We’re excited to be making big changes in how we approach client feedback. We made a commitment in our strategy to get better at listening to our clients and making change based on what they tell us. In the past six months, lots of hard work behind the scenes is falling into place, and if you’re a Benevolent client, you should start to see some of this.
Surveying our clients more often
This quarter, we’re piloting a move to sending more regular invitations to complete satisfaction surveys, which some clients have only been getting once a year. This gives people a chance to tell us how things are going more often, if they want to, and will give staff who manage our programs better information about what’s going well and where they can improve. These surveys are conducted online, with invite via email or SMS, or over the phone by our research partner, 10 Thousand Feet.
Understanding client experience and outcomes
We’re continuing to use our client surveys to ask people about their experience in our services, but we’re also adding in questions that ask about whether our support actually helped make the changes they needed. We already record these “outcomes” of our programs as part of delivering the service, but we want to give people a chance to tell us more about this, without having to say it directly to the staff member who provided the service.
Client advisory groups
We’re setting up client advisory groups across many of our services, with members being current clients who are appointed for a set period. Clients who are members of the advisory groups have clear responsibilities and Benevolent leaders are accountable for reporting to these groups, and members receive sitting fees and other supports to enable their participation.
In the past six months, advice from these groups has already prompted planning to make our complaints process more accessible, and consideration of opportunities to expand peer and social supports in some of our service offerings. Results from client surveys will be shared with these groups, to support our understanding of results and identify priorities for action.
Interviews with clients who’ve completed programs
We’ve also asked our research partner, 10 Thousand Feet, to interview 15 people who have completed one of our family support programs over the past three months. These will be longer interviews of around 30-45 minutes, to help us understand more about what aspects of these programs are most impactful for children and their families, and how we could innovate to make these programs work better.
What’s up next
If you are a current Benevolent client, keep an eye on your phone or email inbox for a survey invitation, and please take a moment to respond. If you’re interested in joining an advisory group, reach out to your Benevolent support contact for more information.