The Work Foundation Survey

7/27/2019 The Work Foundation Survey

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How can ICT deliver quality, choice and efficiency in public

services?



How c an ICT del iver qual i ty , choice and ef f ic iency in pu bl ic serv ices?

The Work Foundation is a not-for-profit research and consultancy organisation that

focuses on improving productivity and improving the quality of working life. We havebeen commissioned by Adobe to carry out a programme of research examining therole of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in improving the quality ofpublic services. Although this work is being sponsored by Adobe, all reports andrecommendations remain independent.

’Better public services’ are the ultimate aim of the current programme of publicservice reform. With this as the starting point of our research, we aim to understandwhat ‘better public services’ look like from the perspective of the public, front line staffand policy makers, particularly given the context of the two main governmentstrategies on choice / personalisation and efficiency. We will then consider what roleICT can and cannot play in helping to achieve better public services, and how

lessons can be learned to ensure that ICT projects are better communicated andimplemented.

Key research qu est ions

1. Why ICT? What role does ICT have in improving public services?

2. What ICT? What kind of ICT would be most useful for citizens?

3. How ICT? How can ICT be most effectively implemented to improve publicservices?

Survey of the publ ic and publ ic serv ice workers

This paper presents our findings on what the public and public service workers think

customer focused, high quality and efficiency public services look like. Furthersurvey findings will be released through the lifetime of the project. An event on the 8th

March which addresses the first key research question will coincide with the firstpublication on the same theme.

For further information about the research project please contact Alexandra Jones([email protected] ) or Laura Williams ([email protected])

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Int roduct ion

This paper reports on preliminary analysis of the citizen survey1 and the survey ofpublic sector workers2. Both surveys covered the key themes of customer focus,choice, efficiency and quality in public services, using in some instances the samemodules of questions.

This initial analysis indicates that both staff and citizens agree that value for money,the customer or service user, and the competencies of staff - and pride in the workthey do - are central to high quality public services. Whilst there are somedifferences between the two groups, and the use of samples drawn from the unionsfor the public sector workers survey may result in a potential sample bias, there arealso some clear messages that both surveys reinforce.

Both surveys asked respondents what they thought customer focused, efficient andhigh quality public services look like. Tables 1 to 3 present the findings for these

questions.

Customer Focus

Table 1 – Comparing citizen and public sector workers perceptions of what customer focused servicesmight look like.

Top three factors in bold. Respondents wereasked which two factors were most important –columns show percentage of respondents seeingeach factor as one of the two most important.

Citizens (%) Public SectorWorkers (%)

Tailored services – personalising services to theneeds of individuals and their families

11 19

Value for money – ensuring taxpayers money isspent effectively

35 29

Responsiveness – responding quickly to the needsof service users

18 27

Attentive and helpful staff – having a high level ofcustomer care

30 24

Flexibility – having a range of options in how thepublic can access services

25 10

Staff competence – having staff who are good attheir jobs

33 47

Choice – the public deciding which school, hospital orGP their/their family go to

33 13

Shared views of customer focus – this table shows that citizens and public sectorworkers regard staff competence and value for money as the two critical factors in acustomer focused service. In addition, both understand the importance of attentiveand helpful staff.

Gaps – the gaps here relate mainly to the differences in opinion over those factorsthat are not critical. For example, whilst roughly a third of citizens regard choice and

1 Telephone survey of 1000 adults (16+) conducted during the first two weeks of November

by BMRB Access Omnibus Survey on behalf of The Work FoundationPostal survey of 500 public sector workers using samples provided by PCS, NASUWT and

Unison, conducted during November by ORC International on behalf of The Work Foundation.


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flexibility as indicative of a customer focused service, staff do not share these viewswith just 10% selecting these factors. This may be attributed to differences inunderstanding of the terms ‘choice’, ‘flexibility’ and ‘responsiveness’, with staff morelikely to see the debate in terms of personalisation and responsiveness as opposedto choice and flexibility. However, these findings indicate that some values aroundwhat makes a service customer focused differ between staff and customers – andthis could be crucial in terms of managing customer expectations and drivingcustomer satisfaction.

Eff ic iency

Table 2 – Comparing citizen and public sector workers perceptions of what efficient services might looklike.

Top three factors in bold. Respondents were askedwhich two factors were most important – columnsshow percentage of respondents seeing each factor asone of the two most important.

Citizens(%)

PublicSector

Workers(%)

Reducing spending 10 2

A cut in staff numbers in government and its agencies 12 8

Better management 40 54

Changes to the way that services are planned 12 15

More staff dealing with customers 39 33

Using IT to help people work differently 16 17

Money spent on services that provide the most valueto the public (not necessarily the cheapest)

45 64

Private sector investment in the delivery of public services 11 5

Citizens and public sector workers agree which three factors would make publicservices more efficient – money spent on services that provide the most value to thepublic, better management and more staff dealing with customers.

There is, however, greater consensus amongst public sector workers than amongstcitizens with two-thirds going for better management and value for money.Unsurprisingly, there is an overwhelming lack of support for reducing spending, a cutin staff numbers and private sector investment in the delivery of public servicesamongst public sector workers. Citizens also rate these as the lowest in importancein achieving efficiency. Consensus amongst public sector workers may relate thevalues held by those working in the public sector and, more specifically, to the value

of those held by union members (from which samples for this survey were taken).The sample of citizens was randomly selected and as such is likely to represent abroader spectrum of views than the survey of public sector workers.


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Qual i ty

Table 3 – Comparing citizen and public sector workers perceptions of what quality services might looklike.

Respondents were asked which two factors were

most important – columns show percentage ofrespondents seeing each factor as one of the twomost important.

Citizens

(%)

Public

SectorWorkers

(%)

High levels of customer satisfaction 68 83

Value for money 56 32

Achievement of performance targets 22 14

Meeting political objectives 7 2

High levels of job satisfaction among staff 35 66

A high level of customer satisfaction is seen as the best indicator of quality in public

services by citizens and public sector workers alike. Public service workersunsurprisingly indicate that staff satisfaction is extremely important – this supportsresearch that has shown that services with greater satisfaction amongst staff aremore likely to have high levels of customer satisfaction. Citizens see value formoney as the second most crucial factor to quality, the third most important for staff.

Public service workers are both staff and customers of public services, and, alongwith citizens, are customers of the same messages coming out of the media. Withscepticism of performance targets relatively high in the media, and with a widelyreported distrust of politicians and their objectives, it is unsurprising that both citizensand staff share a lack of support for targets and political objectives as beingimportant to quality in public services. However, customer satisfaction, perceived

value for money and staff satisfaction are often used to measure the success ofpolitical decisions or used as performance measures for local services.


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Documents

The Work Foundation Survey