Public Satisfaction with Service Quality 2007: The Kiwis Count Survey

Public
Satisfaction
with Service
Quality
2007:
The Kiwis
Count
Survey

The Kiwis Count survey and this booklet contain material
from Citizens First, used under licence and reproduced
with the permission of the Executive Director of the
Institute for Citizen-Centred Service.
ISBN 978-0-478-30341-4 (printed, bound version)
ISBN 978-0-478-30342-1 (PDF online version)
Crown copyright 2008

Public Satisfaction with Service Quality 2007: The Kiwis Count Survey
1
Foreword
Since the launch of the Development Goals for the State Services in
2005, we have been working with agencies across the State Services to
build a shared understanding of what it means to have ‘a system of
world class professional State Services serving the government of the day
and meeting the needs of New Zealanders’, and measuring our progress
toward that overall goal.
The only way we can accurately assess how well we are meeting
the needs of New Zealanders is to go out and ask them. We did just that
in 2007 with the Kiwis Count survey, a survey of 6,500 people around
the country, which asked them what they thought of their government
services. This booklet is the result of that research.
We chose a methodology that would allow us to compare ourselves
against the leaders in this field, the Canadian government; where a
similar survey has been running for the last decade. While I am very
encouraged by the results of the first New Zealand survey, I think the
real achievement has been in establishing a benchmark against which we
can target and track our improvement in the coming years.
The results do show that our State Services are on the right track,
but they also show that there is room for improvement. We know, of
course, that satisfaction is only part of the story about how well our
services are performing. We also know results will sometimes vary
between services because of the nature of those services. However,
measuring satisfaction can provide us with valuable information about
service quality and whether this is improving. New Zealanders have
high standards; it is our job to use the information in this report to
ensure that we meet those standards.
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2
I would like to acknowledge the effort of the many people who
contributed to the Kiwis Count survey. First of all, the New Zealanders
who completed the survey. Their impressive response rate shows that
they want their views on government services to be heard. I would also
like to thank the Institute for Citizen-Centred Service in Canada for
their help and support in enabling us to adapt their Citizens First survey.
And I would like to thank my own staff, who have so ably managed
the Kiwis Count project and produced this booklet.
Mark Prebble
State Services Commissioner
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Public Satisfaction with Service Quality 2007: The Kiwis Count Survey
3
Introduction
‘Public Satisfaction with Service Quality 2007: The Kiwis Count Survey’
is the first national all-of-government survey to ask New Zealanders
about their experiences and perceptions of public services 1 . Their views
have provided us with a wealth of information on what we are doing
well and where we can improve services. The survey tells us how
satisfied New Zealanders are with public services, how much they trust
public services and how public services compare with the private sector.
The Kiwis Count survey was carried out in 2007 by The Nielsen
Company for the State Services Commission (SSC). They surveyed 6,500
New Zealanders, with a response rate of 61%: extremely high for a
voluntary postal survey in New Zealand. This means we can have a high
level of confidence in the findings of this survey and it also shows that
New Zealanders want their views on public services to be heard.
The real value of this survey lies in agencies using the results
to make targeted improvements to services that show we are listening
to the views of New Zealanders. Satisfaction with public services is
a complex area: it is harder to achieve satisfaction for some types of
services than others and it is, of course, only one aspect of public
value. However, satisfaction is an important indication of service
quality and we should aim to improve satisfaction ratings over time.
This booklet summarises some of the main results and explains what
they mean for public services. It also sets out some of the actions we
can take to improve services. Detailed analysis of the results is set
out in a research report which is available on the SSC website
(www.ssc.govt.nz/kiwis-count-research-survey).
1
‘Public services’ is used throughout this booklet and other publications about the Kiwis Count survey as the
term most widely understood by New Zealanders. For the purposes of the survey, ‘public services’ refers
to the list of 42 services set out at the end of this booklet. This list broadly represents services provided by
central and local government, tertiary education institutions and kindergartens.
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4
These are some highlights of the survey
– Satisfaction with public services in New Zealand is equal
with Canada. Canadians are among the world leaders in providing
citizen-centred public services and have been carrying out public
service satisfaction surveys since 1998. The Kiwis Count survey
uses the same methodology as the Canadian surveys, allowing us
to make direct comparisons. The results show that satisfaction with
New Zealand public services is 68%, equal with Canada’s score in
their most recent survey.
