Crime prevention series

Public contact environment

Published in:
Protecting counter and interviewing staff from client agression
Bruce Swanton and Daryl Webber
Canberra : Australian Institute of Criminology, 1990
ISBN 0 642 14974 7 ; ISSN 1031-5330
(Crime prevention series) ; pp. 11-38

The overall design of offices and other workplaces in which public contacts are routinely effected warrants careful consideration from a client aggression perspective. This advice applies to the planning of new buildings as well as the layout of leased or other already occupied premises. In some industries, merchandising for instance, client aggression is not normally a concern, but in some welfare areas, employee safety is a very real concern. Consequently, the degree of risk determines the level of consideration given by designers and planners to the aggression factor. It should not be forgotten that risk or threat levels can shift significantly over time and, thus, what is adequate today will not necessarily be adequate tomorrow. Given the lead time necessary to modify most public contact environments, planners must constantly think well ahead.

It should be borne in mind by managers that some factors which lead to aggression among clients, such as thermal control, will have similar affects on employees.

In the aggression context, office/workplace design may be viewed from two principal perspectives: public contact area design factors generally, and protection-specific design.

Design

The number of factors considered in design is considerable. Some, such as ergonomics, anthropometry, and furniture and equipment, are not closely associated with present concerns and are not considered further here. Those wishing to read further in such areas are referred to Office Design at Work (Department of Science and Technology 1982) in the first instance.

The factors addressed in the remainder of this section all possess indirect implications for protection. Only general advice can be offered as conditions vary greatly between locations as well as industries. Local factors, such as agency functions, economic conditions, building structure, season and employee morale, all operate to modify advice offered here.

Corporate image

Image is considered important by large agencies, especially those striving for national identification and/or consumer loyalty, such as the Commonwealth Employment Service or financial institutions. It is important at the outset for managers and designers to agree on the level of need for corporate image and the means by which it should be pursued. Competitive industries clearly have such a need but those exercising monopolies such as police organisations or the Australian Taxation Office, for example, have no pressing need for an image based on appearances.

Emblems and logos Corporate image can be developed and projected in a number of ways. Corporate emblems, badges and logos, are currently popular in large organisations and will probably remain so for the foreseeable future. Provided there is nothing culturally offensive in an emblem or logo, such matters possess little of consequence to client aggression.

Physical presentation Physical presentation, however, is more problematic. Opinions vary on the desirability of common decorations, colours, clothing, and so on in the context of corporate image promotion. Even managers within the same industry or bureaucracy differ markedly on the subject. Some managers and staff prefer standardised environments, to the fullest extent possible, claiming they minimise local decision making on such matters. Others feel corporate colours, furniture, and layouts, are overly constraining and that insufficient flexibility is permitted in adapting to local conditions. "What's suitable for Hobart is unsuitable for Darwin" is a comment frequently heard when such matters are discussed. Given the range of factors that can be included in corporate images, there is clearly room for compromise between the competing views.

Limited interviewing of clients in several Federal Government public offices suggests that corporate image is irrelevant in these cases. Client priorities were threefold in all cases: prompt service, efficient service, and depart the premises as soon as possible. However, adverse client impact can arise when standardised colour schemes or motifs result in jarred sensibilities. Different perceptions of symbols and patterns may result in delight to some and offence to others. Some people, for example, find art deco motifs displeasing. It is not suggested that a client who dislikes art deco will immediately assault the first public contact officer encountered in a public office so decorated. However, it is suggested that an already anxious client kept waiting for an unreasonable length of time in a poorly lit waiting room on a hard seat might just find that an art deco motif will be sufficient to exhaust his patience.

On the other hand, agencies operating competitively in the private sector may well have a need to establish a corporate image. A clearly identifiable emblem or logo would be necessary in such a case. The extent to which other interior design factors would be relevant to image creation is beyond the scope of this book.

Corporate image is not only conveyed to clients by means of emblems and colours. It is also a product of service and public perceptions of effectiveness. Good design should contribute to both. Public contact areas should be designed with the needs of both staff and clientele in mind, including the disabled. Sound design helps promote a public perception of controlled, effective, considerate staff concerned with the affairs of their customers. It is not, of course, a substitute for committed, effective and considerate staff. Those wishing to read further on the subject of office design are referred to the Federal Government's Code of Practice, Offices (Department of Employment and Industrial Relations 1983) in the first instance.

