ARCHIVED - Brief Case Studies of Exemplary Practices

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HRDC Employment Insurance Services

Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) delivers temporary income support to Canadians who are looking for employment, on parental leave, or unable to work for health reasons, through the Employment Insurance Income Benefits (EIIB) program.

The EIIB is one of the most highly visible programs in the federal government and belongs to one of the largest public service delivery networks. About 8,000 employees, primarily at the local level in 320 Human Resources Centres Canada (HRCCs) across Canada help deliver EIIB. The activities involve approximately 40 million enquiries concerning claims and activities, 2.5 million applications for benefits, and 20 million EI payments, nearly a third of which are made through direct deposit.

Clients receive information about the program in-person at the HRCCs, by phone (11 call centers), mail (10 mail centers), electronic mail (pilot project in the Montreal area), from kiosks (5,000 spread out across the country), and the Internet. Approximately 60% of the claims and applications are made through kiosks. The remaining claims for income support are dropped off by the claimant at a local office or sent by mail. In certain local centres, claims are received on the telephone.

In terms of service improvement for Canadians, the EIIB focuses on meeting its "operational responsibilities under the Employment Insurance Act and other legislation and programs through quality service and the efficient use of resources, which responds to the variable workload of the program".

Service Standards in Use

To continuously improve the quality of service and its operations, the Employment Insurance (EI) Branch, which administers the program, produced in April 2001, the Insurance Quality Management Policy. This policy outlines specific objectives, a definition of quality, responsibilities at the national, regional, and local level, and various implementation practices such as feedback to staff, training, recognition, management plans, monitoring and reporting. According to the policy, quality refers to timeliness, accuracy, clarity of communication, fairness, and client satisfaction. The policy states that "to obtain the highest level of client satisfaction, services must be delivered in a manner that ensures all aspects of our service standards are met".

HRDC also developed a national commitment template to be posted and adapted at the local level. The template, entitled "Our Service Commitment" presents the following standards on courtesy, accuracy of information, waiting times, and receipt of payments within 28 days for EIIB:

• You are entitled to courteous and considerate treatment and complete and accurate information about your entitlements and obligations
• We aim to keep the waiting time to meet a client service officer to a minimum. Waiting times will be posted in our offices.
• You are entitled, if you qualify, to receive your first payment within:
  
  
  • 28 days for Employment Benefits and Measures;
  • 28 days for Employment Insurance benefits; and

The Service Commitment template allows HRCCs to specify other standards tailored to the needs and priorities of their clients.

The EI Branch completed an independent quality service survey of clients in April 2001, with plans to conduct further client satisfaction telephone surveys on a bi-annual basis. The survey was adapted from the Common Measurements Tool model and dealt with a series of questions such as whether clients were satisfied with the quality of service received, and had suggestions for improvement. Core questions focus on the two main channels of service (in-person, telephone) and the service commitments such as speed of service, competence courtesy, fairness, and ease of access. More than 3,000 clients responded to the survey. The results of the survey are intended to be used as a baseline for improving service to Canadians and will represent the main consultation instrument for revising the Insurance Quality Management Policy and the Service Commitment template.

The EI Branch is also making progress in measuring the extent to which commitments are met such as the speed of service and error rates in payments. The Branch provides results from its national sampling of accuracy of benefit payments annually in the Departmental Performance Report. It monitors the implementation of the Quality Management Policy and produces, each quarter for senior management, a national report of related activities (e.g., regional management action plans, training). The national report is available on the HRDC Intranet site. It has also begun producing a quarterly report focusing on results and trends related to incorrect payments, which are drawn from its comprehensive tracking system. Errors may stem from HRDC, the claimant or the employer.

The EI Branch has used quality service to Canadians as an outcome to demonstrate progress towards obtaining key results for its program, such as providing the highest quality of service for Canadians. As well, the EIB supports the National Quality Institute (NQI) Framework as a pilot initiative. The Branch undertook the NQI quality fitness test in three regions. In addition, four local HRCCs received ISO 9001 certification, and another office has plans to obtain certification for service quality.

As part of its accountability framework, the EI Branch has adopted a balanced scorecard approach (i.e., Dashboard) as a way to balance capacity and expectations in measuring and reporting performance.