– We already know what’s most important to New Zealanders,
now we know how public services are performing in
these areas. The ‘Drivers Survey’, published in July 2007,
identified the six main factors, or drivers, that have the greatest
impact on satisfaction with services, for example ‘you were treated
fairly’. The Kiwis Count survey tells us how services are
performing against these drivers, which means that service
improvements can be targeted where they are most likely to
increase satisfaction.
– Ensuring services meet the expectations of New Zealanders
is the most effective way of improving satisfaction overall.
‘The service experience met your expectations’ is the most
important driver of satisfaction for New Zealanders. Therefore,
improving performance against this driver is likely to have the
greatest impact on satisfaction.
– Public services perform well on having competent staff,
treating New Zealanders fairly and keeping promises, but
less well on providing good value for tax dollars spent.
Three-quarters of New Zealanders agreed that on their most recent
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Public Satisfaction with Service Quality 2007: The Kiwis Count Survey
5
service experience, staff were competent, but only just over half
agreed that their most recent service experience was an example
of good value for tax dollars spent.
– There is no significant difference between M – aori views on
public services and the views of New Zealanders as a whole.
– The telephone is the second most common way of contacting
public services, but this method of contact has the lowest
satisfaction levels. 60% of New Zealanders are satisfied with
calling public services on the telephone, compared with 75%
satisfaction with visiting an office or service location.
– New Zealanders’ experiences of public services tend to be
more positive than their perceptions. New Zealanders generally
rate their most recent service experience more highly than their
experiences of public services overall. They also rate their
experiences of public services more highly than similar private sector
services, even though they do not think that the public sector as a
whole performs better than the private sector. And New Zealanders
trust individual public servants and services more highly than public
services overall.
– The Kiwis Count survey provides us with a valuable
opportunity to improve services and we need to act on the
results. SSC has developed a Common Measurements Tool, which
provides a set of common questions for agencies to use for their own
satisfaction surveys, consistent with the approach used for the Kiwis
Count survey. SSC wants agencies to use this. Agencies also need to
engage with their own staff and staff in other agencies to identify
ways of improving services, including setting up Communities of
Practice to share expertise and information on what works.
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6
Findings
International benchmarks
In 2005/6, SSC looked at public satisfaction surveying in a number of
other countries and found that Canada has developed a highly successful
approach through its national all-of-government satisfaction surveys,
called Citizens First, which are carried out every two years. Importantly,
Canada can show that it has acted on the research findings and levels of
satisfaction have consistently improved since 1998. Canada is highly
ranked internationally for its citizen-centred services 2 . SSC purchased the
intellectual property licence for Citizens First and adapted it for the Kiwis
Count survey. The Kiwis Count survey shows that, at 68%, satisfaction
with New Zealand public services is equal with Canada’s 2005 Citizens
First survey (the most recently available results). This is a good result for
New Zealand public services, but we can always do better and the survey
identifies areas where improvements should be focussed.
Drivers of satisfaction
The Drivers Survey, published in July 2007, identified the drivers that have
the greatest impact on New Zealanders’ satisfaction with public services.
Drivers of satisfaction with service quality
– The service experience met your expectations
– Staff were competent
– Staff kept their promises – that is, they did what they said they
would do
– You were treated fairly
– You feel your individual circumstances were taken into account
– It’s an example of good value for tax dollars spent
2
For example, see the Accenture report 2007 Leadership in Customer Service: Delivering on the Promise,
www.accenture.com.
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Public Satisfaction with Service Quality 2007: The Kiwis Count Survey
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Not all the drivers are equal: ‘the service experience met your expectations’
accounts for nearly one third of satisfaction with public services.
The Kiwis Count survey measured satisfaction with public services
against the six main drivers, shown in the graph below.
p e r f o r m a n c e o f p u b l i c s e rv i c e s o n d r i v e r s o f s at i s fa c t i o n w i t h s e rv i c e q u a l i t y
% Total Disagree
% Neutral
% Total Agree
The service experience
met your expectations
Staff were competent
Staff kept their promises
You were treated fairly
You feel your individual circumstances
were taken into account
It’s an example of good value
for tax dollars spent
– Public services perform best on ‘staff were competent’, with
three-quarters of New Zealanders agreeing that this was the case
on their most recent service experience.
