March 11, or National 311 Day, is a great time to recognize the essential services that 311 contact centers provide to residents in cities across the country. Just last year, Mayor Kenney officially proclaimed March 11 as 311 Day to recognize all the agents and staff that provide excellent customer service to Philadelphians. Since then, it has been a year unlike any other, and we wanted to highlight some of the changes and measures we took to serve all Philadelphia residents.  

On March 10, 2020, the City announced the first COVID case in Philadelphia. Just a few days later, our office went fully remote in response. We took the change in stride and our work-from-home operation was an immediate success. In order to provide essential information to residents in need, our contact center stayed open 7 days a week from March 16 to June 27. Additionally, our digital communications team launched an online training platform to teach residents how to get the most out of city services. As the pandemic wore on, our call center expanded its services to help folks fill out rental assistance applications as well as answering questions surrounding the 2020 General Election. We’ve never been more committed to assisting our residents! 

Here’s a look back on our numbers since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic: 

  • Since March 2020, we have logged over 2 million interactions with residents. 
  • In that same period, we’ve handled 424,482 calls. 
  • We have answered a total of 31,696 COVID-19 related calls. 
  • 165,232 service requests were submitted by residents using our mobile app and web portal 
  • We processed 24,265 service requests via email. 
  • Our Twitter and Facebook pages have taken 3,155 service requests.  

311 Day is also about the City departments that are in the field completing the service requests you submit to us. We’d like to recognize them for the stellar job they do. Here are the numbers from a few (but not all!) of our partner departments:  

It has been a very challenging year, but brighter days are ahead. To meet the ever-growing needs of Philadelphians, our call center is expanding to support the City’s COVID-19 response. We are currently hiring for several temporary 12-month positions to better assist residents with information related to the COVID-19 vaccine and the fourth phase of the Emergency Rental Assistance program, which is not yet open for applications. We are seeking candidates with past customer service experience and multi–lingual ability is a big plus. To be considered, please apply by March 31 here.

If you have any questions about these positions, please reach out to 311HR@phila.gov.  

 

Apply to join the Philly311 team today!