Service sector service delivery: the connection between working conditions and service delivery in the public sector

Abstract

This study is an investigation into the relationship between the experiences of employees and service delivery in a public sector call centre. The study zooms into a department of a public sector call centre in order to get a deeper sense of some of the internal factors of local governance, which shape the public servants’ experience of work and their ability to deliver services to the public. The study tries to demonstrate that the insight and experiences of employees can help us begin to uncover some of the root causes which give rise to the issue of poor service delivery. The study discovers some internal issues which affect the ability of public servants to do their job and to successfully and consistently deliver services to the public. The study looks into issues concerning the nature of the management that the call centre has and how that affects service delivery. The study also tackles the issue of emotional labour and how it relates to and affects employee well-being. The study also includes a discussion on Employee Assistance Programmes and how they can help to enhance employee well-being which can in turn help the public sector call centre to fulfil its mandate of providing the city with quality service delivery.