Ventilation and thermal control

Ventilation and thermal control of buildings are important elements in determining the emotional control of their occupants. A stuffy atmosphere or thermal extremes can lead to frayed tempers among both staff and clients and, more importantly given the present context, between staff and clients. The trend to larger office buildings and air conditioning/reticulation has brought these two factors to the forefront of building design. Regrettably, air control systems are often inadequate and managers need to monitor them constantly. More than that, managers need to have procedures in place designed to cope with air control system malfunctions when they arise. Procedures should include office evacuation when designated minimum and maximum temperatures are exceeded, as well as prompt hiring of coolers/heaters when necessary.

All public contact areas should be well ventilated and temperature controlled. One of the penalties sometimes associated with effective ventilation and temperature control of public buildings is the invasion of such buildings by indigent or distressed persons at times of extremely hot or cold weather. Appropriate access controls should be implemented in those offices where this presents as a problem.

Temperature control assumes special importance in public contact areas of buildings in which clients are required to wait for lengthy periods. The experience of waiting in itself is also sufficient to irritate severely clients possessing Type A personalities, that is, those who naturally react to stressful situations with annoyance and aggression. That irritation can be powerfully magnified if the environment is either excessively cold or hot. Excessive heat and cold also magnify the discomfort of clients having young children with them. Uncomfortable children are often ill-behaved children. Parents in the company of ill-behaved offspring are usually irritated people as are other clients in proximity to such situations.

Those wishing to read further on the subject are referred to the Federal Government's Code of Practice, Ventilation and Thermal Control (Department of Employment and Industrial Relations, 1983) in the first instance.

Seating

Seating is critical in all public contact areas in which any degree of waiting is involved. Public offices, waiting rooms, concourses and similar places in which clients are kept waiting should cater for the seating needs of the elderly, the weak, the disabled and the pregnant, as well as the able-bodied.

Important considerations associated with seating are: comfort, hygiene, durability, and positioning. All can influence a client's emotional state and, thus, lead to aggression.

Comfort Comfort is partly determined by waiting time. Clients required to wait for only short periods of time can make do with harder seating without becoming irritated. However, if clients are required to wait for periods of ten minutes or more, softer seating is indicated.

Public seating needs to be selected with great care. In areas in which extended waiting is common, such as at airports and coach stations, soft seating is warranted. Generally, though, thought should be given to the elderly and the partially disabled. Nothing could be more irritating to elderly persons with lower back pain than to have to lever themselves down into and up from low set, ultra-soft seating. Moreover, seats should have arms so that occupiers may, if necessary, be able to lever themselves upright.

Hygiene Some seating fabrics do not wear well and stain easily. Such public seating, not uncommon in government public offices, is offensive to clients and may serve to magnify any negative sentiments they may be entertaining at the time. Some fabrics are difficult to clean after being soiled by coffee, chewing gum, children, and the incontinent, for example, and additional costs are incurred if the stain is to be removed. Stain proofing should be considered. Initial costs would increase but subsequent cleaning costs would reduce drastically. Of course, where waiting times are brief, plastic seating avoids many hygiene-related disadvantages associated with fabric covered seats.

Positioning The positioning of seating in public waiting areas is important. Attention should be given to: personal space needs of clients; possible demeaning of clients through excessive regimentation of seating; and avoiding a layout which could provide an audience for extrovert younger clients.

Seating should be either individual or bench type but not designed for two persons only. Dual seating runs a risk of personal space invasion by strangers. Seats should not be concentrated in too small an area for the same reason. Commonsense, empathy and experience, will generally indicate seating concentration limits. Unfortunately, such guides are often ignored and there are numerous examples in both public and private sectors of poorly positioned seating. Obvious examples include excessive concentration and being placed in strong sunlight.

