Scorecard (see Appendix 4) features existing performance measures for application processing and telephone services for Employment Insurance (EI), Canada Pension Plan (CPP), Old Age Security (OAS) and passports. We have also added other measures, for example, to gauge access to service for minority official language communities and Canadians with disabilities.

The scorecard shows that the majority of Service Canada's performance targets were met or surpassed. We showed a high level of performance in meeting our targets for benefits processing, which is at the core of our traditional operations. We made notable progress in bringing service to more Canadians across the country by increasing our points of service.

We notified 75% of people that we had received their applications within 7 days, only 5% short of our target goal of 80%. Most people who apply for EI online receive automatic acknowledgements. For people applying for CPP and OAS, we are developing more automated services and processes that will help close the gap.

Investing in Improvements

In terms of regulating call-centre wait times to ensure Canadians speak to an agent within 180 seconds, call centres addressing questions on OAS and CPP achieved a 93% rating. The low score for EI call centres (58%) told us we need to improve Internet and Interactive Voice Response self-service to provide convenient alternatives, and manage our call centres better to handle the higher volumes of calls received in these centres.

We are also making progress in developing online forms in formats that are accessible to people with disabilities.

Our experience to date with the Performance Scorecard has helped us identify areas for improvement in what we measure and how we measure. For example, we learned that performance measures related to benefits processing activities could be made more consistent, and have identified new performance targets to reduce telephone wait times further, and avoid people getting busy signals.

Giving Canadians Ways to Provide Feedback – the Office for Client Satisfaction

Organizations committed to service excellence encourage clients to provide them with feedback, and often have special institutions where people can bring any issues they have about their service experience. For Service Canada, the Office for Client Satisfaction (OCS), plays this role, but also provides extra measures for guiding Service Canada's operations.

The OCS accepts all forms of feedback, including suggestions, compliments and complaints to support our goal of providing service excellence. Each case is treated according to OCS principles of impartiality, thoroughness, promptness and personalized attention.

In early 2006, the OCS conducted its first survey of Service Canada clients, developed to track overall trends in how we are doing. The OCS used the survey results, feedback from Canadians and other information to identify service strengths and challenges, resulting in the following three recommendations for Service Canada's action:

• develop a formal process that allows clients to escalate their concerns regarding their service experience beyond the local level;
• improve the "Services Where You Live" feature on the Service Canada Web Site;
• provide further training and support for client-facing service employees across the organization.

Creating Accountability for Understanding Citizens' Needs

At Service Canada we are tracking results against targets. Our leaders and staff at all levels have clear responsibilities and are held accountable for achieving our objectives.

To make sure Service Canada leaders understand the day-to-day issues Canadians using our services face, we are using a successful practice from other organizations. Each of our executives responsible for areas other than direct service to Canadians will commit four days each year to directly serving Canadians and using some of our service offerings to see how they work for themselves.

Re-directing Resources to Citizen-Centred Activities

Being accountable includes making the most of public funds, and for Service Canada that means putting more of our resources into activities that directly benefit the Canadians who use our services.

We are committed to reducing spending on overhead costs and activities of lower priority to Canadians.

Stronger Management and Financial Accountability

Service Canada has appointed a Chief Financial Officer and introduced new financial controls, processes and procedures. The improvements we have made to our framework for measuring our management and financial performance will lead to better decisions, better use of public funds, and demonstrate how we are delivering on the commitment made to Canadians in the proposed federal Accountability Act.

Service Canada reports on its plans and priorities and performance through the Human Resources and Social Development Canada (HRSDC) Report on Plans and Priorities and the Departmental Performance Report. Financial expenditures and planned spending are also reported through HRSDC's Main and Supplementary Estimates.

Service Canada Fact

Service Canada Fact

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