The new SAAQclic system doesn’t just annoy citizens. Nearly half of customer service representatives say their anxiety has increased significantly, and 60% are now considering leaving the company.
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Botched digital transformation is undermining the morale of SAAQ troops, according to a survey conducted between September 15 and 24 by the Union of Public and Parapublic Services of Quebec (SFPQ).
The union consulted 517 of its approximately 2,000 members within the state-owned company, mainly administrative technicians, licensing and registration officers, information clerks and compensation agents.
Key observation: The introduction of SAAQclic increased the workload, not only during the chaotic implementation phase, but until today.
In fact, 49% of respondents who were employed by SAAQ last spring say they now have to work harder to respond to customer needs.
No more problems
To explain this increased task, respondents gave several reasons (multiple answers could apply).
Employees report wasted time related to system errors (71%), more computer manipulations (45.3%), longer (44.5%) and more frequent interactions with customers (30.7%), etc.
One in four also noted a reduction in personnel in their administrative unit.
Bye SAAQ
48.8% of respondents say that digital change has “greatly increased their anxiety levels at work” and 27.6% say they have noticed a slight increase.
Bad news for the state-owned company in this time of labor shortage: the introduction of SAAQclic has “greatly increased the desire to leave SAAQ” among 33% of respondents. Almost 27% also said their desire to leave had increased “slightly”.
This data makes the president of the SFPQ fear an “exodus”. “The introduction of SAAQclic has brought about big changes in the work of our employees. The work overload came back then and will continue afterwards,” notes Christian Daigle in an interview.
“People will look elsewhere” as similar jobs in the municipal or private sectors offer better working conditions, predicts Christian Daigle, whose union is currently negotiating the renewal of collective agreements with Quebec.
Back to normal
However, Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault said in a recent letter to employees that SAAQ activities had returned to normal last August.
The minister, says Mr. Daigle, may have been misinformed. Because if this is the new normal, says the president of the SFPQ, “there is no one who wants to stay in these conditions.”
There are still some problems encountered
- Wrong amount refunded or claimed by citizen
- Long wait for refunds
- Received license renewal notice without giving reasons
- Employees cannot enter data
- Incorrect data transmission to the police
- Errors in awarding points to foreign drivers
Source: information collected by the SFPQ
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