The 1823 Integrated Call Centre a Case Study

1. The 1823 Integrated Call Centre a Case Study 11 December 2008

2. 1823’s role in Complaint Handling • 1823’s role in Complaint Handling • To serve as a bridge between citizens and participating departments • To monitor case progress • To measure performance • To identify problems • How Are we Doing

3. 1823 As a Bridge • Complaint Handling Profile • 300,000 calls a month • Central Repository for HyD, LCSD and TD

4. Monitor Case Progress • Service Level Agreement to monitor Acknowledge Receipts, Interim Reply, Final Reply • Reminders and Escalations • Management information on overdue cases • Dedicated Complaints Handling Team

5. Monitor Case Progress (Cont’d) • Assignments to the ‘responsible department’ in buck-passing cases • Examples of buck-passing cases (recreation facility and vegetation management) • Early alert to departments, e.g. LPG cylinders • Daily Risk Assessment, e.g. Lift safety, Melamine in milk products

6. Case - Tai Chung Kiu Road, Shatin 大涌橋路城門河畔划艇會對面的露天看台鋼索折斷 Broken wire and benches of a public stand at Tai Chung Kiu Road, Shatin

7. Case - Tai Chung Kiu Road, Shatin (Cont’d) • LCSD • Outside their jurisdiction • HyD • Concerned location and facilities not under the maintenance of HyD • LandsD • Most similar government recreation facilities did not obtain any Government Land Allocation or there had been no formal handover procedures from the then old Territory Development Department (TDD) period. • Cannot confirm management responsibilities • May be erected by CEDD (Former TDD) or ArchSD • No record/information • Facilities in poor condition, other parts may collapse soon

8. Case - Tai Chung Kiu Road, Shatin (Cont’d) • HAD • Unallocated government land, to refer to LandsD to follow-up • DLO • Not under their maintenance responsibility • LCSD • All along, they have not taken up the management and maintenance of the stand (More than 1 month)

9. Case - Tai Chung Kiu Road, Shatin (Cont’d) EU Hqs raised with concerned departments DLO convened a meeting with CEDD, HyD, LCSD, ArchSD & HAD • DLO will demolish the stand • Beautification programme by Shatin District Council

10. Case –般咸道禮賢會坑渠邊大樹枯萎

11. Case –般咸道禮賢會坑渠邊大樹枯萎(Cont’d) • LCSD • on unallocated Government land, not under jurisdiction of LCSD • LandsD • Located within a storm water drainage system, to be taken up by DSD • DSD • Dead tree, to be removed by FEHD

12. Case –般咸道禮賢會坑渠邊大樹枯萎(Cont’d) • FEHD • According to ETWB Circular, DSD is responsible for vegetation maintenance work including cutting and trimming of overgrowth within DSD venues. FEHD is responsible for removal of dead vegetation including tree leaves and broken branches found floating in water courses 7 weeks

13. Case –般咸道禮賢會坑渠邊大樹枯萎(Cont’d) EU Hqs raised with concerned departments DSD, FEHD, LCSD liaised with each other • LCSD to cut the tree • FEHD to remove the tree

14. Case –般咸道禮賢會坑渠邊大樹枯萎

15. Measure Performance Performance of 1823 on Complaint Handling *Note 1: 1823 would keep the complainant informed of the progress of assignment. *Note 2: Starting from 2008, an independent consultant was commissioned to conduct a customer satisfaction survey for 1823. The score of 7.3 covers only the first quarter of the survey in 2008. *Note 3: The percentage of 80% covers only the first quarter of the survey in 2008.

16. Identify Problems • Knowledge Base Review to rationalise subject matters and streamline assignment procedures • Monthly reports to highlight trends, e.g. growth in complaint figure, distribution by districts, analyses of subject matters, overdue cases • Analyses based on experience of 1823’s Liaison Officers • Planning to introduce Data-mining Tool to help with the analyses • Assist departments in focusing their action and resource planning • Highlight grey areas to Development Bureau for reconsidering the updatedness of the ETWB Circular

17. How Are We Doing • Customer Satisfaction Survey on Complaints Handling • Conducted by Policy 21, HKU • Focus Groups and telephone interviews for 1,000 complainants • Educated, middle-class citizens • More demanding but reasonable group whom Government should enlist support

18. Satisfaction on the performance of staff of 1823 18

19. Satisfaction on the performance of1823 staff by departments 19

20. Satisfaction on the performance of other Government departments’ staff 20

21. Satisfaction on the performance of staff by relevant government departments 21

22. Outcomes of complaints lodged and satisfaction level 22

23. Take Away Messages • Public’s willingness to complain to us is a “vote of confidence” on our part. Only if we fail them will they turn to the media and Ombudsman. We should therefore “welcome” complaints and take action expeditiously • Public mood is bad and the Government as a whole, and in particular frontline departments, are under a lot of pressure • 1823 has stepped up its efforts and redeployed more resources to complaints handling • Strengthened partnership with departments to improve public service delivery • Would continue with timely escalation of difficult cases to department’s senior staff • Process is important – Complainants will be satisfied if their complaints are being looked into.