Did you know? - Equity's service standards

Every year, members call and write to the office a few thousand times, for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes it's just an information request. Other times, it has to do with an imminent or active contract, where the member needs specific details on engagement terms. Every so often, members contact the office because there is a problem that needs solving. And on top of all these service interactions with members, there are many more from engagers and others with various needs for assistance.

Equity is, at its core, a service organisation, so Council has placed a big focus on doing that well – we have written comprehensive policy to ensure the best possible service standards in all areas.

But service standards are only lip service, if you don't know what they are – what you can expect in terms of service and response times – or how to proceed if those standards are not met. And so, we've made some recent changes to up our game even further.

At the top right of our main web page is a new button labelled "Compliments, comments, criticisms?" If you have a service issue, both Council and Equity's staff encourage you to use it. Behind that button lies information on our service standards and a simple, three-step process to ensure any issue with service receives the timely attention that it deserves.

Most problems are readily solved. But for those that aren't, a formal complaint process is also available. All complaints are addressed promptly by the appropriate staff, or by Council, if the matter involves the Executive Director. But beyond that, they are also logged and reported to Council on a regular basis, so that we can watch for patterns and address them proactively.

In the context of the thousands of service interactions each year, problems are fortunately rare. However, we're all human, and sometimes things do go awry. Council and staff recognise the impact that even minor seemingly issues can have in the context of an individual production or a members' livelihood, and we are committed to identifying problems if they occur and working toward continued improvement.

Please, help us help you better.

Customer service - the other side of the coin

Having launched new service standards this past year, I think it's only right to take a look at customer service from the other side of the inbox.

I went into a store a couple of months back, and headed to the service desk to return something. Taped prominently to the counter was a sign I had never seen before. The gist of it was this:

Our service staff is not expected to put up with rude, aggressive or threatening behaviour from customers. Staff have been instructed to promptly summon supervisors and/or security personnel in these instances.

I can't imagine that the decision to display that sign was taken lightly. After all, the whole point of the customer service desk is customer service, and here they were posting a notice (presumably) saying that Mr. or Ms Customer could expect to find themselves out on the sidewalk should they get aggressive with staff. How fraught can returning a toaster possibly be? Apparently, for some, very.

So, what's this got to do with Equity?

A few times a year, I get letters from members, or have correspondence copied to me, that leave me shaking my head in disbelief. These are the exchanges that make me wonder if perhaps we should print up a couple of those signs for our own use. Actually, they bring to mind rather more deliciously draconian responses, but a putting up a sign is probably the polite way to go about it.

I thought I'd share a few of the exchanges with you. Anyone who has ever worked in a customer service capacity will recognise these people instantly. As unique as the theatre community may be, some things are apparently universal, and it's amazing to see how quickly basic customer service interactions can escalate into movie of the week dramatics.

These are examples of actual phone calls and letters, boiled down somewhat, and expletives abridged so as not to aggravate anyone's spam filter.

« What do you mean, you can't process my contracts in time [Friday 2pm for a Monday rehearsal start]? You may recall I used the word “bull****” last time you told me this and got the contracts turned around in 5 minutes so I know it can be done. Stop ****ing around or your members will have one less theatre to work in next season. »

« Hi. I just got my dues invoice and see that you have added $10 to the amount that was owing from earlier in the year. Where does it say that there is an overdue fee? … Oh… I don't think I should have to pay it, because [insert one of a short list of well-worn reasons.] … Great! Now you're asking me to pay more because I didn't pay you in the first place. All you guys ever want from me is money! [Fully one quarter of dues payments arrive late.] »

« Why won't Equity allow me to take part in this project? … Well, I was told that they won't. … No, I haven't spoken to anyone at the office – the engager told me that you said that they couldn't hire me. So, why won't Equity allow me to take part in this project? »

« As a member, I expect that you will [do any number of things] for me. I'd hate to have to resort to legal means in order to have this happen, but I have already spoken to a lawyer in preparation for that and I'm confident that the courts would agree with me and make Equity comply. »

« You're all ****s. There's no work out there and you want to put the dues up. WTF. Ridiculous. [from a new member] »

Here's what staff does. They explain; they soothe; they direct people to the note on their invoice informing them of the late fee; they look up credit card information to let members know that their card expired last year; they confirm that the office does have the correct mailing address on file; they direct members to the insurance brochure online; they refer members to the recent article on the topic; they inform members how they (almost always) can take part in that project; etc., etc. And they get the contracts processed in time for rehearsal on Monday.

