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Home My WebLink AboutADM-003-03 '- CJ!JY!!gloo REPORT ADMINISTRATION Meeting: GENERAL PURPOSE AND ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE Date: Monday, June 16, 2003 Report #: ADM 03-03 File #: ;1/ J- By-law #: GPA - 3/7-03 Subject: CUSTOMER SERVICE INITIATIVES UPDATE RECOMMENDATIONS: It is respectfully recommended that the General Purpose and Administration Committee recommend to Council the following: THAT Report ADM 03-03 be received for information. . \ Submitted by:.... -"'ht~L U Af.-R / Jane Pascoe Executive Assistant to the CAO Reviewed by: (~l.. ~L e~'\z... - Franklin Wu Chief Administrative Officer CORPORATION OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF CLARINGTON 40 TEMPERANCE STREET, BOW MANVILLE, ONTARIO L 1C 3A6 T 905-623-3379 F 905-623-5717 1401 ~ REPORT NO.: ADM 03-03 PAGE 2 1. PURPOSE AND BACKGROUND This report identifies the progress of various customer service initiatives which have been implemented to achieve the top priority of the Municipality's Business Plan. The Municipality's three year Business Plan is built around our mission statement, "Clarington: Customer First and Leading the Way". A key component of our Customer Service strategy was the development of a comprehensive customer service staff training program and Achieveglobal was retained to assist us and deliver the training to our staff. The program included the following key elements: . mandatory training of all non-affiliated staff . voluntary training of full-time union staff . mandatory motivation training for all non-affiliated staff . training of in-house facilitators The Achieving Extraordinary Customer Relations (AECR) Training for our full time employees consists of a two day intensive training, limited to 15 employees per session. This training was mandatory for all Department Heads and Managers while participation was voluntary for the balance of the full-time employees. All frontline staff were encouraged to sign up for the training program. To date, approximately 200 full-time staff have taken the AECR training provided by Achieveglobal. An additional 30 full- time staff consisting of 20 firefighters have signed up to take the training which will be held some time in September/October, 2003. Motivating for Extraordinary Customer Service training was provided to all the non- affiliated employees. The training session gave supervisors and managers the concepts, tools and skills they need to create a productive, supportive environment for 1402 .... REPORT NO.: ADM 03-03 PAGE 3 their employees. They learned how to create and communicate measurable performance standards and continuously improve their own ability to coach and develop their employees. The result is an empowering climate that leads to higher levels of job satisfaction with the positive upbeat attitude transferred to the citizenslcustomers we serve every day. The last phase of our training will be available in the early part of 2004 for about five (5) employees who exhibited certain potential to be trained as trainers. They will be offered to take the Trainer Certification Program offered by Achieveglobal. These trainers will become our in-house instructors to enable us to deliver customer service training on a continuous basis to all part-time staff and new employees. 3. KEEPING THE MOMENTUM The Customer Service Imolementation Team is charged with the responsibility of monitoring our progress in delivering excellent customer service. The mandate of the team is: . To lead and facilitate the development of customer service excellence in the Corporation of the Municipality of Clarington . To recognize and acknowledge the service excellence of Municipality of Clarington employees. . To commit to a plan of continuous learning and improvement as it relates to customer relations management. . To provide ongoing training opportunities to employees of the municipal organization. Every Department of the Municipality of Clarington is represented on the AECR Implementation Team. Members of the team and their alternates are: Jane Pascoe, Office of the CAO (Chair) Jennifer Cooke, Corporate Services 1403 ~ REPORT NO.: ADM 03-03 PAGE 4 Jacquie Hill Bower, Bill Reid, Emergency Services Grant Ashton, Kaye Rand, Operations Nancy Taylor, Liana Smith Finance Heather Keyzers, Municipal Clerk's (Recording Secretary) Allision Ruddock, Planning Services Skip Crosby, Community Services Maureen Reid, Mayor's Office Rick Pigeon, Norm Clark, Engineering Services Franklin Wu, CAO Office 4. SUCCESS The success of the Customer Service training initiative is evident. Over the past year, we have noticed a very substantial increase of praises and recognitions plus a very noticeable drop in complaints of staff. The recognitions include: . thank you letters from residents for a caring attitude . recognition from peers and co-workers of a job well done . sharing of success stories among staff . less complaints being received . continuous support by Council . Achieveglobal writing a feature success story on Clarington's Customer Service initiative in a management journal In order to assess our progress and our success in a more accurate fashion, we have commissioned Collis and Reed Research to conduct an independent customer satisfaction survey in April 2003. Preliminary results from the Consultant indicate an overall customer satisfaction rating of 89%. This is very positive and certainly confirms that our employees are moving towards excellence in customer service. Details of the Collis Report will be made available to everyone when it becomes available. 1404 ,~ REPORT NO.: ADM 03-03 PAGE 5 5. FUTURE INITIATIVES In order to say thank you to our employees, it is proposed that the Mayor and Members of Council along with the Chief Administrative Officer as representatives of the employer, host a "Staff Appreciation Day" on September 4, 2003. Events for the day are being developed by the Implementation Team, and will include a BBQ lunch. Along with "Staff Appreciation Day", we will be rolling out a "Star Bucks" program. This program is an incentive to recognize our staff who performs a duty which is an example of excellent customer service. We believe our staff are doing a very good job in delivering quality customer service. However, there is always room for continuous improvement. Customer service is a long and elaborate journey. We will succeed as long as we maintain our momentum and never lose sight of our ultimate goal of "C/arington: Customer First and Leading the Way': 1405