A senior official working at the Canada Revenue Agency says the agency is looking at artificial intelligence and better training to help call center agents provide more accurate answers to taxpayers.
Melanie Serjak, deputy commissioner of the CRA, told MPs at a standing committee on Tuesday that the agency is looking to implement a more “senior and standardized” level of training and introduce “automation” to improve the accuracy of CRA officers’ advice to the public.
“We are looking at artificial intelligence and other technological tools that will help officers provide complete and accurate responses,” Serjak said. “We are currently working with our supplier in that space.”
After making calls to CRA contact centers for four months this year, Auditor General Karen Hogan’s office found that CRA call center staff accurately answered only 17 percent of individual tax questions.
In a report released last week, Hogan said the CRA appears more concerned with meeting employees’ schedules for shifts and breaks than with the “accuracy and completeness of the information they provide to callers.”
Auditor General Karen Hogan found that Canada Revenue Agency contact centers repeatedly fail to return calls in a timely manner and, when agents connect with a customer, often provide inaccurate responses.
Hogan said there are “many opportunities” for the CRA to improve its performance through training or rating calls.
Serjak said before an agent speaks on the phone, they go through between two and 13 weeks of classroom training, followed by weeks of live training over the phone alongside a higher-ranking agent.
“From a training perspective, we are considering implementing a higher, standardized level of trainers,” he said. “We are considering implementing some automation in our quality review process in the very near future to make it even more efficient and effective for our quality reviewers to assist.”
The CRA has used a virtual chatbot named Charlie to provide automated responses to frequently asked questions.
Hogan’s report says taxpayers are more likely to get an accurate response from the chatbot than from an agent.
“Charlie got it right 33 percent of the time, so that’s a little more accurate than contacting an agent and asking a question about your personal taxes,” Hogan said Tuesday. “I think this just highlights that there is a lot of room for improvement.”
The auditor general’s report found that nine percent of the officers’ total performance evaluation score was related to the accuracy and completeness of the information they provided to callers. It also found that 45 percent of their performance evaluation score was tied to schedule compliance and the amount of time they spent taking calls.
“Such little emphasis on accuracy does not prioritize quality service for callers seeking help,” the report says.
On September 2, Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne set a deadline of 100 days for the CRA to address call center delays, with a deadline of December 11. The CRA says it has since surpassed its goal for how many incoming calls it is answering.
Serjak said Tuesday that the CRA has been working to improve service since before the deadline was set.
“The 100-day plan is certainly mobilizing the entire agency toward this service situation and we are treating it with the highest priority possible,” he said.
Deputy Auditor General Andrew Hayes said at the committee meeting that taxpayers expect fairness and timely, accurate service from the CRA.
“I think what’s important to take away from our audit report is the message that the CRA needs to improve its accuracy, it needs to answer Canadians’ questions in a more timely manner,” Hayes said.
Hayes said the results of the 100-day plan are encouraging, but he is concerned about what services will look like during a busy tax season.
