Municipal Government Receives Needs Assessment to Improve Customer Service

Client Background and Overview

One of the most historic cities in Mississippi engaged Turnkey Solutions to perform a Citizen Experience Needs Assessment. Concerned with the level of ease for citizens to connect with and receive services from the City, the City’s leadership opted to have employee focus groups to gauge employee morale and identify potential barriers to service excellence. Using the data from the focus groups, Turnkey Solutions was able to identify areas of improvement for the City and provide next steps and recommendations to better enhance service to citizens.

Challenges

To make the assessment as representative as possible, employees and leaders from each of the City’s departments were a part of the focus groups. After analyzing the assessment data, Turnkey staff were able to identify a number of challenges that impacted service to citizens in five major areas:

• Internal Communication:  Internal communication challenges were highlighted across all departments and discussed at length. Participants expressed a desire for more effective communication channels, stating that they often did not feel heard and found it difficult to express their ideas. Additionally, employees expressed that a lack of clear and accessible documentation, such as manuals and process maps, hindered communication and job performance.
• Management and Supervisory Support: The leadership acknowledged difficulty motivating the new generation of employees, namely Generation Z, especially due to differing perspectives around COVID-19 and the workplace. Beyond this, City staff felt that leadership needed to demonstrate a more caring attitude toward employees.
• Training and Resources: The availability and effectiveness of training programs, tools, and resources varied among employees, creating inconsistent job performance across the workforce. Additionally, employees emphasized feeling inadequate at some customer service and problem-solving skills, such as de-escalating tense situations, handling upset customers, and resolving customer concerns in a timely manner.
• Technology:  Some employees voiced critical lapses in technological support, such as lack of City email accounts for specific employees (particularly field employees), lack of access to the City’s Wi-Fi, a reliance on memos and notice boards for important information, and lack of sufficient tools and software to improve citizen service.
• Hiring and Onboarding: Many employees felt that the City hired staff that did not have the needed training or job skills for a particular role and that this impacted service to citizens. 

Impact

By conducting a comprehensive Citizen Experience Needs Assessment and identifying critical areas for improvement, Turnkey Solutions empowered the City to enhance internal communication, strengthen employee morale, and ultimately deliver superior citizen services. Our data-driven approach provided actionable recommendations to address challenges in technology, training, and leadership, positioning the City for long-term success.