Human Resources committee  That is exactly what you should understand. I would even note that, for Service Canada, we have different service standards, depending on the nature of the service being offered. For example, 1-800-0-Canada is a general information line, so the agents require much less training

Human Resources committee  Mr. Chair, with deference to the committee, the planning for that work is with our colleagues at the Treasury Board Secretariat and Shared Services Canada. However, I could repeat what they said in this regard at public accounts last week, with the Chair's indulgence. Very simp

Human Resources committee  This is where I will look for help from the experts. In those peak periods, I would note that we have 100% accessibility for people who want to, or are able to, serve themselves through the automated system. For EI, for example, 65% of people self-serve, and never seek to speak t

Human Resources committee  I'll respond quickly to both questions. I apologize unreservedly that we have not yet closed the loop with you on your question on Canada summer jobs. We will do so promptly. In regard to your second concern, it is a very important issue. All of our staff who interact directly

Human Resources committee  I believe the earlier testimony noted that some of our colleague organizations have different levels of detail, or indeed, service standards. I would go back to my earlier comments. We work very closely with our colleagues at the Treasury Board Secretariat to ensure that not on

Human Resources committee  Yes.

Human Resources committee  Mr. Chair, I might ask for a precision of the question. Are you asking for the results of our performance against our service standards?

Human Resources committee  Thank you, I've got it. I appreciate the clarification. For the two call centres that were audited, we did not meet our service standards. Our published service standard is that we will respond to 80% of calls within 10 minutes. Our most recent public report, which I think I ha

Human Resources committee  I will speak to our plans, absolutely. I would note that, of the eight call centres that are part of the first wave of the hosted contact centre, we're responsible for half of them, and CRA is the other big chunk. In testimony at the public accounts committee last week, my col

Human Resources committee  There is a remarkable difference for us between the old technology and the new updated technology. Probably the best example is the pensions call centre that we've just had in place for three weeks where we not only have a number of tools that will consider the best use, like cal

Human Resources committee  Very quickly, we do maintain, as I'm sure everyone in the room knows, dedicated lines for members of Parliament to phone in. We get about 44,000 calls on that a year, and we absolutely understand that the MP is representing his or her constituent at that point. I will follow up o

Human Resources committee  I would be happy to follow up. If there are specific locations, I would welcome the information off-line.

Human Resources committee  I would note that our direction on service standards across the Government of Canada comes from Treasury Board and their policy of service. I would also note the criticality of the direction that the service standards be relevant for clients. Call centres are an excellent exampl

Human Resources committee  In budget 2016, our organization received $73 million over two years to enable us to improve our ability to have agents accessible to answer phone calls. Budget 2018 further sustained that funding, providing us with $127 million over three years for our EI call centres. We recog

Human Resources committee  Absolutely. The additional resources to help us answer the phone obviously made a huge difference as per the improvements I noted in my opening comments.