Coming from the TAFE sector, Council’s Chief Executive Officer, Graeme Davy, sees many parallels between his previous work and his move to Local Government. Just as there has been significant commercialisation and emphasis on customer service in Education, so too the trend towards competitive tendering and benchmarking encourages better service for lower costs in both these areas.
Better services for lower costs increases returns to residents in terms of value for their rate dollar. A key to this is improved customer service. To achieve this, Council has developed a number of quality improvement strategies including a Customer Service Charter.
The Charter is a positive way of formalising a matching of services provided by Council with the needs of customers. To develop the Charter, people were surveyed to find out how effectively Council services were meeting their needs.
From these results, the customer Service charter has been developed. It includes the six following principles.
- Quality standards
- Information and openness
- Choice and consultation
- Courtesy and helpfulness
- Putting things right
- Value for money.
The principles in the Charter are not merely a certificate on the wall but are backed up by a comprehensive staff training program known as Aussie Host. This program, used extensively in the hospitality and tourism industries, has already been completed by 70 staff, and is currently being undertaken by a further 20 members of staff.
The Mildura Rural City Council is only the fifth Council in Australia to run this training program. Initial participants were all members of staff with direct contact with the community they serve. They included those working in the visitors centre, health services, children and family services, rates collection, arts and libraries and aged and disability services.
Incentives to provide improved customer service in the form of staff awards have also been introduced. Under the award system, each month a staff member can be nominated by a member of the public or by a fellow worker. The winner receives a gift voucher valued at $100 for redemption in a local store.
Each year, a special award is also made to the best work team in customer service. The objective here is to encourage staff to aim for their personal best while working together as a team.
An employee innovation and suggestion scheme also provides those working closest to tasks in the organisation to have the opportunity to contribute their ideas on better ways of doing things.
This customer service focus puts Mildura at the forefront of Local Government. As Mildura launched its Customer Service Charter in April, the Minister for Local Government announced that all Victorian Councils will be required to establish similar Charters in their own communities by 1997.