Exemplary Practices

The EIIB business line has exhibited the following exemplary practices in its approach to developing, implementing, monitoring and using its service standards:

• A first survey to establish a baseline of client satisfaction and identify client needs. In spring 2001, the EIB commissioned a national public opinion research firm to conduct a survey, in conjunction with HRDC's Income Security Program. The purpose of the survey was to explore issues related to the quality of the service and obtain statistically valid results on client satisfaction so that it would have a basis for comparison in future years.
• A Quality Management Policy based on a continuous improvement approach. The Insurance Quality Management Policy provides strategic national direction and allows flexibility at the local and regional level. It contains provisions to amend the policy on an annual basis. As a management framework, the policy is clear and comprehensive on the specific responsibilities at the national, local, and regional level to achieve the objectives.
• Posting service commitments for clients to see. In its mission statement, the EIB has prominently featured its commitment to quality service. The statement is displayed widely and clearly across HRDC. In addition, HRDC ensures that the national Service Commitment, including speed of service standards, is posted in all applicable HRCCs and on the departmental website. Not only does this help clients understand and become aware of the level of service to expect, but it also reminds employees of the service requirements to their clients and helps them manage client expectations.
• Learning from others. Managers in the EI Branch regularly exchange techniques, methods and tools with other governments, particularly employment insurance departments in the United States. A group of about 40 employees have been directly involved in the activities related to the NQI. The EI Branch has recently tasked one person to coordinate NQI-related activities.
• Providing as much assistance and information as possible to clients at their first point of contact. HRCCs play an increasingly important role in delivering quality service to clients. A key initiative is the Service Delivery Network, which was designed shortly after the Employment Insurance Act was adopted in 1996. The Network consolidated services across HRCCs, removed layers of management, created partnerships outside HRDC, and made greater use of new technology such as upgraded telephone services and kiosk.
• Making senior management more accountable. A specific reduction target in incorrect payments to clients or error rates has been directly tied to the performance pay of senior managers. Such an improvement target serves as an incentive to achieve desired operational results, meet commitments to clients, and contribute to the satisfaction of its clients.
• Cross-channel management of expectations. The EIIB ensures that its services (e.g., handling enquiries, receiving claims, issuing payments) are accessible through a variety of channels; however, staff are trained to inform clients that in some instances certain channels, such as electronic direct payments instead of mail or telephone rather than in-person services for enquiries, may be more suitable to their immediate needs.
• Communicating widely and clearly to clients the EIIB vision on quality service and its Service Commitment statement helps employees understand performance requirements and manage client expectations. Communicating departmental and client responsibilities, and performance against standards, such as error rates, also helps staff manage client expectations.

Lessons Learned

Surveying Clients helps Ensure that Client Expectations can be Managed and Met

1. Surveying clients periodically helps the service provider respond to client expectations and priorities for improvement and to assess the usefulness of the service standards. The results of the survey, once analyzed, will be used to correct implementation issues. In the future, the EIIB will rely on the survey instrument as the main mechanism to consult clients and identify needs and priorities regarding the quality of its service.

   A Recognized Framework can Improve Management

2. A proper balance between quality and productivity can be achieved by putting in place a realistic and practical framework for effective management of high-quality service delivery. Such a framework helps obtain commitment for sufficient resources to implement a quality service, achieve results, and measure and report performance against service standards.

   Importance of Learning and Sharing

3. Experience and knowledge from other organizations delivering similar services and from recognized quality institutions help find solutions to management challenges and contribute to service improvement.

   Restructuring can Help Make the Organization more Client-focused

4. Reorganizing the delivery structure to give frontline staff in the HRCCs greater autonomy and authority in dealing with client needs changes the culture of the organization into a more client-focused one. Offering clients a choice of service delivery channel for receiving their entitlement is consistent with a more client-focused organization.

Contact

For more information on quality management for the Employment Insurance Income Benefits program, please contact:

Georges Perron
Director
Insurance Quality Services
Employment Insurance Branch
Human Resources Development Canada
140 Promenade du Portage
Phase IV, 9^th floor
Hull, Québec  K1A 0J9
(819) 994-3184
georges.perron@hrdc-drhc.gc.ca

 

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