– Performance on ‘the service experience met your expectations’ is
not as good. Because this is the most important driver, improving
performance on this would have the greatest impact on satisfaction.
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8
– However, we also need to address the worst performing drivers:
only slightly more than half of respondents agreed that their most
recent service experience was ‘an example of good value for tax
dollars spent’. ‘You feel your individual circumstances were taken
into account’ also scored less well than other drivers.
The survey asked New Zealanders about the public services they had
used in the last 12 months and the service they had used most recently.
The results show that New Zealanders’ satisfaction with their most
recent service experience tends to be higher than their overall satisfaction
with services used in the last 12 months: 68% were satisfied with their
most recent service experience and only 62% were satisfied with services
experienced over the last 12 months.
Performance by service grouping
Services were categorised into nine service groupings in order to provide
results for similar services and to help identify broad areas for
improvements. A list of the services in each service grouping is set out
at the end of this booklet. The results have not been broken down into
individual services and agencies because this would have made the
results too complex and it was not the intention to produce league tables
of results. The Common Measurements Tool described later in this
booklet will allow agencies to carry out their own client satisfaction
surveys which are comparable with the Kiwis Count survey.
The graph following shows New Zealanders’ satisfaction with their
most recent service experience by service grouping. Satisfaction is
highest for ‘environment and recreation’ and ‘motor vehicle’ services.
‘Education and training’, ‘health’, ‘local government’ and ‘passports and
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Public Satisfaction with Service Quality 2007: The Kiwis Count Survey
9
citizenship’ are all rated well. Satisfaction is lower for ‘social assistance’,
while fewer than half of New Zealanders are satisfied with ‘taxation and
business services’.
s at i s fa c t i o n l e v e l s w i t h m o s t r e c e n t s e r v i c e e x p e r i e n c e b y s e r v i c e g r o u p i n g s (%)
Total
Environment & Recreation
68
79
Motor Vehicle
Education & Training
Health
Local Government
Passports & Citizenship
Justice & Security
77
75
74
73
72
68
Social Assistance
Taxation & Business Services
52
42
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10
Performance on the drivers by service grouping
The survey results have been broken down to show how each service
grouping performed against the drivers of satisfaction.
p e r f o r m a n c e o n d r i v e r s o f s at i s fa c t i o n w i t h s e rv i c e q u a l i t y b y
s e rv i c e g r o u p i n g (%)
Total
Environment
&
Recreation
Motor
Vehicle
Education
& Training
Health Local Govt Passports
& Citizenship
Justice &
Security
Social Taxation &
Assistance Business
Services
Satisfaction 68 79 77 75 74 73 72 68 52 42
The service
met your
expectations
Staff were
competent
Staff kept their
promises
You were
treated fairly
You feel your
individual
circumstances
were taken
into account
It’s an example
of good value
for tax dollars
spent
66 85 76 68 71 71 68 69 52 44
75 90 84 76 81 76 80 79 58 59
70 83 79 69 75 73 76 69 58 56
73 75 81 78 81 72 70 75 60 60
63 71 65 66 77 61 55 71 51 50
55 56 38 59 70 69 20 62 54 37
The survey shows where agencies providing services within the service
groupings might focus improvements in order to increase satisfaction.
At the end of this booklet are set out some of the ways agencies can use
these findings to focus on making improvements in these areas, such as
using the Common Measurements Tool and setting up Communities
of Practice.
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Public Satisfaction with Service Quality 2007: The Kiwis Count Survey
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Public and private sector
The survey looked at how New Zealanders rate public services in
comparison with similar private sector services. The results show that:
– New Zealanders expect public services to be higher quality than
the private sector
– but they do not think that the overall quality of public services
is higher than the private sector
– and they do not think that public services have a more difficult
task than the private sector.
