Customer Service feedback heaps praise on staff and leads to improvements in some frontline areas

The work of the Council’s Customer Services Teams in Kirkwall and Stromness has been given a resounding seal of approval by the folk they are there to help, support and assist.

The Council launched a Customer Service survey in October 2022 and received 150 responses from people from throughout Orkney keen to feedback on their customer service experiences.

The results showed that 96.5% of those who responded felt that Customer Service Advisors were polite, friendly and helpful when dealing with enquiries, with many leaving additional compliments.

Staff have also listened to the constructive feedback with some changes already implemented, and more in the pipeline.

Catherine Foubister, the Council’s Customer Services Team Manager, is justifiably proud of the advisors who go the extra mile to ensure people’s enquiries are dealt with not just professionally, but with kindness.

“As part of the Council’s Our People - Our Plan journey, there is a determination to ensure that the first point of contact services at Customer Services in Kirkwall and the Warehouse Buildings in Stromness are as good as they can be from the customer perspective and the survey endorses that this is the almost wholly the case.

“I am delighted at the overwhelmingly positive results in terms of the fantastic work of our team of Customer Service Advisors. It’s so important that folk who come to us go away feeling as though they have been listened to and assisted in the best way possible – we want to ensure that they feel they can come to us if they need help with whatever Council query they may have - payments, roads, waste, transport, education, planning, Council Tax, Blue Badge, licensing, adult disabilities, Scottish Welfare Fund and housing.

“We have already listened to the feedback and, for example, there was a call for opening between 1pm-2pm at the Kirkwall Customer Services so we now have staggered lunch breaks to enable opening throughout the lunchtime period.

“We have set up a Telephone Champions Group and will work closely to improve how we handle our phone calls in direct response to some comments in the survey.

“As a result of feedback in Stromness, we are looking to improve the facilities within our meeting rooms, with more modern IT equipment; we are looking into the possibility of increased Bookbug sessions with Warm Space and NHS Near Me facilities coming soon to the Warehouse Buildings.”

An area also flagged up is an easier to navigate website.

Mrs Foubister said: “Work has already begun in terms of trying to make the Council website more user-friendly and encouraging all staff to update information on it. This is a huge task, but progress is being made. Our Customer Service Advisors are able to help people set up accounts on our online portal MyOrkney, which is available to folk 24/7, and show them how to record and track requests online – this can be done over the phone or in person. We are also looking at whether we can add direct dial numbers for staff on the website as some requested.

“We thank everyone who took the time to take part in this survey which is already leading to changes for the better, but are keen to keep up the momentum and encourage customers to share feedback with us at any time and to use the star ratings on our online forms.”

To get in touch with the teams you can use MyOrkney, call 01856 873535, email customerservice@orkney.gov.uk or visit in person.