The amount of space available and the distance between people is an important element in the environment. In the contexts of both seating and queuing, the intimate zone is significant. Ethnic groups vary considerably in their preferred distances. According to Johnathan Freedman (1975), Americans, Britons and Canadians prefer to stand far apart. Europeans are said to like standing somewhat closer, while Latin Americans prefer standing closer still. There are insufficient research data available to permit an exhaustive listing of interpersonal distance preferences by ethnic group. However, it is noted that when ethnic dissimilarities are most pronounced, spatial preferences are greatest. The essential principle is that there is no "proper" or "ideal" distance. It is a matter of preference.

Poor seating

There is some evidence indicating that persons experiencing high tension have a need for greater interpersonal distance than others (Long 1984; Meisels & Dosey 1971). Thus, those offices customarily catering to stressed persons, such as welfare and taxation offices, might usefully consider the density they impose upon clients in waiting areas.

Public seating is often so designed and distributed that it leads to intrusions of the intimate zone of the persons using it. As a result, awkwardness and uneasiness may occur, thereby increasing potential for aggression by clients. Seating layout is also important to the social comfort of clients; differing patterns significantly affect levels of client interaction (Collett & Marsh 1980).

The deficiencies of much public office seating are best demonstrated to managers by their visiting a variety of such offices and sitting for 15 minutes on the chairs or benches provided. Seating does not exist in isolation from people and their accoutrements. Thus seating has to be arranged bearing in mind that young children may be running around, and that brief cases, shopping bags and strollers, all may occupy what looks like clear space on a seating plan. Add to those factors the normal passage of adults walking to and fro, and clients sitting with their legs crossed in front of them, and a seating area can soon become short of space in practice.

Positioning of client seating should also take into account eye contact. Seats should not be placed so that their occupants are directly in eye contact over short distances. Direct eye contact is embarrassing to many people as they feel obliged to turn their heads in order to avoid the experience. Although unlikely to lead to aggression in itself, the necessity to turn one's head so as to avoid eye contact during a period of waiting does create an additional element in a client's stress load (Ellsworth et al. 1972).

The negative consequences on a client's disposition of hard and poorly positioned seating should not be underestimated. Combined with other unsatisfactory conditions, such as a long wait and brusqueness on the part of a counter officer, poor seating can result in high levels of client aggression.

The size of waiting rooms, as well as the number of persons contained in them, are relevant to the effective comfort of clients. For example, it is generally more acceptable to be in a large rather than a small room (Sundstrom 1975). Excessive crowding, that is, person density, has the effect on some persons of making them withdraw from social contact (Zlutnick & Altman 1972). One might conclude that at least some clients subjected to crowded waiting conditions will be less than cooperative by the time they are attended to by a counter and interviewing officer.

Catering for children In some areas clients attending public offices for service rarely take children with them. In others, considerable numbers of young children can be expected in waiting rooms.

As anyone who has ever waited in an airport lounge can testify, being subjected to other peoples' children running or crawling about in a confined area can be an intensely irritating experience. Consideration should be given to providing separate seating areas for persons accompanied by children in those offices where children are likely to be present. Small nursery areas, complete with books and toys, designed to occupy very young children is a partial solution often used by designers and enterprising managers.

Colour

Colour and light are important factors in public waiting area design. Some colours (and combinations of colours) are said to promote passivity, others to encourage aggression (Kenton 1984). According to E. Schachtel, a colour researcher, "Colours ... are felt as exciting or soothing, dissonant or harmonious ... joyous or sombre, warm or cool, disturbing and distracting or conducive to concentration and tranquility" (cited in Kenton 1984). In particular, the colour red or red light is said to stimulate the body - increasing blood pressure and skin conductivity - and to increase normal muscle tone. Blue, on the other hand, is said to encourage a fall in blood pressure and skin conductivity as well as reduce muscle tension. Care should be taken, though, when selecting shades of red for, despite the alleged stimulative properties of the hue, the shade pink is tranquillising.

Agencies with clienteles drawn from specific socio-economic or cultural groups should carefully consider the preferences of their clients. Upmarket colours and motifs which homeless or destitute people may find offensive might delight middle class business people. Public offices situated in areas containing concentrations of Aborigines or ethnic groups should be decorated in colours and motifs culturally acceptable to those groups rather than a colour scheme determined by considerations of corporate image or preferences of a minority of users.

