Department of Homeland Security U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Customer Satisfaction Survey – E-Verify Final Report October 15, 2010 USCIS – E-Verify 2010 Customer Satisfaction Survey This page intentionally left blank. CFI Group Final Report USCIS – E-Verify 2010 Customer Satisfaction Survey Table of Contents Executive Summary 3 Overall Findings and Recommendations 5 DetailedReport 7 Introduction & Methodology 9 Respondent Background 11 Customer Satisfaction Index 14 CustomerSatisfaction Model 15 DriversofSatisfaction 19 PriorityMatrix 27 Marketing/Outreach 28 Outcomes 29 Appendices Appendix A: Survey Questionnaire 30 Appendix B: Non-Modeled Responses 44 Appendix C: Results Tables 58 Appendix D: Verbatim Comments 72 CFI Group 1 Final Report USCIS – E-Verify 2010 Customer Satisfaction Survey This page intentionally left blank. CFI Group 2 Final Report USCIS – E-Verify 2010 Customer Satisfaction Survey EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CFI Group 3 Final Report USCIS – E-Verify 2010 Customer Satisfaction Survey This page intentionally left blank. CFI Group 4 Final Report USCIS – E-Verify 2010 Customer Satisfaction Survey Overall Findings and Recommendations This report focuses on the customer satisfaction of companies currently enrolled in the E-Verify program. The Customer Satisfaction Index for E-Verify is 82. This is a positive result, especially when compared to benchmarks such as the latest federal government satisfaction index, which is 69. Even more so when considering that many of the users signed up not voluntarily, but because of a requirement from local, state or federal government or a parent company. In addition to rating overall satisfaction with E-Verify, users evaluated different areas of performance involving E-Verify depending on whether that particular area applied to the user. Using E-Verify is one of the highest rated areas and has the most impact on customers’ satisfaction with E-Verify. Users rated the initial response as being quite fast and submitting I-9 information being easy. Next steps were fairly clear in the response and navigating the website was relatively easy. Three-fourths of the respondents enrolled their organization with E-Verify and the registration process received a solid score in the low 80’s. Users thought the speed of receiving their User Name, Password and E-Verify Web Address was good as well as the ease of submitting registration information. The Tutorial also received mostly positive ratings, in particular for taking the online training in terms of understanding the content as well as the ease of accessing online resources. The online tutorial was rated lower for the amount of time required to complete the online training. About one-third (31%) of users indicated they were asked to match a photo and Photo Matching was the highest rated area, as users rated it being easy to use and quite helpful in preventing fraud. Less than one-third (29%) of the respondents received a Tentative Nonconfirmation (TNC). Of those who did, they rated this process as being adequate with scores in the upper 70’s. Rated equally well were the ease and speed of resolving the case as well as the clarity of communications about steps involved in the resolution process. One-fifth (20%) of respondents contacted E-Verify customer service in the past 6 months. For those who did contact customer service, scores were good. With only one agent assisting them (a transfer did not occur) the score for customer service was in the upper 80’s. If a transfer did occur then scores were rated in the mid to low 80’s. Customer Service representatives were rated highest for their professionalism. Similarly, while only 6% of respondents had contacted Technical Assistance in the past 6 months this area was rated well. Technical Assistance staff also received the highest scores for professionalism. Respondents were asked about their awareness of changes made to the E-Verify system. Almost two- thirds noticed the changes and just under half said they represent a significant improvement to the system. Users stated they were likely to recommend E-Verify and they also have a high degree of confidence in its accuracy. Respondents also indicated that they are very likely to participate in the future with a rating in the low 90’s for future participation. In order to improve customer satisfaction, it is recommended to target the areas that have a high impact and are lower performing as priorities. Given the overall satisfaction score of 82, any sizable improvement in satisfaction may be somewhat difficult. Using E-Verify has the highest impact on satisfaction, however it is already a high scoring area as well, so it may not be possible to significantly improve this area. - Should USCIS seek improvement in the area of Using E-Verify, explore ways to make the next steps in the response more clear and focus on the users navigation of the website. CFI Group 5 Final Report USCIS – E-Verify 2010 Customer Satisfaction