Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
Mar 10, 2010 News
As part of its efforts to improve its image, the Mayor and City Council of Georgetown (M&CC) has sought to intensify its customer care activities. In fact, according to Public Relations Officer Royston King, a customer desk has been established to address complaints in a timely manner.
This development, King disclosed, comes as a direct result of a HIV/AIDS and customer care relation forum which was held last Friday. The session which saw the participation of frontline workers was the first in a series of programmes scheduled by the municipality for the first half of this year.
This move, King said, is geared at building institutional capacity and to strengthen relationships between the council and its stakeholders. As such the primary objective was to raise awareness and enhance knowledge on HIV/AIDS even as efforts were made to elevate the level of customer care in the various service delivery areas of the municipality.
The first session addressed the question of stigma and discrimination of people living with HIV in the workplace and communities in the city. The participants were involved in practical sessions and workshops which addressed: dealing with difficult customers; dealing with angry customers; dealing with customers with disabilities and emotional leakages; and particularly in dealing with telephone calls from council and its stakeholders.
And due to the innovative initiative, King explained that there has since been greater departmental cooperation to treat with every complaint reported. Accordingly, suggestion boxes will be placed in certain areas of the council which will allow citizens to share their suggestions and ideas to improve service at the municipality. King highlighted that “the public relations division has put in place measures to monitor and evaluate customer care in all departments of the council.”
The new approach may also require the municipality to acquire certain items such as wheelchairs and even reconstruct some sections of City Hall and possibly even re-format some signs to ensure that customers are well facilitated. “We know that we really need to raise the bar at City Hall and have a strong customer relationship.”
We suspect that at the end of this session a programme will be put in place by the Public Relations Department to monitor the kind of customer care that will be happening in the various areas, and to see if they have put what they have learnt into practice.”
Two similar sessions are already being streamlined for the near future, King divulged.
The customer relation aspect of Friday’s proceedings were spearheaded by King who has had extensive training and experience in this area while the HIV/AIDS awareness segment saw Occupational Health and Safety Officer, Dale Beresford and Colleen McEwan deliberating.
According to Beresford, the whole initiative has been made possible through funding from the Health Sector Development Unit and is geared mainly at reducing stigma and discrimination and improving confidentiality.
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