Geography also impacts colour design decisions. A public area colour scheme consistent with tropical Darwin would almost certainly be inconsistent with one reflecting Hobart's temperate clime. Decorations designed for public waiting areas in coastal locations might well be inappropriate in inland centres. These and other considerations militate against the imperatives of corporate image promotion by such means.

Another facet of colour holds implications for crowding stress among waiting clients. Designers have long been aware that light coloured, red toned interiors appear larger than dark coloured interiors of the same size. As Baum and Davis (1976) observe, clients sensing a given waiting space as large will tolerate a greater density of fellow waiting clients.

It is undeniable some colours at least impact human mood and therefore behaviour, especially when subjects are exposed to them for lengthy periods in waiting rooms or areas. The extent to which they exert influence is, however, variable and not yet fully understood. Managers and designers should carefully consider factors such as projected client average waiting times, culture and location, when making decisions concerning colour.

Light

Inadequate illumination, especially where reading is made difficult, can lead to irritation among both staff and customers. Such potential for interactive friction is clearly to be avoided. Problems associated with inadequate lighting include glare and eyestrain, conditions which may also induce irritation.

Fluorescent lighting, widely used in public buildings, should be employed with care as certain forms are said to encourage particular emotional states. Design architects should be consulted concerning such esoteric matters. Those wishing to read further in this area are referred to the Federal Government's Code of practice, Interior Lighting and Colour (Department of Employment and Industrial Relations 1983) in the first instance.

Toilet facilities

Although staff toilet facilities are necessary in all workplaces, the provision of toilets for clients is more problematic as well as being subject to the provisions of local building codes. It is certainly not a good idea to have a single set of washrooms used by both staff and clients although it is a common practice in many government and private sector buildings where considerations of economy outweigh dictates of security. Sometimes, too, the toilets are located in staff areas and public use requires client access to staff areas - a practice not recommended on security grounds.

In some locations local residents use toilets provided for client use in public buildings as public lavatories. Such traffic almost inevitably results in odiferous and unhygienic toilets, which are offensive to bona fide users. Consequently, some public offices no longer provide toilet facilities for clients.

Drug deals are thought to have been effected in certain metropolitan public office toilets and in those same facilities considerable vandalism has occurred, ranging from kicked in door panels to arson. Decisions not to provide client toilets in such circumstances are understandable even though lengthy waiting times may be necessary for at least some clients. The decision is an important one: it should be made on a location by location basis and should be carefully weighed in terms of competing advantages and disadvantages. Certainly, bona fide clients obliged to wait for service can be seriously discomforted by lack of toilet facilities, an experience calculated to promote intense irritation on their part. The relevance of toilets and other facilities to the reduction of antagonism in public offices was noted in the O'Keefe report on the quality of service offered by the Department of Social Security (1989).

Problems posed by toilets is magnified in those agencies possessing numbers of mothers with very young children among their clients. Young children typically give little warning of their need to use a toilet. Thus, a parent obliged to leave a building in which she has business in order to urgently find a toilet elsewhere is unlikely to be in a positive frame of mind when eventually served.

Those wishing to read further on the subject are referred to the Federal Government's relevant Code of practice, Personal Facilities (Department of Employment and Industrial Relations 1982) in the first instance.

Client access to staff areas

An important issue within the broad scope of staff protection is that of client access to staff areas. The issue is more appropriately addressed in the context of building security. Comment is confined here to noting the fact that disturbed, dissatisfied or other potentially violent clients could inflict their aggression on employees within exclusively staff areas and not necessarily at public counters or in interviewing rooms. Members of the public should be excluded from staff areas and facilities in all agencies and buildings in which client aggression presents as a problem. Ideally, the issue of client access controls should be considered at the design stage in the case of new buildings.

Counter and interview room design

The wide variety of premises, rarely purpose built, occupied by agencies employing counter and/or interviewing personnel precludes a standardised approach to counter and interview room design. For example, public counters in cash offices require anti-bandit features to be incorporated in their design, whereas simple inquiry counters rarely require such extreme precautions.

