ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
6. THE DEPARTMENT SHOULD ENHANCE ITS COMMITMENT TO CUSTOMER SERVICE.
The Department of Public Works is highly regarded by its customers for its responsiveness to snow emergencies and emergencies in general. Nearly everyone interviewed in the process of preparing this report expressed their acknowledgement and appreciation for the work the Department does in snow removal, and they take pride in the fact that Watertown’s streets are cleaner than any other nearby community during snowstorms. Several told personal stories of how Department workers helped them with emergency situations, such as water main breaks or sewage leaks, and were available almost immediately even on nights and weekends. In short, the Department receives high marks for its emergency response.
At the same time, many expressed substantial concerns about the other aspects of the Department’s operations. Complaints included, but were not limited to: a lack of follow-up on concerns/complaints; inability to get timely responses to telephone calls, emails, etc.; the loss of paperwork and plans and resultant loss of time in processing permit applications; impolite or brisk responses in person and on the telephone at times; an inability to access information via the Town website; and resistance to new
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initiatives, at least initially. One customer indicated that “the things they have been doing for a long time, they do well. They just aren’t so good at the new stuff.”
Beyond these concerns, the project team offers several more detailed observations regarding the impediments to good customer service in the Department, including:
• Staff vacancies directly impact the supervisors’ ability to field full crews and keep up with the volume of customer calls and complaints, leading to a backlog of work orders and customer dissatisfaction;
• The work order system is being used merely as a mechanism to print out the work to be done, not to organize or prioritize the work, nor as a means for the supervisors to monitor work performance or make a case for additional staff resources. The work order system is also not used to inform customers when their complaints have been addressed or whether they are in a queue to be addressed, leaving them uncertain as to whether their issue was ever recorded in the first place. As a result, the Department’s use of the work order system adds work, instead of making work more efficient and improving communication;
Support staff respond to the same questions multiple times, some of which could be resolved by providing additional and better organized information on the website, perhaps with the inclusion of an enhancement to the current limited set of FAQs on the site currently;
• Department leadership seems to feel the need to respond to nearly every customer call or complaint personally, producing several negative results. It is not unusual for customers to become frustrated with the delay in receiving a response, and they may call or email Department staff repeatedly. Support staff, in turn, can become frustrated when they are contacted repetitively on the same matter, yet are unable assist the customer themselves. Lastly, supervisors may be unaware of commitments being made by the Superintendent, or they may not learn of specific complaints about their operation, since they may not be tasked with speaking with the customer themselves directly; and,
• The Department is largely reactive rather than proactive. Priorities are directed by the extent and volume of complaints that occur, as opposed to identifying potential problems before they occur and taking action in advance. As has been discussed earlier in this report, a proactive department should develop an asset management plan for the Town’s infrastructure and align daily and weekly activities around the plan, while also building in time for the unanticipated emergencies. Town leadership has taken steps to equip the Department to act proactively, through the street maintenance inventory, street tree inventory, sign inventory, etc. However, the Department cannot yet take advantage of these important studies, as it is dealing with a backlog of work orders and complaints.
At present, customer needs are not being fully met by the Department, as it largely operates in a crisis mode. The Superintendent has taken on an inordinate burden by doing the work of at least three positions. This situation is due, in part, to the fact that he has not moved aggressively to fill vacancies, nor has he delegated sufficient responsibilities to the division supervisors. That said, the division supervisors are ill-equipped today to undertake additional responsibilities, as they are also adversely impacted by vacancies in their units, not knowing from day to day whether they will have full crews to
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deploy. Filling the vacant positions in the field, the A&F Director, and Town Engineer positions, will provide additional personnel to whom duties can be delegated. It will be up to the Superintendent, however, to provide the delegation and clear direction, and then to hold staff accountable for their performance.
It is recommended that the Department develop an action plan to improve customer service. Components of this plan should include:
• Communications – Customers will typically understand if they have to get a permit to engage in a certain activity or if what they request will take time to get done, as long as they have the information they need and believe that the work will get done. If the Department can provide information in advance, customers will be better equipped before they first contact the Department, and they will be less likely to keep calling and emailing with the question of “when will my work get done?” In considering how to improve communications, Department staff can ask and answer several questions: What are the different types of customers we serve (e.g., homeowner, developer, etc.)? What specific items of information do the different types of customers most commonly need? Where can that information be made available for them to find without having the call the Department?;
• Training – All staff can benefit from periodic training in customer service. This can help them better understand their customers and learn techniques to work with various challenges that might occur in their workplace. In addition, as recommended above, the Department’s support staff could benefit from additional technical training that will help them better meet customer needs;
• Internal information-sharing – In many organizations, including the Watertown Department of Public Works, certain individuals are considered to be the sole proprietor of certain types of information (i.e., everyone must go to this one person to get their questions answered about a particular topic). That type of system does not provide quality customer service. When that person is out of the office, customer questions cannot get answered, and a department is vulnerable to a complete loss of information should the staff member decide to leave. In a strong organization, staff are cross-trained to back each other up during vacation or sick leave, and multiple people can answer the same question the same way. To strengthen the administrative operation, the duties of the different support staff should be identified, and at least two or three other staff members in the department should be cross-trained to do the same work. This will improve customer service and provide the department with the flexibility to reassign staff in the event of an emergency; and
• Use of technology – Technology has the ability to improve communication within a department and, at the same time, improve information-sharing with customers and members of the public. The work order system, in particular, not only has the capacity to document complaints or work that needs to be done, it can be a tool used by the supervisors to schedule that work, and it can be used by department management to see if work is being done in a timely manner. The system can also be used by clerical staff to respond to questions from the public and, even more powerfully, it can report back to customers to let them know that their work request has been completed or when it is being scheduled. The Town website is also an important tool in keeping the community abreast of projects in their neighborhood. Customer service would improve and
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support staff time could be saved if documents that are routinely accessed by the public are scanned and posted on line for direct access.
Recommendation: Develop a plan to enhance customer service. This plan should include training, communications, internal information-sharing, and use of technology.