Then they listen to stories of how shabbily they treat people.

Y'know what? That's bull****.

Customer service standards

I wrote several months back regarding new customer service standards that were in the works, and they have recently been published on the Equity website. You can find all the details here, but these are the basics:

1. All persons dealing with Equity may expect to be treated in a courteous manner.
2. All persons dealing with Equity may expect a knowledgeable response to their inquiry.
3. All persons dealing with Equity should expect to receive a timely response to their request for services or in response to their communication.

Just as importantly, there is now a clearly identified process for dealing with complaints.

As with all policies, Council will regularly monitor results from this change, and that will be added to our review of policy EL-2, in June of each year.

In the context of the thousands of service interactions each year, problems are fortunately rare. However, we do recognise the impact that a even minor issues can have in the context of an individual production or members' livelihood. Equity is committed to identifying issues as they occur and working toward improvement. These new service standards are an important step in that process.

Service Standards

A large part of the work handled by Equity can be regarded as customer service. Negotiating an agreement only takes up a few months, once every three years. However, the administration of it happens dozens of times each day, year-round, every year. The Association also handles dues and financial benefits on behalf of its members, including insurance and and RRSP services. In addition, we regularly connect up with theatres, as thousands of contracts are arranged.

All these activities, and more, involve numerous member and engager interactions, some very brief and some quite extended. Four years ago, Council implemented policy to ensure that customer service of this sort met basic privacy and accessibility requirements.

At its meeting in August, and based on member feedback, Council voted to take that policy a step further: implementing published service standards.

It's worth having some sense of the context in which this change has been made. Based on the latest annual data from the office, the Business Rep department alone:

• reviews nearly 14,000 contracts for over 2,000 productions
• receives and sends over 12,000 emails
• spends around 450 hours on the phone 

The overwhelming majority of these interactions are positive and productive. But when one occurs that is not, that's when Councillors hear about it. And that's when the local CPAG members hear about it. And that's when everyone else in the green room hears about it. A single bad experience can echo so far and for so long, that it ends up sounding like a chorus of common occurrence.

It isn't. Weeding out duplicate reports and retelling by others, complaints turn out to be comparatively few in number. In the first year of last term, I put my email address absolutely everywhere, and when I got my first customer service complaint, I started a special email folder for those. I just looked: four years now and they average three per year.

I'll be the first to say it: a couple of the complaints were quite troubling, and on several others we could definitely have done better. There are unquestionably some complaints that didn't make it to me, and there are almost certainly several that didn't make it beyond the green room. However, considered in the context of many thousands of interactions per year, and thousands of members and engagers, a handful per year is a pretty good average.

Council is interested in improving that average. We recognise that, while the typical number of customer service issues is very small, a single customer service problem can be a real show-stopper – pun fully intended.

In the next few months, Equity will implement formal, published standards in the areas of timelines for response to communication, timelines for provision of services, knowledgeable response to inquiry, and courteous treatment. Most complaints centre on one or another of these four issues.

We know that in most cases these standards will be redundant, as they are already being handily met. But by publishing them, the Association makes an unequivocal statement of the level of service which members and others have a right to expect in their dealings with us. They provide the organisation itself with a benchmark for its work, and if we should fail to meet the standard, provide the member or other person with an obvious metric for expressing their dissatisfaction.

The policy change to implement the standards was passed at the most recent meeting. The service standards themselves have yet to be finalised, but they will be published both here and on the main website when they are.

Council knows better than to believe that Equity will never muck up — we're all human too. However, we want to ensure that those occurrences continue to be rare, that we are fully prepared to acknowledge them should they occur, and that we will take every opportunity to learn from mistakes.

As always, we welcome your comment.