The diversity of functions transacted at counters and in interviewing rooms is a further impediment to standardised design. Different agencies and locations experience varying levels of aggression among their clienteles. Aggregate client aggression also varies according to season and economic climate. Aggression among welfare recipients will be lowest at times of full employment and a booming economy, and highest at times of low employment and recession.

Local experience is the best guide to such matters but this should be considered in light of shifting demographic and population distribution patterns, and the demands of staff associations. Generally speaking, it is preferable to opt for worst case scenarios during design development.

Counters

Many factors affect counter design. Display is the prime consideration in retail premises, whereas in banks thought has to be paid to preventing robberies. Counters need to be both functional and yet provide protection to counter officers from clients. Safety of public contact officers must always be a prime consideration, and realistic threat assessments need to be undertaken at the design stage.

Tall claimants

Tall claimants leaning over the counter can sometimes tower over a smaller clerk on the other side adding to any feelings of intimidation. Comfortable eye contact in this situation is much more difficult to achieve.

(Adapted from Aggressive Behabiour by Claimants, courtesy The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations).

Counters in offices in which client aggression is considered a problem should incorporate the following characteristics in addition to those required for effective operation:

• be of sufficient height to make it difficult for an adult to climb over;
• be of sufficient width to make it difficult for a client to strike a counter officer;
• be divided along its width with vertical partitions to provide a degree of privacy;
• be fitted with a lateral fixture no higher than 80 cm above the working surface, designed to inhibit downward blows by a client;
• each workstation at a counter be provided with a duress alarm button;
• the ends of inquiry counters should be closed, thereby preventing a client from walking around the end of a counter into staff areas;
• entry doors from the staff side of inquiry counters into staff working areas should be full height and fitted with a one-way vision laminated impact resistant glass view panel;
• entry doors from public waiting areas into staff areas should be controlled by electrical or mechanical code locks. Frames and doors should be of sturdy construction;
• walls separating counter officers from staff areas, that is, partitions to the rear of counter officers when facing clients, should be fitted with glass windows and lateral louvre blinds or similar on the public side to give privacy to employees on the staff side, whilst at the same time enabling staff to invigilate the public area;
• be fitted with optional seating for both clients and staff; and
• access to counter areas should be limited.

Many claimants were observed leaning on counters, often taking their weight on one foot with arms outstretched and hands on the counter or leaning on their elbows.

One consequence of this leaning behaviour is that the interpersonal distances between staff and claimants are very close, particularly with no counter screen.

(Adapted from Aggressive Behaviour by Claimants, courtesy The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations).

An important non-protective factor in counter design is that they should permit levels of privacy appropriate to the nature of the business transacted at them. Post office counters, for example, have no need for privacy but employment offices do and their counters should be designed with that need in mind.

The question of violence is likely to have a number of significant implications for the training of staff and the design of offices.

(Adapted from Aggressive Behaviour by Claimants, courtesy The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations).

Interview rooms

Interviews involving privacy, complexity and unusual length, are best undertaken in interview rooms. Interview rooms should be well suited to the conduct of business while at the same time providing reasonable levels of protection to interviewing officers and privacy to clients.

Interview room design should incorporate the following features:

• be fitted with two doors opposite each other. One door to lead in from the public area and the other from the staff area;
• be provided with a single desk or other, perhaps, an attractive table;
• be provided with chairs on each side of the desk;
• ideally, desk/table to be fixed to the floor;
• no other movable fittings to be provided with the exception of non-dangerous decorations;
• door leading into staff area to be fitted with a one-way viewing panel of laminated glass (minimum 7.5 mm thickness);
• be provided with duress alarm button discreetly fitted on the interviewing officer's side of a desk and capable of being activated without alerting a client;
• sound control should be such that raised voices are detectable by other staff;
• be provided with a telephone;
• doors to be fitted so that: door providing access from public area to open inward, and door providing access from staff area to open outward;
• door on public side to be fitted with a Lockwood 572 (DL) escape latch 505RH or 555LH or equivalent, with a lever handle only on inside;
• door permitting access from the staff side to be fitted with a Lockwood 572-512DL (RH) or 572-562 (LH) or equivalent;
• privacy bolts and turn knobs NOT to be fitted on door permitting access from staff area; and
• door permitting access from public area to be fitted with a door closing device.

