"Working together to provide the best possible service to our customers"

Section 1 – Introduction

Section 2 - Phone services

2.1 Introduction

2.2 Standards

2.3 Guidelines

• Enquiries and taking messages
• Putting calls on hold and transferring calls
• Abusive callers
• Answering machines and voicemail

Section 3 – Face-to-face communication

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Standards

3.3 Guidelines

• When you meet a customer
• Home visits

Section 4 – Written correspondence

4.1 Introduction

4.2 Standards

4.3 Guidelines

• Replying to and sending written correspondence
• E-mails
• External return address (ERA) on mail

Section 5 – Equality of service

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Standards

5.3 Guidelines

• Customers whose first language is not English
• Customers with hearing difficulties
• Customers with eyesight difficulties

1.0 Introduction

In basic terms, customer care is treating people the way that you expect to be treated yourself. ‘Customer’ is a general term that covers a wide range of client groups that we serve, including Council Tax payers, businesses, residents, tourists, parents, pupils, other public services and internal customers.

Although ‘customer’ is a general term, each customer will have their own needs and, depending on the department that you work in, the main type of customer you will have to deal with will vary.

Internal customers are just as important as external customers, and it is important that you treat them with the same respect.

The ways in which we expect you to deal with customers also varies. The three main communication methods are phone calls, written correspondence (including e-mail) and face-to-face contact.

We have developed these guidelines to help you to respond to customers in the same way. You are not only representing your own department, you are representing the council and it is important that we deal with customers consistently.

2.0 Phone services

2.1 Introduction

The phone is the most common way of communicating with customers. The Government has confirmed this when they highlighted that over 70% of contact with councils are by phone.

We need to be able to manage the number of phone calls we receive if we are to provide a quality service to our customers. It is also important that when a customer contacts you, you provide them with the service they need in a polite and professional way.

These standards apply to any phone we have issued or agreed that you can use for work purposes, including phones on extensions, mobile phones and phones used when working at home. This policy also applies to both internal and external callers.

All staff must carry out the following standards.

2.2 Standards

• When you answer a call, it is important that you greet the caller politely, let them know which service they have reached, and tell them who they are speaking to. This same principle applies when making or returning a call. You should use our standard greeting that includes ‘good morning’ or ‘good afternoon’, the name of your section or service and your name.

• You should answer phone calls within four rings.

• If you are away from your desk for a short period of time, your phone calls should transfer to an appropriate member of staff after four rings. This should also happen if you are on another call.

• If you will be away from your phone extension for an extended period of time, for example, you are in a lengthy meeting, on holiday, on sick leave and so on, you should set your phone to forward all your calls to another extension. This saves the caller waiting four rings before being automatically transferred.

• Where appropriate, you should use the group pick-up facility. This is where you can key in *8# to pick up any phone which is ringing in your office.

• You should return all phone messages within 24 hours, unless the message tells you otherwise.

• All phones should be part of a group pick-up (where you can answer each other’s ringing phones), group hunt (where a call finds an available extension) or voicemail.

2.3 Guidelines

• Enquiries and taking messages

You must make sure that any member of staff who will be receiving your calls has the following details.

• When you will return, if this will be longer than 24 hours.
• Any calls which you are expecting and any information they will need to be able to deal with these calls.

If you are taking a phone message for someone, you must make sure that the message includes the caller’s name, their phone number and brief details about the purpose of the call. This will make sure that when the member of staff returns the call, they have all the information they need. Please use an e-mail message rather than a paper message where possible.

• Putting calls on hold and transferring calls

Before you put a caller on hold, you should ask them if it is alright to put them on hold and explain why you need to do this. If the caller does not want you to put them on hold, offer to call them back with a response to their enquiry.

Before you transfer a caller, you should do the following.

You must treat callers politely at all times. However, if at any time the caller becomes abusive, it is acceptable to end the call.  Before you end the call, you should do the following.

• Tell the caller that their behaviour is unacceptable, and ask them to stop that behaviour.
• If the behaviour continues, tell the caller you will end the call unless they stop being abusive.
• If the behaviour still continues, tell the caller that the call will now end, but that they can phone again once they have calmed down. Then hang up.

If you need more support or guidance on this issue, the Training Department runs courses on dealing with difficult customers.

• Answering machines and voicemail

You should only use answering machines and voicemail if you are carrying out a specific function or dealing with particular casework (that is, you are a named officer using the answering machine or voicemail for follow-up calls). You should not use it for general enquiries or calls to administration staff.

If you do use voicemail or an answer machine, the message should be as follows.

1. Hello.
2. You have reached the voicemail (or answer machine) of <your name> and <section>.
3. I will be out of the office (or unavailable) from <date and time> to <date and time>.
4. Please leave a message after the tone and I will return your call when I return.
5. If your call is urgent, you can contact me on <phone number> or if you want to speak to another member of staff, please contact <name> and <phone number>.

You must remember to update the message with the correct dates and times when you are unavailable. You should return all your calls within 24 hours, unless the caller tells you otherwise. You will need to check your calls in enough time to meet the 24-hour target.

