Client Service Feedback Survey – #007

February 2024

Executive Summary

Contract Information

For more information on this report, please contact Public Services and Procurement Canada at: TPSGC.Politiquesdepension-PensionPolicies.PWGSC@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca

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1. Executive Summary

1.1 Background and objectives

Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) provides day-to-day pension services through two service channels, the Government of Canada Pension Centre and the Pension Program secure employee portal, for pension plan members belonging to the Public Service, Canadian Forces, and Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

PSPC, in creating a culture of client service excellence, wishes to evolve service delivery based on feedback from its members. To that end, PSPC was seeking to measure member satisfaction with regards to the Pension Program’s service delivery channels.

The primary objectives of the research were to:

• Assess members’ (pension members) satisfaction of services offered by the Government of Canada Pension Centre during service calls or with any services used online by members.
• Assess pension members' ease of use, understanding and experience with pension online tools or content.
• Assess the importance that pension members place on different online web applications and future applications.

A first wave of this study was conducted between March 30, 2022, and May 2, 2022, a second wave between August 3, 2022, and September 14, 2022, a third wave between November 15, 2022, and December 13, 2022, a fourth wave between February 8, 2023, and March 7, 2023, a fifth wave between July 6, 2023, and August 14, 2023, and a sixth wave between September 6, and ended on October 12, 2023. For these waves, a report was provided to PSPC. This report presents the results for the seventh wave of the study.

The results will be used by PSPC to identify opportunities for improvements in the way they deliver services.

1.2 Key findings

Pension Centre respondents

The main reason respondents called the Pension Centre was to request general information (41.8%). Generally, they found that the information provided was easy to understand (84.8% gave a score of at least 8 on a scale of 10).

Respondents who contacted the Pension Centre were for the most part satisfied with the service they received (89.0%). The aspects they were the most satisfied with were related to the staff. Indeed, they found the staff courteous (96.4%), helpful (93.0%) and knowledgeable (91.3%). They were less inclined to find that the automated phone system was easy to navigate, but the majority was still satisfied (78.8%).

When asked about the aspect they liked the most about their call to the Pension Centre, the most common answers were related to the agents’ helpfulness (58.9%) and their soft skills (41.6%).

Having better access to agents (22.5%), improving the phone system (17.0%), having an online access (16.6%) and the knowledge of the agents and the information provided (15.7%) were the aspects they thought could be improved the most.

Among different online/virtual contact options, Pension Centre respondents would be most likely to access their pension information from a home, personal computer (78.9%).

Online Portal respondents

The main reason for using the Online Pension Portal was to get a pension estimate (75.5%). The majority of those who used the Online Portal were satisfied with the service they received (71.3%). A proportion of 83.6% were satisfied with the ease of login and the majority said the information provided by the Online Portal was easy to understand (61.0% gave a score of at least 8 on a scale of 10). Satisfaction tended to be lower among younger respondents.

The ability to estimate their pension was the aspect respondents liked the most (44.7%) and a proportion of 32.9% liked the fact that it was user-friendly the most.

Furthermore, having access to a pension statement or other related issues was the element respondents would wish to see improved the most (22.4%), followed by the information (quality or quantity) (19.8%), and being able to get assistance (15.1%).

Online Portal respondents would be most likely to access their pension information from a home, personal computer (84.5%), among online/virtual contact options.

1.3 Extrapolating the results to a broader audience

Since the target population only includes respondents who had recently called the Pension Centre or visited the Online Portal during a specific period, results cannot be extrapolated to another period or for the broader population.

1.4 Methodology

The target population for the survey was both retired and active pension members (PSSA members, CFSA members or RCMP members). This survey was sent to members of the target population who had recently called the Government of Canada Pension Centre or visited the Pension Program secure employee portal. To reach this population, Advanis used a multimodal approach. Potential Online Portal respondents were invited by email to participate in the survey. Potential Pension Centre respondents were also invited to participate in the web survey, and some were called using a computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) methodology.

Data collection for the web survey started on November 21, 2023, and ended on December 5, 2023. Data collection on the phone was performed from November 6, 2023, to November 17, 2023. In total, 1,808 respondents participated in the Client Service Feedback Survey – #007. Of those, a total of 1,335 were respondents who recently called the Pension Centre and 473 were respondents who recently visited the Online Portal. The average survey length was 4 minutes and 45 seconds for completing the web survey and 9 minutes for completing the survey over the phone.

The data was weighted according to the pension group of the respondents (PSSA members, CFSA members or RCMP members). Pension Centre and Online Portal respondents were weighted separately. The weights were calculated using the population files sent by PSPC

1.5 Total Expenditure

The total cost of this research was 44,640.65$ (before taxes).

1.6 Political Neutrality Certification

Political neutrality certification

I hereby certify as Senior Officer of Advanis that the deliverables fully comply with the Government of Canada political neutrality requirements outlined in the Policy on Communications and Federal Identity and the Directive on the Management of Communications.

Specifically, the deliverables do not include information on electoral voting intentions, political party preferences, standings with the electorate or ratings of the performance of a political party or its leaders.

Signed:

Nicolas Toutant

Vice-President, Research and Evaluation

Advanis