The City of Mandurah has developed a training program to better educate our Customer Service Officers and therefore improve the level of service we provide to the community.
One of the key recommendations of the City’s Customer Service Strategy 2012 – 2015 was to develop the skills of staff to improve the delivery of services across the organisation.
To achieve this, the City partnered with Bluestone Training and Consulting to create a program to upskill council’s staff.
Since the program’s inception, council has achieved several major sucesses including reaching Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) 18 months ahead of schedule.
The Certificate III in Customer Contact (BSB30211), nationally recognised qualification, was introduced to staff in November 2013.
The initiative to develop this to assess the customer service employee’s competence supports the Customer Service Strategy.
Additionally, the tool provides a guide for new employees by providing a clear framework for their development and helps to increase their skills
and knowledge.
The Certificate III in Customer Contact includes a number of learning and assessment areas including worksheets, online learning,
role-play scenarios and supervisor observations.
Employees have a flexible timeframe to complete the process and are able to complete the activities in whichever order they wish.
If at first the employee doesn’t pass, they can keep trying until they do.
Once the Customer Service Officers attain the required competencies they progress through two broadbanded salary levels.
The Customer Service Team also has the added benefit of feeling valued and the nationally recognised qualification is a valuable addition to their resumes.
Since the certificate was made available to staff, a record 73.65 percent of calls received were resolved at the first point of contact, the highest level ever achieved.
Achieving 70 percent first point contract resolution in any industry is a great result, but for a sector as diverse as local government the achievement is amazing.
