Service Standards

What are Service Standards?

Service standards outline the specific delivery targets established by an organization, and are made up of a set of commitments that an organization promises to honour when delivering a service. They also describe what a client or user can expect to receive from the service, and the manner in which the service will be delivered.

Why are Service Standards Important?

As they are designed to be viewed by the public, service standards are vital because they hold organizations accountable for the level of service they provide. They maintain a level of consistency that allows both client and provider to know where they stand and what outcomes they should expect. Service standards alleviate ambiguity from the process and provide clients with a set of commitments that can be referred to when evaluating an organization’s performance. Organizations that meet or exceed these standards will in turn see a rise in client satisfaction, public perception and overall organizational performance.

How are Service Standards Created?

Service standards are an integral part of any service improvement initiative and consequently deserve a considerable amount of attention. Creating meaningful, appropriate and measurable standards requires preparation. One must keep in mind that the delivery of services can be influenced by many different factors such as the number of clients as well as the nature and complexity of their requests. Furthermore, client expectations are not necessarily homogeneous, and the interpretation of what constitutes a quality service may vary greatly amongst the group.

Creating quality service standards often involves the following:

Consultation with clients and workers to better understand each set of priorities
Industry best practices used by organizations of a similar size and nature are studied
Creation of a mission statement to provide the organization with clarity when developing major objectives
Evaluation of the organization before and after the implementation of any new standards takes place in order to best assess performance
Training for employees that enables them to meet or exceed new and evolving standards is provided to ensure that employees have the resources necessary to meet established targets
Ensuring that when service standards are finalized, they’re in compliance with the policies and procedures that dictate the organization’s behaviour.

For example, when the Government of Ontario defined its performance targets and developed the Quality Service Strategy, they began with a working group. The group studied internationally recognized models of service excellence such as the National Quality Institute’s Excellence Criteria and the European Excellence Model. The Ontario Public service then developed a model consisting of key elements or cornerstones containing the evaluative criteria used to measure performance. Roundtable discussions, made up of both public and private sector representatives were held, and opinions and information on the topic of Service Standards were collected. The Citizens First Report, a major national survey of Canadians produced by the Institute for Citizen-Centred Service was then used to ensure that the Government of Ontario was on the right track. The survey asked Canadians to rate their expectations of government services and the Ontario Government then used the results of this survey to identify areas of strength as well as key improvement opportunities. Each ministry developed a quality plan tailored to its own specific needs, and during the implementation of these service standards, employees attended presentations, received information packages, and had their questions answered. Information was shared between departments and employees were given the tools necessary to be successful in their new roles. In order to ensure that the standards set by the Ontario Public Service remained in compliance with the policies and procedures of the organization, reviews became standard practice, performance was measured, and best practices were shared throughout the various departments. This process remains in use today.

How are Service Standards Measured?

All organizations must monitor their performance on a regular basis to ensure that they are either meeting or exceeding their own service targets. Standards should be as simple, quantitative and easy to analyze as possible allowing for quick comparisons with past performance. Service standards are an integral part of any service improvement initiative and consequently deserve a significant amount of attention. It is also worth noting that there is a direct correlation between high customer satisfaction ratings and the public’s opinion of government.

There are a number of different ways to measure the overall effectiveness of a service standard.

First, technology can be used effectively to measure whether or not a service standard is successfully being followed. For instance, it is possible to measure the length of time a client waits on hold when accessing a service by telephone, or to track the time delays that a client faces during the processing of paperwork.

Second, service standards can be measured and tested either through firsthand experience or by having employees or hired individuals pose as clients. These “mystery-shoppers” can then help management determine whether or not the organization is properly following its standards and provide evidence that can be used for improvement.

Finally, client surveys can help organizations assess whether or not their service standards are meeting expectations. The Common Measurements Tool (CMT), for example, provides managers with an easy to use survey framework that facilitates benchmarking across jurisdictions and enables the comparison of results between peer organizations. Using the CMT, managers are better able to understand client expectations, assess satisfaction levels, and identify priorities for improvement.
By using all of these tools, managers can better identify best practices, share lessons learned and participate in a community of organizations dedicated to service excellence.

Examples of Service Standards

There are two very predominant methods for setting and measuring service standards.
The first approach to setting and measuring service standards focuses on the operational aspects of service delivery. This is the approach used by the Government of Ontario where standards exist for everything from the maximum number of times a telephone should ring before a call is answered to the length of time a client should wait in line at a service counter. The Government of Ontario found that in the year 2000, 96% of calls were being answered within 3 rings, up 5% from the year before, and that 93% of calls were answered within 2 contacts, a 3% improvement on the previous year. This method uses the public ‘s service expectations as measured in Citizen’s First to both establish and meet performance targets.

The second method uses the measure of client satisfaction to determine how successful the organization is at meeting the needs of its clients. The Service Alberta model for example, sets service standards for each of the main drivers of service satisfaction, namely timeliness, courtesy, knowledge, fairness and outcome. From here, the percentage of citizens who express satisfaction with each of these drivers is measured, and the overall level of success is calculated. A recent survey of 2600 residents who used Service Alberta call centers revealed that workers were meeting expectations when it came to courtesy, knowledge and service over 90% of the time, but viewed accessibility and timeliness less favourably with scores of 81% and 76% respectively. Residents identified hard to find phone numbers as the main barrier, and using this method, they have provided the government with new insights on how to improve on their initial overall satisfaction score of 88%.

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