‘Your call is important’

It’s the dreaded all-too familiar refrain: “Your call is important, please hold the line.”

And when calling a government-run customer service, it seems Australians are spending more time on hold than ever before.

According to a public sector customer experience survey conducted by tech company ServiceNow, last year saw a 50 per cent spike in the amount of time people were hanging on the line to talk to a government agency.

“In the past it might have been an hour on hold – and that’s not insignificant. But the amount of time people are spending now, we’re looking well over an hour and a half,” Ian Krieger – innovation officer at ServiceNow – told GN.

And, says the survey of 1,031 people aged 18-plus, there has also been a spike in the percentage of people calling government agencies for help, with 56 per cent of Australians spending time trying to contact government in 2024.

“We’ve seen a spike of 9 per cent of people calling in to receive service,” said Krieger. He told GN that rise can be attributed to cost-of-living pressures. “That seems to be directly driving the spike … People are seeking  more support from government services.”

The most common reasons for contact are:

• people seeking advice or assistance – 28 per cent
• making a complaint – 18 per cent
• requesting a service – 17 per cent
• obtaining information – 15 per cent.

Krieger told GN agencies are ill-equipped to handle the volume of calls. “From what we’re hearing in the customer service space, the system and tools that people are using are not there. People are stitching together different systems, different tools, different processes.”

“Technology has been rolled out in pockets of government in various ways and it’s been point solutions to solve point problems,” he added.

The survey showed the poor customer experience is having a detrimental effect on callers’ health with 52 per cent of survey respondents saying being left on hold negatively impacts their wellbeing. Almost two in five – 37 per cent – said complicated systems do the same.

Australians reported the most frustrating departments to interact with are:

• social services – 35 per cent
• the ATO – 14 per cent
• local government agencies – 13 per cent.

Government can improve its customer service by leveraging new technology, said Krieger. “The opportunity we have with AI is to start to bring together those systems more holistically and to ease that interconnection. AI can support the agents making their decisions to get to the right information faster.”

The biggest changes people would like to see when dealing with government customer service teams are:

• reducing time spent on hold – 59 per cent
• improving speed and delivery of services – 57 per cent
• ensuring they can speak to a qualified or trained person –48 per cent
• limiting transfers across departments – 47 per cent.

“It’s pretty clear what Australians are after,” said Krieger. “Get my problem solved, don’t make me repeat myself – get me to the right person at the right time – and resolve the problem quickly.”