Survey Registration and Tutorial appear to be the best opportunities to improve customer satisfaction with E- Verify. - With respect to the Registration Process, focus on improvements to the clarity of instruction for enrolling as well as the memorandum of understanding stating the employer’s responsibilities and next steps to drive up scores in this area and subsequently increase customer satisfaction. - The Tutorial, which is a touchpoint for all users, is another opportunity to drive customer satisfaction. Users would like a tutorial that is less time consuming. Ratings of the tutorial show that for the most part, the content and resources easy to understand and useful. - Verbatim comments, included in Appendix D of this report, provide additional insight into these areas of opportunities. CFI Group 6 Final Report USCIS – E-Verify 2010 Customer Satisfaction Survey DETAILED REPORT CFI Group 7 Final Report USCIS – E-Verify 2010 Customer Satisfaction Survey This page intentionally left blank. CFI Group 8 Final Report USCIS – E-Verify 2010 Customer Satisfaction Survey Introduction & Methodology The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) is the national indicator of customer evaluations of the quality of goods and services available to U.S. residents. It is the only uniform, cross- industry/government measure of customer satisfaction. Since 1994, the ACSI has measured satisfaction, its causes, and its effects, for seven economic sectors, 41 industries, more than 200 private sector companies, two types of local government services, the U.S. Postal Service, and the Internal Revenue Service. ACSI has measured more than 100 programs of federal government agencies since 1999. This allows benchmarking between the public and private sectors and provides information unique to each agency on how its activities that interface with the public affect the satisfaction of customers. The effects of satisfaction are estimated, in turn, on specific objectives (such as public trust). Segment Choice This study is about employers who have enrolled in E-Verify–an Internet-based system operated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in partnership with the Social Security Administration (SSA) that allows participating employers to electronically verify the employment eligibility of their newly hired employees. Customer Samples and Data Collection The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) provided CFI Group with five stratified random samples of employers that have enrolled in E-Verify. (The samples were drawn in mid-June, 2010.) ALL Users – a cross-section of employers that have run a case in E-Verify since Jan. 2009 NON Users – a cross-section of employers that enrolled in E-Verify in 2008 or 2009 but who have never run a case RECENT Users – an oversample {*} of employers that have run a case in E-Verify since Jan. 2010 FAR Users – an oversample of employers that are enrolled in E-Verify as federal contractors and have run a case in E-Verify since Sept. 9, 2009—the date the FAR clause became effective LAPSED Users – an oversample of employers that ran five or more cases in E-Verify in 2009, but none through mid-June 2010 {*} NOTE: The purpose for the three oversamples was to supplement the numbers of responses from Recent, FAR, and Lapsed Users that were expected in the All User cross-section. Data were collected from July 6th through July 30th 2010. The sample sizes and response rates for the cross-section samples and oversamples are reported below: Size of {1} TOTAL {3} Type of Sample Usable Surveys Response Usable {2} Number of USER Provided Sample Returned Rate Surveys Responses All 5000 4530 1089 24% 1051 1051 Non 6000 5960 426 7% 397 397 Recent 1000 939 257 27% 248 1178 FAR 2500 2409 678 28% 657 800 Lapsed 4000 3772 554 15% 477 524 NOTES: {1} Initial sample sizes were based on the desired number of responses and expected completion rates. {2} Due to ineligible respondents or missing data, not all surveys that were returned were usable. CFI Group 9 Final Report USCIS – E-Verify 2010 Customer Satisfaction Survey {3} Includes respondents from the oversamples and, where relevant, the All Users cross-section. In several instances, respondents from the All Users cross-section fell into more than one of the oversample categories. Questionnaire and Reporting The questionnaire used is shown in Appendix A. It was designed to be agency-specific in terms of activities, outcomes, and introductions to the questionnaire and specific question areas. However, it follows a format common to all the federal agency questionnaires that allow cause-and-effect modeling using the ACSI model. CFI Group collaborated with USCIS to develop the questionnaire for the program. Most of the questions in the survey asked the respondent to rate items on a 1 to 10 scale, where “1” is “poor” and “10” is “excellent.” Scores are converted to a 0 to 100 scale for reporting purposes. Appendix B contains tables of responses to non-modeled questions.