Summary

Being responsible for and committed to professionalism, development and empowerment of the City Government’s human resource, the City Human Resource Management Office (CHRMO) launched this best practice to address concerns on the negative customer feedback relative to the delivery of our services and to more importantly, improve service delivery. With many departments directly dealing with the public, including the Offices of the City Health, City Civil Registrar, City Treasurer among others, it is imperative that customers who deal with the City Government of Zamboanga are satisfied with the level of service provided to them. This project impacts upon the entire City Government of Zamboanga (CGZ) with its twenty-three (23) offices/departments and about three thousand eight hundred sixty (3,860) employees.

More importantly, with the introduction of this service philosophy, it is the transacting public that benefits the most in terms of more customer-focused services. This project was initiated by Dr. Jane C. Bascar, which started in 2015. It aims at total customer satisfaction through the service philosophy: “Servicio Sincero, Nuay Otro Dia Este Lang.” Since the CHRMO believes there is no better opportunity to “WOW our customers with sincere service than NOW,” each employee is encouraged not to put off till tomorrow what can be done today and to make every encounter a pleasant experience for our customers. “NOW” may be our only chance to create a lasting positive impression on our clients.

Background and Problem

The CHRMO’s Best Practice aims to emphasize and communicate to all CGZ offices the value of providing excellent customer services, elevate the standard of customer service in the CGZ leading to more satisfied customers, and create a more positive impression towards government service among the transacting public. This best practice sprang from the CGZ’s desire to improve service delivery given the generally poor impression of the transacting public relative to government services as a whole. During the Civil Service Commission IX Assessment on ARTA Compliance, the CGZ received some negative/critical feedback from clients such as the lack of care, patience, consideration and urgency when attending to clients. In 2015, the Public Assistance and Complaints Desk (PACD) was operationalized and the “No Noon Break Policy” was also strengthened. A year after, all offices were required to post their Citizen’s Charter and staff were required to wear IDs/Nameplates.

Solution and Impact

The CHRMO seeks to continuously design programs promoting a culture of employee engagement and quality customer service. The biggest motivation to effect a change in employee attitude and perspective on how best to serve customers was the CSC assessment results. Thus, the CHRMO actively promoted its service philosophy of “Servicio Sincero, Nuay Otro Dia Este Lang or “WOW NOW” anchored on the following interventions:

  • Adoption of G.E.T.S. which means, Greet, Maintain Eye Contact, Say Thank you and Smile (Adopted from PNB)
  • Operationalization of the Public Assistance and Complaints Desk (PACD)
  • Constant and continuous Values Orientation and Work Ethics Workshop to city employees
  • Posting of and strict compliance to the Citizens Charter

The sustained and consistent implementation of these interventions aims at instilling the right attitude and values in employees and helping them acquire the desired competencies to give our clients the best service. Improvement in the delivery of basic services will lead to a higher degree of customer satisfaction and will eventually shift public perception on the CGZ to a more positive one, thus building a sense of trust in the CGZ and improving its credibility among its clients.

Milestones

A remarkable result from the implementation of the Best Practice was the positive feedback from CSC Commissioner Atty. Aileen Lourdes Lizada during her surprise inspection in the City Government of Zamboanga last October 4, 2019 to check on the compliance with Civil Service Rules in Government Offices. Commissioner Lizada noted several best practices of the CGZ like the wearing of ID, the Public Assistance and Complaints Desk (PACD) located at the entrance of the City Hall and the presence of an institutionalized HR department. Continuous implementation of these initiatives is a must.