The national Citizen Satisfaction e-Survey (e-CitSat) conducted last 2020 by the Development Academy of the Philippines-Productivity and Development Center under the Government Quality Management Program captured citizens’ expectations from frontline government service during the pandemic.
Top Service Attributes that Matter to Citizens in 2020
The top thirteen service attributes that matter most to citizens, gleaned from the 2020 e-CitSat, are proposed to be part of the minimum set of service quality standards (SQS) for the “new normal” frontline government service delivery.
Citizens considered these 13 attributes to be the most important service features during the 2020 pandemic. Interestingly, clean and well-lighted waiting areas and fast transactions were also considered by citizens as top attributes in 2018 even before the pandemic.
The top service attributes cover the eight service quality dimensions provided by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Harmonization of National Government Performance, Monitoring, Information and Reporting Systems (AO25 IATF) in its 2020 guidelines.
During the pandemic in 2020, observance of minimum health protocols which includes filling of health declaration or contact tracing form, thermal scanning, and strict observance of social distancing measures received the highest importance rating of 98% from citizens. Frontliners wearing face masks and shields, as well as, protection of personal and confidential information both received a rating of 97% while getting what is needed got 96%.
The following expectations were given a rating of 97% by the transacting citizens, a clean and well-lighted waiting area, easy to contact agency by phone, and availability and accessibility of agency website, while fast transaction was rated 93%.
Also significant to the transacting citizens are helpful frontliners, confirming successful online transactions, immediate issuance of official receipts, and ease of getting updated and accurate information, all rated 97%. Fairness of agency got 96% importance rating.
To further probe on citizens’ expectations and to better understand the top service attributes, Consultations Towards Improvement of Frontline Government Service Delivery in the “New Normal” were conducted on 3, 5, and 7 May 2021 with representatives from civil society organizations in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. Comments and insights on the top service attributes were solicited from the participants during the focus group discussions.
Regarding ease of contacting agencies, participants shared that phone calls are more convenient due to unstable or unavailable internet connection in some areas in the country. In addition, the participants raised that most citizens use mobile phones so they prefer that government agencies provide mobile numbers aside from landline hotline numbers.
Participants’ also shared their concern of having to make multiple trips to an agency when transactions cannot be processed in a single face-to-face trip due to the work-from-home set up of some agencies. This highlighted the value of service attributes on getting what is needed, helpful frontliners, and fast transactions.
The national e-CitSat aims to help the public sector better understand the needs and perceptions of the Filipinos and identify areas for government-wide quality improvement.
The national Citizen Satisfaction and Business Satisfaction surveys being conducted by the DAP – Productivity and Development Center under the Government Quality Management Program are critical tools in helping the public sector better understand the needs and perceptions of the Filipinos and identify areas for improvement in public service delivery.
The DAP seeks to empower leaders, strengthen institutions, and build the nation through pioneering, value adding, synergistic ideas, concepts, principles, techniques, and technologies addressing development problems of local, national and international significance. DAP – PDC offers capability building, technical assistance, and research related to productivity and quality improvement. For more information, visit www.dap.edu.ph, http://pdc.dap.edu.ph/, and email at pdc.pdro@dap.edu.ph.
View the previous 2018 CitSat Survey Results Report – http://bit.ly/SQS2021IEC.