Entities Could Be Forced To Take Part in Public Sector Customer Service Competition

Several Ministries and more than 200 entities, including statutory bodies, executive agencies and public companies, could be forced to enter the biennial Public Sector Customer Service Competition.

The competition, organised by the Office of the Cabinet, seeks to recognise and reward public sector entities that excel in providing quality customer service.

Acting Senior Director, Modernisation Programme Implementation Unit, Public Sector Transformation and Modernisation Programme, Cabinet Office, Michele Gordon-Somers, said guidelines for the competition are currently being reviewed so as to ensure the full participation of entities going forward.

The disclosure was made at a recent Jamaica Information Service (JIS) ‘Think Tank’, held at the agency’s head office to announce the top six entities shortlisted in the competition.

“We are currently reviewing our rewards and recognition mechanism and we want to make sure that in the future, we have full participation of Government organisations. We may even make it mandatory. We are trying to determine that in house, because all of our organisations are delivering a service and they must be held accountable for the level of service that they are delivering,” she said.

Since the launch of the competition, public organisations have been asked to make submissions under various categories to enter the competition, a component of the Public Sector Transformation and Modernisation Programme of the Cabinet Office.

“So, we are revamping and we are trying to devise strategies to ensure that we have much wider participation, if not full participation going forward,” Mrs. Gordon Somers added.

For this year’s competition, Mrs. Gordon Somers said that nine organisations made submissions in various categories, such as the Most Improved Customer Service, Most Creative/Innovative, Most Socially Aware, and the Most Responsive.

Additionally, she said that several organisations across the public sector were nominated via public votes for the ‘Best Customer Service Entity’. She noted that over 16,000 public votes from customers were received, adding that winners of the “Best Customer Service Entity” and the “Best Customer Service Officer” categories are determined by public votes.

The winners of the competition will be announced at a special awards ceremony scheduled to take place in October 2015.