3.0 Face-to-face communication

3.1 Introduction

There are times when customers will want or need to see you face-to-face, for example, routine visits to offices, appointments with officers and asking for advice or help. There are some customers who have ongoing contact with services such as schools, community centres, leisure facilities, libraries, home carers, and so on.

When you meet customers face-to-face, it is important that you give the right first impression by providing a professional and helpful service. You must clearly display your employee identification badge, be polite and helpful.

In general, customers making any contact with us fall into two categories:

• customers who have brief contact with the service they need; or
• customers who need an ongoing service.

We need to standardise how we manage this contact to make sure that customers are getting the service they need, that we meet their expectations of the service, and that we manage public offices in the most efficient way.

3.2 Standards

• You should always greet customers politely, and make sure that your identification badge is displayed clearly.
• If a customer has made an appointment, you should see them within 10 minutes of the agreed time. If this is not possible, you should give the customer an explanation and an alternative meeting date.
• Wherever possible, you must make sure a confidential meeting room is available if a customer asks for one.
• You must make sure that all customers have equal access to our services by making sure that they are fully aware of all the facilities we have to help them, for example, hearing loops, information in Braille, on audio tape, or in other languages.
• If you make home visits, you should follow the guidelines in this section.

3.3 Guidelines

• When you meet a customer

You should always apologise for the delay if a customer has had to wait to see you.

Ask the customer their name (if you do not already know it) and, when appropriate, use their surname and relevant title.

If you cannot deal with a customer’s enquiry or complaint immediately, explain this to the customer and tell them what action you will take and when you will get a reply to them.

If you can’t give the customer the information they are looking for, you should explain why and offer them an alternative.

The basic aim of customer care is to treat customers politely, in good time and efficiently. So you should help to speed up enquiries if you can. This may mean helping a customer to fill in a form or taking someone to the correct office or service, for example, the Council Tax or rent office.

• Home visits

If you need to visit a customer at home, you should follow the guidelines below. These guidelines will make sure that you present a professional appearance to the public, and that the public can be sure that you work for the council.

• If possible, make an appointment to visit the customer and, more importantly, keep it. If you are running late or have to cancel the visit, let the customer know.

• Make sure that you leave colleagues a detailed note of where you are going and how long your visit is likely to last.

• If you have any concerns about the visit, arrange for the customer to come into the office, rather than visiting them.

• Carry an identity card and show this to the customer.

• Tell the customer your name, job title and service.

• Ask the customer’s permission to enter their home. This may not always be possible when you are carrying out enforcement duties.

• Treat the customer’s property with care and respect.

• Clearly explain why you are visiting the customer and listen to them and take notes if necessary.

• If appropriate, agree a course of action with the customer.

• Deal quickly with the issues raised during the visit, and keep the customer informed of their progress.

4.0 Written correspondence

4.1 Introduction

Written correspondence comes in a variety of formats including letters, memos, websites, e-mails and mobile phone text messages. We will need to reply to a lot of the written correspondence we receive. You do not need to reply to ‘junk’ mail, leaflets, brochures or conference details (unless you are interested in the product or service).

We need to manage the amount of written correspondence we receive as well as the ways in which we communicate. It is also important that however a customer contacts you, you reply quickly, and your reply meets their needs as much as possible.

The method you choose to communicate should be appropriate for the style of message, the timescale involved, the content of the message and the workload of both you and the receiver. This includes both communication that you start and communication in response to a customer’s enquiry.

You should not choose written correspondence simply to avoid face-to-face or phone contact. The method of communication you choose should be suitable for the topic or situation.

Under the Disability Discrimination Act 2005, for all general correspondence, you should use a typesize of at least 12 point. For customers with eyesight difficulties, you should use a typesize of at least 14 point. If you are printing text on a coloured background, you should use a clear typeface and large typesize, and you should make sure there is enough contrast between the colour of the text and the colour of the background. For example, black text on a white background or black text on a yellow background. Please also see our Printed Materials Policy (available on the internet) for further guidance on producing documents and literature.

4.2 Standards

• You should use headed paper or the memo format for all written correspondence (except e-mails – overleaf).
• ‘The Moray Council’ and signature text should be included for all e-mails.
• You should reply to or acknowledge all written correspondence within 10 working days. If it is not possible to respond within this time, you should acknowledge the correspondence and say when you will be able to give the customer a full response.
• You should only reply to external e-mails that contain a return postal address.

4.3 Guidelines

• Replying to and sending written correspondence

You should include the following details in all written correspondence.

Your letters should be as clear and brief as possible. Don’t use jargon and keep specialist language to a minimum.

• E-mails

The first rule of e-mail is to take care how you express yourself, especially if you feel strongly about the subject. E-mails cannot convey the tone of voice and so you can easily give out the wrong message.

Before you send an e-mail, make sure that:

• the information is relevant;
• the person who will receive your e-mail needs the information; and
• you explain clearly what your e-mail is about.

