Post by Banjo on Mar 19, 2012 4:13:47 GMT 7
Asleep on hold a real wake-up call for Medicare and Centrelink
MEDICARE and Centrelink take so long to answer their phones that clients are falling asleep on hold, a survey of staff has revealed.
And those who work for the two government agencies face-to-face with the public say they fear for their own safety as violence escalates.
A workplace survey by the Commonwealth Public Service Union has found federal budget cuts on the Department of Human Services, combined with an increased workload from the floods, have limited the ability of staff to serve customers.
The survey of almost 1000 workers in 69 agencies across Centrelink, Medicare and Child Services, found stress and wait times had blown out, with staff not being replaced. And those remaining were unable to manage the load.
One manager said the stress contributed to him having a heart attack.
Staff were increasingly requesting security guards at the service agencies, the survey found.
"One (customer) threatened to come back and burn me," a staff member wrote.
"I fear we will break sooner rather than later, or the customers will - and we could have a dangerous event that threatens staff or customer safety - it is only a matter of time," wrote another.
Call centre staff reported two instances of answering calls "only to find the customer had been waiting so long they had fallen asleep".
"They were snoring," the staff member wrote.
The snoring matters were referred to a Canberra boss, who said the call should be terminated after 30 seconds if the customer does not wake.
"This looks good on the stats because it is a short call, and it appears that we are processing more customers," the staff member reported.
www.couriermail.com.au/news/national/asleep-on-hold-a-real-wake-up-call/story-e6freooo-1226303398608?from=public_rss
MEDICARE and Centrelink take so long to answer their phones that clients are falling asleep on hold, a survey of staff has revealed.
And those who work for the two government agencies face-to-face with the public say they fear for their own safety as violence escalates.
A workplace survey by the Commonwealth Public Service Union has found federal budget cuts on the Department of Human Services, combined with an increased workload from the floods, have limited the ability of staff to serve customers.
The survey of almost 1000 workers in 69 agencies across Centrelink, Medicare and Child Services, found stress and wait times had blown out, with staff not being replaced. And those remaining were unable to manage the load.
One manager said the stress contributed to him having a heart attack.
Staff were increasingly requesting security guards at the service agencies, the survey found.
"One (customer) threatened to come back and burn me," a staff member wrote.
"I fear we will break sooner rather than later, or the customers will - and we could have a dangerous event that threatens staff or customer safety - it is only a matter of time," wrote another.
Call centre staff reported two instances of answering calls "only to find the customer had been waiting so long they had fallen asleep".
"They were snoring," the staff member wrote.
The snoring matters were referred to a Canberra boss, who said the call should be terminated after 30 seconds if the customer does not wake.
"This looks good on the stats because it is a short call, and it appears that we are processing more customers," the staff member reported.
www.couriermail.com.au/news/national/asleep-on-hold-a-real-wake-up-call/story-e6freooo-1226303398608?from=public_rss
