I have always heard people complaining about the service in the Public Sector of Mauritius. The most common ones are:
- The service is slow.
- We are not treated nicely.
- Sometimes the work is not correctly performed, thus getting a bad service.
Well not all the public sector employees behave like that. But there are many cases where the people are not treated nicely.
Now let’s take an example of a private sector such as the Barclays Bank.
When we enter the bank there is someone who kindly greets us and guides us to the appropriate counter. They make an effort to give a fast service, they make sure that all our queries are answered, and they are really helpful.
What is the difference between these two employees of the public and the private sector?
I guess even the staff of the public sector needs real training on how to talk to customers and how to do their work effectively.
There was also one remark made by someone who came from abroad and said: “The public sector here and what we get abroad is not the same. Out there you always get a good service regardless of any department but here… we are never treated nicely. It’s like if you go to them, from their reaction you get the impression as if they have been disturbed…”
I said to myself, “Wow, this is the reputation of the public sector in Mauritius”. Today even the tag ‘Fonctionnaire’ is a kind of insult which is used for people idle at work and doing nothing. Another tag is “A B C D” (This you will have to guess it urself 
)
I really recommend that all the employees should undergo a good communication skills training as well as how to offer a good service to customers before they start working.
So guys? Do you people have any suggestion to the government on how can the public sector service be improved?
loading...
Loading tweets...
Facebook
RSS
Twitter
FriendFeed
LinkedIn
Buzz
Technorati
23 comments
Pooja
September 22, 2010 at 8:25 pm (UTC 4) Link to this comment
Mtius being a third world country cannot afford the luxury of providing public sector services at zero cost ( be it medical services, schoolng, etc..). Provision of high quality service necessitates heavy taxation which the " fonctionaire" as u say, cannot afford to pay, given his measly salary. This low-salary creates no incentive whatsoever for the people to be courteous and polite.. The "willingness to help" is impeded by lack of of job satisfaction. And private sector firms provide high qualiy services because firstly they can afford to do so. Secondly, it is a differentiation strategy and is essential to provide a competitive edge, especially in the international arena ( This is the case for Barclays which happens to b an MNC). This is a simply a means of advertising, customer retention and promoting customer loyalty..
As u see, the aim of providing the service in private n public sectors is completely different. In the latter case, the objective is welfare maximisation bt for the former, the urge is solely profit-driven. so i think comparison is not worthwhile..
Pramod
September 22, 2010 at 10:31 pm (UTC 4) Link to this comment
As you said,
Even if for the company it is a means of advertising… From the point of view of a customer you a satisfied and happy customer.
As far as services are concerned, I am more talking about human behavior. Let's say for example a work is taking so much time to complete unless there is pressure from a higher level. An ordinary person cannot get his work done with the same ease as a high profile person can get his same work done from that same department.
And take the example of a private hospital which is really expensive. No ordinary person will ever be able to get treatment from there. This is also for high profile people.
Regardless of how much you get in a private sector or in the public sector, the aim here as an employee who provides service should do it really well…
I guess we do need to realize it is not only about money here…
One nice idea you gave was the strategy of using incentives in the public sector. Maybe not as an instant salary increase but also other rewards. And I guess spending some more in the development and welfare of the employees won't really hurt the government treasury.
Pooja
September 22, 2010 at 8:25 pm (UTC 4) Link to this comment
However, if public sector services is to be improved, there is no other means to fund it apart from taxation. But this would create general dissatisfaction and would be a politically unwise decision. Besides, people do not fully "value" things which are free.. so i think in order to improve public sector services, it should b priced, This would not only help to cater for the increased costs arising for upgrading the quality but also cover costs of training programs as u said earlier..
sory for the essay i wrote,, i jus came across it n its a topic which interests me.. n besides i couldnt resist the urge to prove my point! LOL
Pramod
September 22, 2010 at 10:48 pm (UTC 4) Link to this comment
That's a nice solution. Some services in the public sector should be priced but not all because we should also consider those people who cannot afford to pay for services which are really critical for example medical or ID Card. Some which can be priced (Of course not too high), I guess the passport section? Because if I can pay to travel abroad then I wouldn't mind paying 5% more for the passport service. (Hopefully for them to invest in the improvement of the service)
And I would like to thank you for that nice essay. Nice analysis. Well done!