The survey also asked New Zealanders about their satisfaction with a
range of non-government services used in the last 12 months including
banks, insurance companies and telephone companies. These services
were selected because they are in some ways comparable with public
services. Overall, 58% of New Zealanders were satisfied with the
non-government services they had experienced over the last 12 months,
compared with 62% who were satisfied with public services experienced
over the last 12 months.
These seemingly contradictory findings suggest that New
Zealanders’ experiences of public services tend to be more positive than
their perceptions. New Zealanders do not think that the overall quality
of public services is higher than the private sector, however when asked
about their specific service experiences, their satisfaction ratings with
public services are higher than non-government services.
Trust in public services
We think that when people lose trust in public services, they do not
seek the help they are entitled to, they do not provide information
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needed for delivering effective services, they resist paying tax and
become increasingly resentful of public services. To increase New
Zealanders’ trust in public services, we need to understand the factors
that most influence, or drive, trust. As with satisfaction, this will enable
managers to focus resources on the factors that have the most potential
to increase trust. The Drivers Survey, as well as identifying drivers of
satisfaction, also identified five drivers of trust in public services.
Drivers of trust in public services
– You have confidence that public servants do a good job
– The public service provides services that meet your needs
– Public servants treat people fairly
– The public service keeps its promises – that is, it does what it
says it will do
– The public service admits responsibility when it makes mistakes
The Kiwis Count survey asked about trust in public services. Overall,
29% of New Zealanders agree that they trust public services, and
just under half (49%) are neutral about their trust in public services.
This means that three-quarters of New Zealanders either agree that they
trust public services overall, or are neutral on trust. Less than 25%
express distrust. Notwithstanding this, the results show that there is
significant potential to improve how public services perform on trust
(compared with satisfaction). On the individual drivers of trust, public
services perform best on ‘the public service provides services that meet
your needs’ and least well on ‘the public service admits responsibility
when it makes mistakes’, with nearly half of New Zealanders
disagreeing that this is the case.
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Public Satisfaction with Service Quality 2007: The Kiwis Count Survey
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The survey also asked New Zealanders about trust in relation to their most
recent public service experience. This is significantly higher than their trust
overall, in fact over two thirds of New Zealanders trusted the public service
to do what was right on their most recent service experience.
t r u s t in p u b l i c s e rv i c e s: o v e r a l l t r u s t c o m pa r e d w i t h t r u s t o n m o s t r e c e n t
s e rv i c e e x p e r i e n c e
Overall trust in the
public services
22 12 49 20 29 67
Overall you can trust public
services to do what is right
(most recent experience)
Disagree Neutral Agree
Again, this indicates that New Zealanders’ experiences tend to be more
positive than their perceptions. However, the results show it is
important for public services to increase overall levels of trust.
M aori –
The results show that there is very little difference between M – aori
views on public services and the views of New Zealanders overall.
Sixty one per cent of M – aori were satisfied with services used in the last
12 months, compared with 62% of all New Zealanders, and there was
very little variation in satisfaction with the different service groupings.
On the drivers of satisfaction, results for M – aori are similar to New
Zealanders as a whole, including on ‘you were treated fairly’, the most
important driver of satisfaction for M – aori.
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Methods of contact
New Zealanders were asked how they had contacted the public service
they had used most recently.
– The most common method of contact is to visit an office or
location (47%).
– The second most common method of contact is calling on the
telephone (24%).
– Using websites or emails is relatively uncommon, with only 4% of
New Zealanders using a website to contact a public service and
only 3% using email. However, it may be that when answering the
survey, New Zealanders did not consider using a website as
‘contacting’ a service.
New Zealanders were also asked about their satisfaction with the method
of contact they had used. Three-quarters of New Zealanders are satisfied
with visiting an office or location, the most commonly used method.
However, calling on the telephone, the second most common method,
has the lowest satisfaction rating, at 60%.
Because calling on the telephone has a low satisfaction rating,
further analysis was carried out on the drivers of satisfaction with
telephone services, which showed that improvements could be made in
the following two areas in particular:
– the service experience met your expectations, and
– the amount of time it took to get the overall service was reasonable.
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Public Satisfaction with Service Quality 2007: The Kiwis Count Survey
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... and more
The research report includes more detail on the methodology used for
the Kiwis Count survey and on the findings set out in this booklet.
