The Toronto Star, May 18, 2002. Rob Faulkner

Minorities discouraged, secret study says

A nationwide undercover survey has found that Canadian Armed Forces recruiting centres discouraged some visible minorities from joining.

According to documents from the internal study, “secret shoppers” who visited nine recruiting centres last spring found four locations, including Toronto, fell below “industry standard” in terms of being welcoming, exciting and organized places to seek work. Some shoppers said recruiters made derogatory comments.

Results of the military's “secret shopper” pilot program were obtained by the Hamilton Spectator through a Freedom of Information request.

“Just because you are native, we aren't lowering our standards. Aboriginals have to meet the same standards as every one else,” one military recruiter reportedly told a First Nations secret shopper, who found the statement “derogatory.”

A 28-year-old First Nations man was told he'd feel uncomfortable in the Forces due to his age. Another shopper said a recruiter made “disdainful comments to me” about physical fitness, and another about his education level.

Results of the “secret shopper” pilot program surfaced just one month after Canada's auditor-general revealed a military staffing crisis that could take 30 years to fix. The program was an attempt to get independent information about how well recruiters treat people of diverse backgrounds.

“What they were specifically looking at was whether the message they're putting out is being followed through in the recruitment process. And obviously we found that is not the case,” said Martin Hoffmitz, sale director at SQM Inc., the Toronto-based firm that conducted the undercover survey.

“In my opinion, they seem to be judging who is appropriate and who is not, and it seems a shame because they're trying to open up and are looking at massive shortages.”

The Forces contracted SQM to send 10 shoppers of various backgrounds to offices in many of Canada's major cities. Shoppers later filled out a 22-question survey about their visit, which helped rank the offices and describe the recruiting experience. On customer service questions, Vancouver's recruiting centre scored best (88.7 per cent) of the nine centres, while Toronto (69.4 per cent) came ninth. The industry standard is 80 per cent.

The surveys found recruiting centres must become more “dramatic and inviting” places rather than impersonal “hospital” type places where recruits feel unwanted.

The spokesperson for the recruitment program didn't return calls yesterday.

“With the initial pilot results, I think they were very surprised, and we find this all the time when what the head of the organization thinks is going on is very different from what really is,” Hoffmitz said.

“I call it the slap-in-the-face-with-the-cold-wet-fish effect.”

Leon Benoit, Alberta MP (Lakeland) and the Alliance defence critic, said the recruiters' First Nations comments were “naïve” but well-intentioned since they underlined unwavering standards in Canada's military ranks.

“But there does seem to be a disconnect between the excitement and pride in the ads—about being part of the military family, being a good soldier—and what, in the report, the recruiters presented,” Benoit said.

To avoid the stigma as “the employer of last resort,” the Forces now offer large signing bonuses for trained technicians, police officers and doctors. They have also launched a high-octane $15 million ad campaign to rebrand the Forces as a “strong” and “proud” place where recruits will find teamwork, technology and themselves.

Auditor-general Sheila Fraser reported last month about 3,000 positions are vacant in the Forces, which netted just 3,655 recruits in 2001, well short of its target of 4,800.

Foodservice and Hospitality, April 2002. David Lipton

When it comes right down to it, a hungry customer looking for more than a place to eat needs nothing more than a clean restaurant and a decent meal. And since most establishments can provide that, the one thing that differentiates a restaurant from all the rest is how the staff treats its customers.

To truly satisfy a customer, a restaurant must make sure it knows what guests need and want from their dining experience. Traditionally, restaurants have used guest surveys, comment cards, and 1-800 numbers to obtain guest feedback. But as technology continually evolves, methods of market research evolve with it. In today’s fast-paced high-tech world, finding out exactly what satisfies customers is more important and easier than it ever was before. Here are some new ways technology is being used:

1. Online comment cards and surveys: Customers are directed to a website such as commentscafe.com, where they will find a restaurant’s comment cards. Customers can fill in the information over the Internet at their leisure. The information is instantly transformed into report format, with both the individual cards/surveys and statistics transmitted to the appropriate managers.
2. Automatic online surveys: Now managers can prepare online surveys using a step-by-step process. Once the survey has been developed, it can be automatically sent to targeted individuals by e-mail. After the survey is completed, the results are instantly tabulated and disseminated via the Internet.
3. Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs): A company can instantly beam a survey to guests’ PDAs (or the company can supply its own handheld devices) and the survey can be filled out immediately. Once completed, the information is downloaded directly to a database, where results are instantly accessible by the authorized managers
4. 1-800 IVR (interactive voice response) numbers: A twist on the traditional 1-800 number allows guests to complete surveys by phone using interactive voice response technology. The guests are given a card with a personal identification number. Once the guest completes the survey, the card acts as an incentive, with the PIN number being all they need to collect a reward (for example, 10 free minutes of long-distance calls). The information collected ends up on an Internet server from which it is easily disseminated to the appropriate personnel.
5. Mystery Shopping: Technology now allows mystery shoppers to fill out evaluation forms online. The inspection forms are then edited and assembled into customizable reports that can be viewed by operators.

There are numerous benefits to using technology when assessing guest satisfaction. For instance, it offers flexibility for operators and customers – operators can view the data and results in a variety of formats whenever it’s convenient for them, and can easily analyze the results in a variety of ways; and similarly, customers can provide feedback at their own convenience.

Online feedback programs also significantly reduce the need for printing, postage, data entry, and tabulation. Timeliness is another benefit – the turn-around time from when the survey is filled out to when the results are calculated is virtually instantaneous. This translates into quicker implementation of ideas for improvement.

While the steak at one restaurant may be just as tender as it is at the one next door, customers will keep coming back to the restaurant that focuses on guest satisfaction. The faster guest satisfaction survey information is collected, analyzed, and made available to those who provide customer service, the easier it becomes to stay ahead.