Pooja
September 27, 2010 at 1:05 pm (UTC 4) Link to this comment
u sound like my GP teacher. lol
Pramod
September 27, 2010 at 6:53 pm (UTC 4) Link to this comment
LoL, I know… Always giving lectures maybe :p Thanks for the compliment though…
dOON
January 9, 2011 at 4:26 pm (UTC 4) Link to this comment
LOL,SHOULD MAKE THEM WORK 24/7,MAKE THEM LEARN THEIR PRIORITY N VALUES WELL,THUS INCREASE THEIR PAY N SALARY N BE MORE ACTIVE N DYNAMIC.
Pramod
January 9, 2011 at 5:55 pm (UTC 4) Link to this comment
Yeah… and make everyone like you!!! :p
Anu
July 14, 2011 at 9:09 am (UTC 4) Link to this comment
‘Fonctionnaire’ is a kind of insult which is used for people idle at work and doing nothing. Another tag is “A B C D” (This you will have to guess it urself )
Wow!!!zats a great definition of Public Officer that u have given to.A B C D is the old symbolic definition that WERE given to the public sector in Mauritius.Now with the fresh blood joining the sector with fresh ideas, the services provided is not the same.Maybe you are right that in this people everybody are not nice and helpful…..but my friend this do not apply to all.I think that nobody will no the depth of the sea without jumping in the water. Whether Private or public, procedures and processes are practically the same just that in private we get recognition but in public we are urging for recognition.
Pramod
July 14, 2011 at 10:55 am (UTC 4) Link to this comment
That's true, I was not really generalizing things. I don' t deny that I have also met people who are ok. And today I can say there is an improvement after having introduced the Performance Management process in the public sector
Anu
July 14, 2011 at 9:10 am (UTC 4) Link to this comment
With time, it will come.
The most common ones are:
1.The service is slow.
2.We are not treated nicely.
3.Sometimes the work is not correctly performed, thus getting a bad services
I hope that this statement that you have provided is not only refering for Mauritius…….every public sector around the world is a bureacratic sector….especially India,pakistan, and the other countries related who provide a much slower and rude services….bit surprise to see your wording is only pinpointing Mauritius.
Think you do not know the great word of Joseph E. Stiglitz, Nobel price winner, who stated that privaten sector came with the IDEA of Information Technology but it is THE PUBLIC SECTOR THAT PROMOTED IT.As we say that without IT the world would not be a global village….LOL! think you should say Thank to Public Sector that today me n u are communicating on NET.
Pramod
July 14, 2011 at 10:56 am (UTC 4) Link to this comment
Can you just tell me how it was promoted here in Mauritius by the public sector?
Anu
July 15, 2011 at 9:15 am (UTC 4) Link to this comment
here we are not talking about IT….my comment was to show you the importance of public sector from a statement of a nobel price winnerl.
MID have you heard of that…itz a beautiful initiative of the Mauritian Government….involving public officials,local official, NGOS and prvt body to discuss about the 5 Es.
take IT as for example…name me a country who provide IT certified course to the population in general………Mauritian Gov is providing IT certified course to the public…and at the end you get an attendance certificate proving that you know how to use computer.
It is not a prtv body but a public one….who is doing such initiative for all grades of population whether educated, got a minimun education and a sufficient educated one
Pramod
July 15, 2011 at 4:19 pm (UTC 4) Link to this comment
My focus is more on the way the public sector provides its service to the citizens. There are many initiatives from the part of the Government. But my concern is not at all about what the government is doing… it's more about how the service in the public sector being provided to the citizens of this country. The persons involved, those who are in constant contact with the public everyday. And this is a fact that everyday you will find people waiting in the queue for long hours to complete just a 5 minute work. And my aim here is to propose better ways which will save a lot of time for every citizen.
And as far as some people providing the service is concerned, you cannot deny the fact that they do need some good training how to behave with the people who have to to seek the service in the public sector.
I have one more question : "What is the guarantee that every person joining the public service deserves the post he is assigned to and he/she has not got this job just because they know someone in the government or someone occupying a higher post? And these are the kind of people I am trying to point out and i guess even you will agree with me that in most cases people who have joined in this way will never be able to do their job well.