Interview rooms in offices lacking staff conference facilities are sometimes provided with folding partitions and movable furniture in order that areas devoted to interview rooms can be converted to other purposes when the need arises. Managers need to consider such competing needs not only from the perspective of noise insulation but in terms of security considerations, including the possibility of gaining entry from one interview room to another through folding partitions. It is strongly recommended security not be sacrificed for flexibility in those offices in which client aggression to staff has been identified as a problem.

Entrances

Entrances to offices providing public services can shape client expectations and attitudes positively. In short, the more helpful an entrance is with regard to client needs the less will be the probability of client aggression. Entrances may be at street level or they may be within a building, at any level. The following points should be borne in mind when designing office entrances:

• entrances should be accessible to all categories of clients - including the blind and those confined to wheel chairs - well signposted internally and externally, and indicate agency functions;
• initial reception point/desk/counter to be located there;
• initial reception point/desk/counter to be well lit, tidy and efficient-appearing;
• elevators to be clean and well serviced;
• doors capable of being opened easily, preferably electronically, to permit access to cripples, children and elderly;
• glare and direct sunlight to be shielded;
• public contact hours to be prominently displayed and capable of being read from the street if at all possible;
• initial reception point/desk/counter to be no more than ten metres from a point of entry;
• public and internal telephones to be provided; and
• recorded messages or telephone interpreter service to be provided where indicated by numbers of foreign speaking clients as well as sufficient supply of explanatory pamphlets in appropriate languages.

Alarms

In institutions subjected to armed robberies, such as banks, the installation of hold-up alarms which are centrally monitored by a commercial security company is standard procedure. The use of duress alarms in public contact areas where the threat is that of client aggression, is not as prevalent.

Counter officers gain confidence from the fact that in the event of a serious problem arising an alarm can be quickly and discreetly sounded.

Duress alarms for use in public contact areas and interview rooms The use of duress alarms is recommended in organisations in which the risk of client aggression exists. Duress alarms vary in sophistication depending on the size of the organisation, the number and location of public contact areas, capacity to provide immediate local response and so on. Thus, any system considered must be carefully planned to ensure it precisely matches needs and resources.

A duress alarm consists of alarm buttons discreetly located at officers' work stations which are wired to an alarm panel which indicates the activation source. Depending on needs, alarm panels can be designed to raise local visual and/or audible alarm on activation, relate the alarm to a commercial security company or both.

Where local response can be provided, it is usual to place the alarm panel in an adjacent staff occupied area or guard post, from which point action can follow immediately.

Duress alarms which are designed primarily to ensure a local response, are provided with a time delay so that if the local alarm is not cancelled within a fixed period, for example, 60 seconds, the signal is routed directly to a commercial security company from where predetermined responses will be initiated. In small offices, in which local support would not normally be available, the alarm signal would proceed directly to the central monitoring company.

To ensure total reliability, duress alarm systems must be well maintained and regularly tested. In addition, their design should incorporate a fault alarm.

Duress alarms need to be supported by well designed and documented procedures covering activation and response. These procedures must be understood by all staff and periodically practised.

Duress alarm features Duress alarm systems should incorporate the following features as appropriate:

• alarms should be sited close to the interview stations to which they are connected so as to ensure speedy staff responses;
• staff should always be in the vicinity of duress alarms so as to ensure they are responded to when activated; and
• mimic (additional) panels may be sited elsewhere in a building but immediate action must be predicated on a response from nearby colleagues.

Routing of clients

The factors most influential in reducing client aggression are speedy service and efficient service. Speedy service is dependent upon a number of elements, including the routing of clients from the time they enter a public contact area until they meet an interviewing officer. Competent routing avoids unnecessary waste of clients' time and, importantly, prevents clients being dealt with out of turn. Primary aspects of client routing include: signage, document drops, reception/inquiry, staff rotation, client flow, queuing, calling forward, appointments, and regulated entry.