The research report also has data on:
– frequency of use of different services
– gender, age, ethnicity, education and income of people using
services for each service grouping
– reasons for contacting services
– access to services.
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What next?
The Kiwis Count survey has provided a detailed baseline for satisfaction
and trust in public services in New Zealand. However, in order to realise
its full value and to meet the milestones set for the Development Goals,
State servants collectively need to act on the results of the survey and
make service improvements that show we are listening to the views of
New Zealanders. SSC is planning to carry out a further Kiwis Count
survey in 2009 to measure whether satisfaction with and trust in
services have improved.
Common Measurements Tool
Agencies can build on the results of the Kiwis Count survey and
develop a better understanding of satisfaction with their own services
by using the Common Measurements Tool. This provides a set of
common questions for agencies to use for their own satisfaction surveys,
consistent with the approach used for the Kiwis Count survey. By using
common questions, agencies will be able to benchmark their results
with the Kiwis Count survey results, with other agencies and also
internationally. This will provide a basis for designing service
improvements that lift satisfaction ratings over time. SSC wants agencies
to use the Common Measurements Tool.
For more information about the Common Measurements
Tool, visit www.ssc.govt.nz/common-measurements-tool or email
newzealanders.experience@ssc.govt.nz.
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Public Satisfaction with Service Quality 2007: The Kiwis Count Survey
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Communities of Practice
Communities of Practice can play a valuable role in bringing together State
servants working in similar areas across different agencies to share expertise
and practice and to work together on improving services. SSC already
supports a number of Communities of Practice such as the Policy Managers
Network and the HR Managers Forum. At SSC, we would like to support
and facilitate Communities of Practice focussing on service delivery.
For further information, email newzealanders.experience@ssc.govt.nz.
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For more information
– To read the full Kiwis Count research report, visit:
www.ssc.govt.nz/kiwis-count-research-survey
– For more information about the Kiwis Count survey email
newzealanders.experience@ssc.govt.nz
– To find out more about the New Zealanders’ Experience research
programme and read other research reports visit:
www.ssc.govt.nz/nzers-experience
– To find out more about the Development Goals and read the latest
State of the Development Goals report visit:
www.ssc.govt.nz/development-goals
– To find out more about the Canadian approach visit:
www.iccs-isac.org
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Public Satisfaction with Service Quality 2007: The Kiwis Count Survey
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The Kiwis Count survey service groupings
Environment & Recreation
– Visited a national park
– A hunting or fishing licence
– National environmental issues or the Resource Management Act
Motor Vehicle
– A driver licence, registering a vehicle or changing ownership of
a vehicle
Education & Training
– A university or polytechnic about a course you are attending or
may attend in the future
– A state or state integrated school that your child attends or may
attend in the future
– A student loan or student allowance
– Employment or retraining opportunities
– A kindergarten that your child attends or may attend in the future
Health
– Received outpatient services from a public hospital (includes A&E)
– Stayed in a public hospital
– Used an 0800 number for health information
– Obtaining family services or counselling
Local Government
– Visited a public library
– Your local council about rubbish or recycling
– Your local council about property rates
– Your local council about a building permit
– Your local council about road maintenance
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Passports & Citizenship
– A passport
– Registering a birth, death or marriage
– Citizenship
– A visa or permit to work in New Zealand
Justice & Security
– The Police (for a non-emergency situation)
– Paying fines or getting information about fines
– Emergency services i.e. 111
– Parole Board hearings
Social Assistance
– The Community Services Card
– Accident compensation for injuries
– Sickness, domestic purposes or unemployment benefit
– New Zealand Superannuation
– A housing subsidy or accommodation supplement
– A childcare subsidy
– State or council rental accommodation
– A community grant
Taxation & Business Services
– Tax or taxation assistance
– Contact with Statistics New Zealand for information or about
taking part in a survey
– Registering a company or filing an annual return
– Importing goods into New Zealand or customs duties
– Financial assistance for a business
– Requesting technical help or advice for starting up a small business
– Requesting technical help or advice for activities related to farming
– Applying for a business concession at a national park
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State Services Commission
PO Box 329
Wellington
New Zealand
www.ssc.govt.nz
April 2008
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