Anu
July 14, 2011 at 9:11 am (UTC 4) Link to this comment
Services in Mauritius is free ,thatswhy we are known as a democratic state…..if we make the services pay…we will nolonger get free services….what will happen to the poor one……..here there a still father(Head) of a family who are part time, temporary worker in private Company for a meager salary and many mouth to feed.Will pay services help them or be an additional problem to solve in their life.??
Is good to seek an idea from others not nice and ethical to blame the services in general.
Pramod
July 14, 2011 at 11:00 am (UTC 4) Link to this comment
It was not really to blame, it's just a way to seek for better services in my country, and get the good service they deserve. There are some public sectors who are doing great, but we cannot deny that some services do need improvements. Maybe training the staff can help a lot.
Anu
July 15, 2011 at 9:19 am (UTC 4) Link to this comment
personal question are u a mauritian????caz we, as mauritian shud appreciate services provided by our Gov.Services are improving compared to before…but we shud not generalised thing and tag us as A B C D….
Pramod
July 15, 2011 at 4:08 pm (UTC 4) Link to this comment
Yes I am Mauritian. And as I said in my post, I am not the only person having this opinion about the Public Sector here. Many Mauritians out there share the same opinion. I do appreciate the services being provided to us by our Government. However you cannot deny that there are some services where we are sometimes not treated properly, be it in a hospital or other public service. And this is not the responsibility of the Government but rather the departments providing this service.
How would you feel if you get to travel for free in a really nice bus, but the conductor either leaves you at the bus stop or starts off with a rush without waiting for you to sit down. This is sometimes how the citizens are treated by the public service.
But I will not deny that I have noticed some improvements in some departments of the public sector currently.
Anu
July 18, 2011 at 10:48 pm (UTC 4) Link to this comment
if you appreciate the services think you should erase the tag that you given to the public officer A B C D….
there is an old saying: that you should be in the sea to known its depth….think itz time to jump in the sea…..my friend….^_^
Pramod
July 19, 2011 at 6:14 am (UTC 4) Link to this comment
If I do get the chance, of course I will..
The tag will still be there as long as it still exists… And it does exist… And anyway, the time this post was written it still existed :p
Hope you do change it so that afterwards, I write a new post concerning the public sector service without this tag…
Anu
July 24, 2011 at 8:25 pm (UTC 4) Link to this comment
Lol….me as a true patriot m working for it……but hope that if u r a true “deshbhak” i mean a true mauritian blood, you will no more tarnish my country infront of other people.
There are lot of burning issues that can be discuss…..for example why not the war….where lot of soldiers lost their life…..(children their father,parents their son n daughter…etc).Is war always an end solution?????r we have terrorism????why terrorism????someone bringing terror in one’s life called terrorism….but the people doing so believe that they are fighting for their future.Is it by killing people,that is the way for a good future…that is snatching the live others so as to live.In brief, the Jungle rule. r why not why do people without a reason or cause shot at the public…..as in netherland r can opt the case in Europe , china, france or even US where a beautiful morning where everybody running for school r work….and met their death at those place….Why bcaz someone want to test a gun shot r…….
don’t u think Zers lot of unanswered question that need to seek and find public opinion
Pramod
July 25, 2011 at 10:33 pm (UTC 4) Link to this comment
It all depends how you look at my post…
For you maybe it's tarnish ur country… Maybe you did not notice my suggestions to improve the current service provided. Or my quest for solutions to these problems. I dnt know whether I am a good patriot or not. But yes, I make sure that wherever I am, my environment remains a nice place to be… and I try to do whatever I can on my behalf. And Mauritius being a country I am currently living in, I guess it's better I take a look at what's missing here to make this beautiful island a better place to be 
(Anyways that's another topic I realy dnt wish to discuss much since it has already infested the minds of the people here)
Maybe if my post is tarnishing "your" country, if u follow the current news, tell me whether some people in the politics I guess are enhancing the image of our wonderful country?
Dnt worry, I will soon be posting a nice topic once I get the time. Hope then you do read it and comment… I have liked your arguments and your love towards ur country.
( Hope it's a true one 
)
Anu
August 8, 2011 at 10:46 pm (UTC 4) Link to this comment
My pleasure……………………:)