Ethos Issue 4, Oct 2008

Better, Faster, Cheaper: Service Transformation and Channel Migration at the Ministry of Manpower
Penny Han

A successful transition to new service channels has transformed this traditional regulatory agency into an award-winning service provider.

Public agencies around the world are under increasing pressure to do more with less. More and more are being caught in a “value squeeze”,¹ seeking more efficient ways to create public outcomes amidst calls for better, faster service against tighter budgets and rising customer expectations.

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) faces similar pressures. It has responded by aligning its service excellence goals to the broader MOM vision of creating a Great Workforce and a Great Workplace.

In June 2003, the Customer Responsiveness Department was created within MOM to establish a dedicated capability for strategic leadership and to drive the planning and delivery of all MOM services and customer responsiveness initiatives.

A Customer Responsiveness Framework (Figure 1) sets out the strategic outcomes and key strategies for MOM’s service vision. While MOM’s core functions often have a highly regulatory component aligned with Singapore’s manpower policies, the Framework defines a customer-centric service delivery approach that emphasises trust, superior communications and a positive customer experience through high quality service delivery.

FIGURE 1. CUSTOMER RESPONSIVENESS FRAMEWORK

DIVERSE CUSTOMER BASE, MULTI-CHANNEL SERVICES
MOM serves a wide spectrum of customers in two principal groups: employers (comprising both about 100,000 businesses as well as individual employers of foreign domestic workers) and employees (comprising about 1.8 million locals and about 900,000 foreigners on a variety of work passes).

Employer types range from families hiring foreign domestic workers in households, to small one-man operated businesses, to global multinational corporations. Workers comprise both local and foreign employees of varying levels of skills and educational levels.

In order to meet the needs of this diverse profile of customers, MOM maintains a multi-channel service delivery strategy.

Each year, MOM:
• receives about 1.6 million e-transactions;
• assists about 72,000 e-transactions through the e-Service Lobby;
• handles about 2 million calls to the MOM Contact Centre;
• replies to about 130,000 emails;
• receives about 36 million website visits; and
• receives about 760,000 counter visits.

This is achieved with a frontline force of about 150 officers (including outsourced centres).

Due to MOM’s high volume of transactions, its website and other electronic channels are configured as ideal first points of contact and self-help service modes. Electronic platforms provide customers with speed, convenience and accessibility from anywhere in the world. Furthermore, cost comparisons across various channels show that electronic channels are the most cost-effective (Figure 2).