Dubai - He expressed his displeasure on Twitter.
Published: Mon 22 Apr 2019, 10:29 AM
Last updated: Tue 23 Apr 2019, 11:48 AM
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has sent another strong and clear message on governance: That he is not going to tolerate poor government services and he declared that he would remove staff and officials who are not performing well.
Video: Sheikh Mohammed takes government officers by surprise
Taking to his Twitter account on Monday morning, Sheikh Mohammed shared a photo of long queues at a branch of Emirates Post, the official postal operator of the UAE. He reprimanded the government agency and publicly shared its performance report - all in the spirit of transparency and the need for stronger customer service.
The photo that was shared came from a team of 'mystery shoppers' or investigators that was dispatched to measure the quality of service as well as staff performance at Emirates Post. The mystery shoppers returned with a photo showing customers waiting in long queues.
In his tweet, Sheikh Mohammed disapproved of the poor service. "This is not our level. These are not our services. Whoever provides such level of services will not be in my team," he said.
Sheikh Mohammed also publicly shared Emirates Post's evaluation report. He highlighted the indicators for their poor performance.
- Services:
> No proper indications or index linking to the center's efforts to deal with customer satisfaction.
> Customers wait for long periods of time to receive a service.
> Post offices deliver Emirates ID cards in person and this service accounts for 75 per cent of the total number of customers.
Service Efficiency:
> 80 per cent of Emirates ID are reported to be delivered to Al Karama post office, most customers receiving ID cards at that office are workers who don't have a PO Box.
> Lack of services to fit the customer's needs.
Customer Service:
> Lack of coordinated customer service for customers from different stratas of society.
> Overcrowding at post office due to the increased amounts of text messages sent to customers for Emirates ID pick up at the same time.
> Customers have to visit multiple counters to complete a transaction.
Capacity building:
> According to a 2018 study conducted on the post center, the study was based only on one service at the center not on all services.
> The post office delivers more than 3,000 ID cards per day which results in overcrowding.
> The centre has not done an capacity building to handle the large number of customers.
Service Culture:
> There is a need for employees at the center to work on building personal conduct and customer service skills.
There is also an overcrowding at the post office due to the increased amount of text messages sent to customers for Emirates ID pick up and customers have to visit multiple counters to complete a transaction.
Moreover, the Karama office, which handles 80 per cent of Emirates ID transactions, has not done a capacity-building to handle the large number of customers.
Serving the people is the first in the list of 10 commandments of governance, that was issued by Sheikh Mohammed in his latest book titled Qissati (My Story) launched early this year.
Khaleej Times asked Emirates Post about the tweet but they promised to give comments earliest on Tuesday morning.
Last week, Emirates Post announced that it won its third International Express Mail Services accolade for outstanding Customer Services. Abdulla Mohammad Alashram, acting CEO of Emirates Post Group, said: "Our postal service is designed with customers in mind as we know that individuals and organisations need a reliable partner when it comes to sending and receiving packages locally, regionally and internationally. To that end, we are proud to have been recognised and presented with this global accolade for the third time."
Experts hail transparent approach to governance
Sheikh Mohammed's tweet on Monday was not the first time that he has surprised government officials.
In 2016, he visited various government departments including the Dubai Municipality, the Dubai Lands Department, the Economic Development Department (DED) and Dubai International Airport.
He was surprised to find directors and senior officials of some departments not present during his visit. No senior officer or director is exempted from reporting early for duty, social media users had concluded after the visit.
The Dubai and federal governments have launched a series of initiatives and strategies over the past few years to make the city and the country one of the happiest and most innovative in the world - hence there is no margin for complacency at any level of government.
According to a customer service expert interviewed by Khaleej Times, the recent tweet was not public shaming but done in the spirit of transparency.
"Sheikh Mohammed is a great inspiration to others to learn from. This is a transparent approach to leadership. The message is clear for all those to be reminded of the standards that lead to better services across the board," said Dana Bousaleh, marketing manager, Awards International UAE.
"Using the power of social media is also getting everyone involved in governance. His Highness wants to hear it directly from the people," Bousaleh added.
Dr Rommel Sergio, a management professor at the Canadian University of Dubai, also praised the leadership style of Sheikh Mohammed.
He said: "It is befitting for a leader to call the attention of people under his governance. Doing this in public resonates transparency and calls for organisational development and change within the customer service sector."
"This is also in consistency with the "Year of Tolerance" that does not only speak of safety and stability. This year's bannering slogan and theme highly emphasises happiness, which the government has been promoting all along," Sergio added.
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