INTRODUCTION

Phoenix Strategic Perspectives Inc. was commissioned by Service Canada to conduct a survey of Service Canada clients to assess levels of client satisfaction with the service received during the previous six months.

Background and Objectives

Service Canada was created in September 2005 to provide enhanced, one-stop service to Canadians, delivered with a strong client-service orientation. Over time, it will bring federal services and benefits together making it easier for Canadians to get more of the help they need in one place, whether by phone, Internet or in person.

Service Canada is in the process of integrating services from a number of federal departments to form a single service delivery network. Over the next three years, Service Canada will continue to enhance and introduce more services with the goal of continuous improvement in service delivery and client satisfaction.

The purpose of this research was to assess perceptions of service quality among Service Canada clients. Perceptions of service quality were obtained for clients of the following services lines/program areas – Employment Insurance (EI), Canada Pension Plan (CPP), Old Age Security (OAS), Employment Programs (EPB), Social Insurance Number (SIN), Passports, and 1-800 O’Canada. The research was designed to obtain a baseline measure of client satisfaction as Service Canada began operations.

More specifically, the research objectives included the following:

• Assess perceptions of service quality among Service Canada clients as part of the agency’s focus on citizen-centred service
• Support the development of the Performance Measurement Framework for Service Canada
• Contribute to the development of a culture of service quality in Service Canada
• Build on the client satisfaction baseline research established in the former Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) 2001-2002 Service Improvement Initiative survey
• Identify areas of service delivery that require attention.

The questionnaire incorporated key elements of the Common Measurements Tool (CMT) to enable comparisons of service quality across federal government departments and agencies.

Research Design

A telephone survey was conducted with 4,023 Service Canada clients, 18 years and older. Based on a sample of this size, the overall results can be considered to be accurate to within +/- 1.6%, 19 times out of 20.

The following specifications applied to this study:

• The survey was conducted with Service Canada clients of nine services/programs: EI, CPP Retirement, CPP Disability, OAS, the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS), EPB, SIN, Passports, and 1-800 O’Canada.
• Intermediaries or third parties were accepted for inclusion in the survey if they were the primary contact person for the services. This included individuals acting on behalf of children, an individual with a disability, or an elderly family member or friend.
• A pre-test was conducted in both official languages.
• Interviews were conducted in both French and English, and averaged 15 minutes in length.
• The fieldwork was conducted from March 13th  toApril 5th, 2006.
• Up to eight call-backs were conducted before a record was retired.
• For the analysis, the data were weighted to ensure that the national, aggregate results reflected the distribution of Service Canada clients. A detailed description of the sampling specifications and weighting can be found in the appendix.
• Sponsorship of the study was revealed (i.e. Government of Canada).

The following table presents call disposition information for this study, including the response rate (using the industry standard formula):

Note to Readers

• For editorial purposes, the terms ‘respondents’ and ‘clients’ are used interchangeably in the report to denote survey participants.
• When the full sample was not asked certain questions, the number of respondents (not the percentage) who were asked the question is provided, always in the graphs and sometimes in the text as well. The following method is used to denote this: n = 100, which means the number of respondents, in this instance, is 100.
• Some of the graphs do not sum to 100% due to rounding.

Appended to this report are a detailed note on the sample and weighting, and copies of the questionnaire (in French and English).

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