[The following article apperas in the 9 May 1994 edition of _Federal_Times_, page S2.] GORE PRAISES BETTER CUSTOMER SERVICE Vice President Al Gore wrote the following article for _Federal_Times_ in honor of Public Service Week. A down-on-his-luck taxpayer hitchhiked from out of state to the Internal Revenue Service in Ogden, Utah, to pick up his refund check. As it turns out, Odgen does not issue checks. But IRS employees there confirmed that he was due a refund. They ordered a check sent to Ogden from a disbursing center. Because the process would take 10 days, and the hitchhiker had no money, IRS employees found him shelter and collected enough food money to see him through until the check arrived. Customer service doesn't get much better than this true story. Employees at the Ogden IRS center went above and beyond the call of duty because they place great importance on the people they serve. If their customers are not pleased, then they are not doing their job. It's all a part of the total quality program the office has instituted--a system that saves money, increases productivity, and has earned employees there a Presidential Award for Quality. They are a great example of what the federal government can achieve when it focuses on the needs of its customers the American taxpayers. Their success is not unique. The Commerce Department along with the Small Business Administration and the Export-Import Bank have pooled their resources to create Export Assistance Centers so that businesses can come to one place, one time, and get the assistance they need to expand into foreign markets. At the Treasury Department, a Customs Service office has changed the way it deals with businesses that ship goods through their region resulting in faster, more efficient service and inspections. There is a Service to the Citizen alliance of information technology leaders from 12 federal agencies collaborating on projects and funding to sort out how technology can improve service to the government's customers. These and other initiatives already under way provide the first building blocks for a customer-driven government. But more is needed before the culture of government can change from designing programs and systems that satisfy bosses to establishing principles and goals that serve customers. We must move from a government of central control to one of decentralized operations held accountable for the results, from a system based on mistrust of people to one where employees are empowered to do their jobs. For the past 15 years, private industry has been busy reinventing itself to focus on customer satisfaction. Businesses live and die by the maxim that customers come first. And usually, if they are successful, they long ago abandoned the old way of thinking that decisions come only from the top. What they've learned is that their employees often have the best ideas about how to solve problems, and that their customers--if listened to --will tell them whether they are getting it right. Unlike businesses, however, government agencies rarely get their funding directly from the public. Lacking this direct link to their real customers, agencies often focus instead on powerful stakeholders, such as higher-level management. As these stakeholders raise issues, agencies increase their specialization, add regulations, and pile on more directives. There are three reasons why improving customer service is critically important. First, the American people deserve excellent service. It is their money that pays for government. Second, we need trust in government. Only 20 percent of the people trust government to do the right thing. Without public support we are hamstrung trying to attack problems like crime, health care, and homelessness. Third, I believe federal employees should be freed to do what they signed up to do. They want to contribute, to add value. They want to do a good job, and they are frustrated when the system gets in the way. We know that when we cut the red tape and turn them loose, they can produce great customer service. The problem is not government employees, it is our systems. Armed with the conviction that the federal government can and should do better, the president has signed the Executive Order on Setting Customer Service Standards. It directs federal departments and agencies to provide the highest quality service possible to the American people-service that matches or exceeds the best available in the private sector. The order is a result of a report that I presented to President Clinton last year titled the National Performance Review: Creating a Government That Works Better and Costs Less. It is a detailed plan with hundreds of recommendations and cost-savings reforms for the federal government. About 80 percent of those recommendations already are being put in place across the federal government. While many of those changes are customer-service related, much work lies ahead. For example, the President's executive order directs each agency to publish service standards. Some agencies are already publishing standards. The Social Security Administration is posting a pledge to answer 1800 callers on their first try, and promising to let callers know about other government programs that can help them. Creating standards for all agencies will let the public judge performance wherever they contact government. Surveying customers frequently will help the federal government find out what kind and quality of services they want. Currently, the federal government has an organizational chart that looks like a pyramid, with managers on top, employees underneath, and customers even below them. But the new organizational chart laid out in the executive order turns that pyramid upside down. On the Front Line On the new chart, customers are on top. They are supported directly by front-line employees, with management on the bottom helping front-line workers to do their jobs. We must not skip this step. We can't assume that we know what our customers want. There are too many stories of long lines, busy phones, bad information, financial error, and shuffled taxpayers who can't get the answers they need or the help they want. We'll be surprised what we learn as we ask our customers what they want. For example, the IRS put a huge priority in getting tax booklets to Americans right after Jan. 1. They did a great job with this. But when the IRS asked customers what they wanted, the IRS got a surprise. Customers wanted simple forms, help that is easy to get and very little contact with the IRS. These things are now priorities. We also must ask front-line workers--those who deal directly with the public--what they need to do their jobs. Everything written about successful reinvention efforts, public and private, says that front-line employees are the best source of good ideas on how to improve efficiency, quality and service. They need to be placed at the center of programs to improve quality, and they need to be heard. Furthermore, front-line employees should have access to training that will help them serve the public better. In addition, employees need to know that they have the authority to deal with the customer issues they face. We must empower our front-line workers to make decisions while holding them accountable for the results. While some people may worry that we cannot deliver on our promise to improve customer service, many departments and agencies already are proving otherwise. As federal employees, we are just like the public; we know what good customer service is. We can find service examples in our lives to apply to work. The American people are right to believe we should serve them well. We should never get so caught up wrestling with complex problems and rules that we lose sight of who is paying for this government. They deserve excellent service. And, working together toward the goal of making government work better and cost less, we will provide it.