Your e-mail should clearly say what you want the customer to do with the information, for example, for information or reference, reply, take action quickly. Where appropriate, use the priority settings, which say whether a message is high, normal or low importance. You should also make sure that you respond to all e-mails that need a response.

Wherever possible, avoid sending large e-mails or attachments. You should send no more than four attachments with one e-mail. If possible you should use links from the server or internet instead of sending a full document.

If this is not possible, you should change the document into a PDF file as this will use up less space on the server while the e-mail is being sent. You could also type the information directly onto the e-mail rather than creating a separate document and attaching it.

All e-mails should contain signature text. The text should follow the guidelines below.

• Your name and job title.
• Service or department name.
• Your phone number.
• Your fax number.
• Your e-mail address.
• Footer message regarding printing out the message, see example below.

‘This e-mail is confidential and privileged. If you are not the intended recipient please accept our apologies; please do not disclose, copy or distribute information in this e-mail or take any action in reliance on its contents: to do so is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. Please inform us that this message has gone astray before deleting it. Thank you for your co-operation.’

If you will be out of the office for more than two days, you should redirect your e-mails to the member of staff who will be covering your work or use an ‘auto response’ message with a contact number for urgent enquiries. Also, you should set up the out-of-office profile so that any customers who send you an e-mail know that you are out of the office, how long you are away for and who is dealing with your work in your absence.

Never send information that is sensitive or confidential by e-mail. E-mails can quite easily be sent to the wrong person.

Please see the Computer Use Policy (which is available on the intranet) for further information on sending e-mails.

• External return address (ERA) on mail

All franked mail should include an external return address.

This will make sure that if your letter is undeliverable, Royal Mail will return it to you.

According to Royal Mail guidance, a letter is undeliverable if:

If your letter does not include an ERA and is undeliverable, Royal Mail will destroy it.

5.0 Equality of service

5.1 Introduction

All people living in Moray should be able to have the same access to our services. Under the Disabilities Discrimination Act and the Race Relations (Amendment) Act, we must deliver a fair service to everyone in the community.

We must provide information about our services in a way that makes sure all our customers have equal access to it. Disabled people and people whose first language is not English have the right to expect the same level of service as the rest of the community.

5.2 Standards

You should tell customers what facilities are available to help them. You must make sure that disabled people and people whose first language is not English can get access to interpreting, translation and communication support.

5.3 Guidelines

• Customers whose first language is not English

All front-line staff have access to The Interpreter’s Handbook, which is available on the intranet. When you have to deal with a member of the public who does not speak English fluently, you can find out their preferred language by asking them to show you their language from a selection provided on page 4 of the handbook.

If a customer has booked a meeting you should arrange for an interpreter to be at the meeting (or arrange contact with Language Line).  At the beginning of your conversation with the customer, you should introduce yourself and ask them how they want you to address them.  You should remember that people speaking English as a second language can sometimes communicate in ways that may lead to misunderstanding, for example, they may appear to have an abrupt manner. This may be because the customer has limited knowledge of English, or because of literal translations of phrases from their first language. Also, some cultures may communicate in a more direct manner and may not be used to adding ‘please’ or ‘thank you’.

In certain circumstances a father or husband may speak on behalf of his wife or daughter. This may be linked to the roles of males and females within different cultures, or because they have had more access to English as a Second Language (ESL) support.

You must not make assumptions about a customer’s knowledge of English. For example, many ethnic-minority people living in Scotland, particularly younger people, were born in the UK. Please try to treat all customers as individuals and simply be prepared to give customers access to Translation, Interpretation or Communication Support (TICS) services.

• Customers with hearing difficulties

Levels of hearing difficulties vary and also the way in which customers with hearing difficulties communicate will vary from person to person.

It is important that you ask the customer how they want you to communicate with them. You may need to write down the question.

If the meeting has been arranged beforehand, you should arrange for suitable communication help such as a hearing loop, signing facilities, a translator and so on. If the meeting has not been arranged beforehand, you will need to know where you can access these facilities. For public meetings, you should always use hearing loops.

If a customer uses a sign-language interpreter, speak to the customer not to the interpreter. You must also make sure you meet the needs of the signer during the meeting, for example, make sure that you don’t speak so quickly that the signer cannot keep up. It is also important that the customer can clearly see the signer, and you should make sure that there is not a window or bright light behind the signer. Signing is a very intensive activity and it is important that the signer can take suitable breaks or that two signers are available for long meetings.

• Customers with eyesight difficulties

You should make sure that there is good physical access to the meeting room by making sure that there is plenty of space between tables and chairs, passageways are kept clear and queue barriers are properly laid out.

Always ask the person if they want any help before you help them, even though it may look to you that they need help, for example, helping them to a chair.

Introduce yourself and other people in the room, and tell the customer where everyone is sitting.

If you will be giving the customer information following the meeting, ask them what format they would like it in, for example, in large print, in Braille, on audio tape, and so on.

Finally if you have to leave the room, make sure that you tell the customer, and if you are about to shake hands with the customer tell them you want to do so.