Community workers in a Beijing neighborhood are using the 12345 Public Service Hotline to proactively address residents' concerns before they turn into formal complaints.
Workers and volunteers regularly walk through the neighborhood, stay in close contact with residents, so as to bring community services one step closer to the people.
Community worker Sun Yinzhe's day usually starts the same way, namely going out to check the neighborhood, checking in with residents and seeing problems firsthand.
This community has a large elderly population, and about 70 percent of its residents are tenants -- many of them relatively new to the neighborhood. When something goes wrong, they may not know who to turn to.
One recent morning, a call came in to the 12345 Hotline. A resident in Building 7 said renovation work upstairs had woken her up.
"Many of the tenants work in the IT industry nearby, so they tend to work late, get home late, and need some quiet time to rest the next morning. Once we receive a service request through the 12345 Hotline, we respond right away. We immediately work with our community grid workers and the property management team to check the situation on site. After our coordination, the renovation team agreed to push the noisy work back by an hour. The resident who made the request was very happy with the solution," said Sun.
Requests like this usually require more than one staff member to handle. Three years ago, the neighborhood introduced a grid-based system, bringing community workers, grid workers and property managers into closer coordination. By spotting issues early while they're still minor, they can pass information along and address them before they escalate into formal complaints.
"We try to stay in one-on-one contact with residents through WeChat, and we also have grid chat groups," said Ye Ying, another community worker.
"All of our grid workers are volunteers. For example, if a tree needs pruning and the branches are hanging too low, I'll let them know right away," said Qi Hui, a grid-based community worker.
Workers also keep in regular contact with elderly residents, especially those living alone or with special needs.
Recently, when resident Wang Jiaying's husband fell and needed to go to the hospital, she called Sun.
"Without them, we really couldn't manage. That night when he fell, who else could I call? I called Sun right away," said Wang.
"If you need anything, just call me. That's all you have to do. Whether it's about the work we do or simply being neighbors, if someone needs a hand, we help each other out," Sun told Wang.
"A lot of problems are actually resolved before residents ever file a formal service request. Through our regular visits to residents' homes and our day-to-day conversations with them, we're often able to address issues before they turn into formal complaints," said Ye.
"We've been taking a more detailed, grid-based approach to community management. The number of service requests has continued to decline. And now, we hardly get any repeat requests about the same issues," said Sun.
Beijing transforms 12345 hotline into proactive tool to address public complaints
