Monday 18 March 2013

Sharpen Up



Despite the fact that HMRC is closing its Enquiry Centres and forcing people to use the phone to make contact, it seems that its performance wrt call handling is still not up to snuff (this of course is no surprise to loyal readers, as the subject of call handling often features on this site).

Anyhoo PAC have said that HMRC's target of answering 80% of calls within five minutes is "unambitious and woefully inadequate", and would still leave 16 million people waiting longer than five minutes.

Margaret Hodge went so far as to use the word "abysmal".

The industry benchmark is to answer 80% of calls within 20 seconds.

PAC's message to HMRC is that it needs to sharpen up.

You can watch Lin Homer's performance on Breakfast this morning, where she tries to blame "customers" for some call failures, here.

As ever, I am always happy to receive "customer" feedback about problems wrt contacting HMRC.



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11 comments:

  1. "ABYSMAL"

    Gosh, I expect that rattled their T-cups at this mornings "rumble" or whatever they call their meetings.

    Let us hope that this performance does not deteriorate otherwise they would be approaching "VERY ABYSMAL" status!

    BTW in the utopia that is the sweatshop known as an HMRC Enquiry Centre such a personal item as the very nice pencil holder would not be allowed and the floor walker stasi would have you on a fizzer quicker than you could say 6 Sigma!

    Rule 26a(ii) - thou shalt not personalise thy work station!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What is the rationale for non personalisations of work stations?

      Delete
    2. it can be:-
      distracting
      dangerous
      non politically correct
      non corporate
      unsightly
      offensive
      everything the same therefore = sheeple are compliant

      also not allowed to pesonalise screensavers either

      These idiots spend so much time in dreaming up "rules" that sanity flies out of the non-opening window, most of these managers should not be trusted with going shopping in a supermarket

      Delete
  2. Advice to Lin Homer's agent - persuade her to hand back the equity card and give up the say job.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Homer's performance personifies the siege mentality of HMRC. They can not understand why PAC and the public refuse to be bullied and brow beaten like the staff. The attitude of HMRC management is clearly that the public should shut up and hand over their money as directed rather than quibbling about whether their tax bill is equitable. Shutting the Enquiry Centres is just another attempt by a failed department to hide from its 'customers'. It needs to be broken up.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The clear desk policy was introduced as part of the hated Lean/Pacesetter initiative. No personal items of any sort are allowed on desks although some have now reappeared. This is a much despised policy.
    A couple of years ago, a manager from a call centre told me there was a 60% annual staff turnover rate. I don't know if it's still the same. A freedom of information request may tell you. The turnover rate may help explain the dire performance.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I applaud the candour of the previous postings and sincerely hope you have encouraged more staff to voice the truth.

    Lean/Pacesetter has cost a fortune over the years and still it does not work, hardly surprising with HMRC staff engagement levels so low.

    Carefully aimed FOI requests would throw open the festering mess within and expose the lies and duplicity that abound. The breaking of various laws, regulations etc. e.g. H&S, Fire Regs, EQA make a mockery of the concept of duty of care.

    Bet more than a few managers/ex.managers and those that were "off the books" have experienced a kick in the nuts wrt Cyprus banks. LOL.

    Every cloud has a silver lining.

    BTW I reckon Homer will be off shortly, maybe the Food Standards Agency or The Charity Commission.

    ReplyDelete
  6. La La Land!

    An abysmal performance from top to bottom, the boss appeared about as convincing as a used car salesman and anyone falling for her pityful explanations is truly deluded.

    Straight out of the book of New Politics - say anything, doesn't matter what even an outright lie as long as it is said with conviction.

    It is about time the unions got together with the members and demanded action. There won't be any pay rises for obvious reasons but an improvement in "customer satisfaction" needs to have the unions and the members on board not just surfing on the Lean wave in the hope of getting promotion.

    Wake up everyone.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I can still recall the whole active banana bollocks, which damaged son of lean (pacesetter) before it even got off the ground!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I find it hard to understand how the practitioners i.e. the spin doctors and champions cope with this crap being right in the middle knowing that either side knows it wont work in HMRC.
    You then have the crazy situation of management ramming the system down the throughts of a workforce that throw it back up as soon as management have gone.
    A good student of politics would recognise Stalinism at play here.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I don't think the face to face (enquiry centre) pacesetter advocates will be quite as compliant in peddling that crap now.

    ReplyDelete