Ministry of Labour and Social Security to Establish Contact Centre

The Ministry of Labour and Social Security will be establishing a contact centre as part of a thrust to improve customer service delivery.

Portfolio Minister, Hon. Pearnel Charles Jr., who made the disclosure, said this is being undertaken to ensure that “how we respond to persons nationally is more effective and efficient”.

He made the disclosure while addressing citizens during a Programme of Advancement through Health and Education (PATH) town hall hosted by the Ministry at the Montego Bay Cultural Centre in St. James on April 25.

Mr. Charles, who was responding to concerns raised regarding customer service delivery at the Ministry’s parish offices, noted that the contact centre also forms part of a project aimed at transforming the Ministry.

“We have a project that focuses on innovation and transformation and speaks directly, in its first phase, to customer service. The delivery of service is a significant element of what we intend the transformation to be,” he stated.

As part of the initiative, clients and staff of the Ministry will be surveyed to identify issues and potential solutions.

The Minister emphasised that training is necessary to ensure consistency in how clients are treated, adding that… the introduction of the tools and technology is [also] necessary for us to deliver the service.

We found that, sometimes, even our own staff members are frustrated [with] how they must deliver the service because of the deficiencies in the technology,” Mr. Charles said.

For her part, Permanent Secretary, Colette Roberts Risden, informed that training for the contact centre commences next week and assured citizens that the Ministry will be piloting “a new brand of customer service”.

“When you come into our offices, you will be greeted by someone who is identifiable and pleasant in collecting your information. We recognise [the issues] and I want to assure you that we are working on it. This is not just talk; we are actively working on it. Of course, change takes a little bit of time but we are working on it,” she stated.

The meeting formed part of a series of key stakeholder engagements to inform citizens about the Ministry’s plans to overhaul PATH, a social-safety-net programme that provides conditional cash grants to vulnerable households within the population.