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SERVICE CHANNELS AND INTERACTIONS
This section reports on service-related interactions that clients have had with Service Canada during the previous six months to obtain information or service, including applying for benefits. The focus was on contact initiated by respondents themselves or by someone on their behalf, not on contact initiated by the federal government.
Contact with Service Canada Related to Many Programs/Services
All surveyed clients had contacted the Service Canada during the previous six months to obtain information or service (this was a requirement to continue with the survey). Respondents were then asked if their contact concerned any of the following programs or services*:
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Canada Pension Plan Retirement Pension (CPP Retirement)
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Canada Pension Plan Disability Pension (CPP Disability)
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Employment Insurance (EI)
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Employment assistance programs or services (Employment Programs/Assistance)
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Old Age Security (OAS)
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Passport
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Social Insurance Number (SIN)
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The Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS)
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Using the 1-800 O’Canada phone line, or
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Some other program/service.
Surveyed clients were most likely to have contacted the Service Canada for information or service related to Employment Insurance (44%). This was followed, at a distance, by use of the 1-800 O’Canada phone line (24%) and service related to a Social Insurance Number (23%). As well, many contacted Service Canada regarding public pensions or income security programs/services, including OAS (19%), CPP Retirement (17%), the GIS (13%), and CPP Disability (8%). Also identified were passports (11%) and Employment Programs/Assistance (10%). These programs/services represent the sample sources (i.e. client lists) that were used for this survey.
All other reasons for contacting Service Canada were identified infrequently (2% or less) and are included in the ‘other’ category. This includes child benefits, an address change, immigration-related issues, education-related issues, and medical/health issues.
* Respondents that did not identify the program/service that corresponds to the one for which their name appears (i.e. on the Service Canada client lists provided for this study) were subsequently prompted regarding that program/service if they did not initially identify it. For instance, if a respondent drawn from the EI client list did not identify EI, they were probed one more time to determine whether they had contacted the federal government regarding EI.
DIn terms of the number of different programs/services used during the previous six months, a majority of clients (53%) said they contacted Service Canada for information/service related to only one program/service. Just over one-quarter (27%) contacted Service Canada regarding two programs/services, while one in five contacted the department for three or more programs/services.
DRespondents were then informed that Service Canada is responsible for delivering the Service Canada programs and services they were just asked about. For the rest of the survey, they were asked to think of the contact they had with Service Canada for the information, programs or services they have used in the previous six months, excluding contact with the Canada Revenue Agency on tax issues.
Q6: Did your contact concern any of the following programs or services?
Telephone – Top Service Channel Used to Contact Service Canada
Surveyed clients were asked to identify the methods they used to contact Service Canada during the previous six months. They were asked to focus on contact with the government itself, not on service received through another organization delivering programs or services funded by the government. The service channels that were identified for clients included:
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Telephone
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Mail or fax
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Email
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In person
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Visiting the Service Canada website or another Government of Canada website.
Clients were most likely to have used the phone to contact Service Canada. Close to two- thirds (63%) used this service channel, followed at a distance by in-person contact (39%), and the Service Canada website or some other Government of Canada website (38%). Approximately one in five (21%) used mail or fax, while relatively few (9%) used email.
DDuring the previous six months, just over half of all surveyed clients (51%) used only one of these channels to contact Service Canada. Among the rest, more than one-quarter (28%) used two channels, while almost one in five (19%) used three or more of the channels.
DMost Service Channels Used Infrequently
Most of the service channels used by respondents to contact Service Canada during the previous six months were used infrequently (i.e. once or twice) by a majority of those who used them. Mail and fax were the most likely to have been used infrequently, with over three-quarters having done so only once (56%) or twice (22%). A similar proportion of those who had visited an office did so infrequently, doing so only once (47%) or twice (27%). Relatively few (9-12%) used either channel frequently (i.e. four times or more).
Use of email and phone was more varied. While a majority of those who used these channels (55-57%) did so infrequently, over one-quarter (28-29%) used them frequently.
The Internet was the channel most likely to have been used frequently by those who used it. A majority (51%) said they used a government website or websites four times or more, with one-fifth (21%) saying they used this channel over 10 times.
Q8: During the last six months, in which of the following ways did you contact Service Canada? Please focus on contact with the government itself, nervice received through another organization delivering programs or services funded by the Government of Canada. How about [insert service channel]?
DThe accompanying graph identifies the total number of contacts initiated by respondents across all channels during the previous six months, both including and excluding web contact. As can be seen, multiple contacts (four or more) with Service Canada increase noticeably when including web contact (47%). The average number of contacts is 3.8 when the Internet is 3.8 when the Internet is excluded, and 7.1 when it is included.
DQ9: How many times in the past six months did you use… [insert service channel]? (ASK SEPARATELY FOR EACH CHANNEL USED BY RESPONDENT)
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