Signage All public contact areas need to be well signposted in languages suited to the locale. Signage should include matters such as exits, toilets, interview stations, inquiry stations, hours of opening and client flow arrangements. Signs should be carefully considered from a client perspective and be well constructed. Discarded computer printout embellished with textracolour messages does not inspire client confidence.

The international symbol "i" should be displayed adjacent to reception/information points. In offices in which client flow is uneven, it is helpful to display a sign at the entrance advising attendance during off-peak hours.

Document drops Public offices should provide document drop devices near public entrances when appropriate. There are few things more aggravating than having to queue merely in order to lodge a document. Design of secure document receptacles is a simple matter. But, due consideration needs to be given to security of such receptacles, especially if they are likely to include cheques or money. If there is reason to suspect explosive devices might be placed in them, their use is clearly contraindicated in the absence of appropriate bomb detection technology.

Reception Provision of a reception or inquiry point capable of dealing with general inquiries is a most useful means of reducing unnecessary waiting time. For example, in some Medicare offices it is necessary to queue in order to find out which claim form one should complete. Clients then need to complete the required form before lining up again for service. Such an experience is extremely irritating to clients pressed for time as well as being unnecessary. Local conditions determine the desirability of reception/inquiry points. But, in busy offices with constant queuing they are essential.

In offices having more than one set of public contact counters, it will normally be useful to have a receptionist(s) located on the ground floor close to the entrance (or points of entry). Ideally, persons staffing such points will be capable of providing answers to simple queries as well as directions to particular public contact areas. Such staff need to be carefully selected, trained and rotated. Each station needs to have its function clearly labelled.

Staff rotation Rotation of staff has two principal uses. Firstly, some areas of interviewing are extremely taxing and employees require periodic breaks. Thus, in offices in which stress is associated with the interviewing function, staff should be rotated between interviewing and other non-public contact tasks. This form of rotation is easily arranged in large offices but poses problems in small offices.

Secondly, staff can be rotated between duties so as to match client flow. Thus, at those times of the day when client demand is highest the greatest number of employees should be deployed to cope with demand. Too often long queues form in public offices, such as banks and post offices, at lunch times - a time when as many as 50 per cent of public contact officers are off duty. It is apparent many public offices do not vary their counter and interviewing officer numbers over the course of a day or a week so as to match client demand. Long lines form at times of maximum client demand as a result. Long queues mean long waits, leading to irritated and possibly aggressive clients.

Careful consideration needs to be paid by architects to the movements of staff between rear areas and counter and interviewing duties. Sufficient work stations must be provided in both areas.

Completing documents In the absence of compelling reasons to the contrary, forms should be completed by clients prior to approaching reception/counter staff. Where forms are complex or there is a multiplicity of forms, provision should be made for answering related inquiries and rapid accuracy checking.

Sufficient places should be available at form filling stations to cater for peak periods and supplies should be checked throughout the day to ensure their adequacy. Pens, too, should be checked as they are both stolen and damaged by clients in addition to running out of ink. Deficiencies in providing such materials can generate considerable irritation among time-anxious clients.

Client flow There are four principal means of controlling client flow: lines, numbering clients on arrival, appointments, and controlled entry. With the exception of appointments (provided they are kept on time) these options all involve client waiting. Waiting reduces a client's tolerance in respect of other shortcomings as well as inducing irritation in its own right (see O'Keefe 1989). Thus, managers should make every effort to ensure client waiting times are kept within clients' tolerance range.

An additional flow refinement that can be exercised, depending on the nature of business transacted, is to stream clients, so that as each client presents for service, administrative details are quickly attended to. Forms are personally completed at desks or similar structures and are then checked for completion, signatures are appended and so on. The client is then passed on to another officer who attends to the substance of their business, whether it be the issue of a passport or advice concerning a wayward child. This approach is particularly useful in agencies providing multiple services. The client flow involved is shown at Figure 2. Short inquiries can, if deemed desirable, be dealt with by a receptionist, and such clients saved a long wait. Clients requiring more substantial service can be referred by receptionists to either counter or interviewing officers as necessary (see Figure 3). There is no single client flow that is best suited to all circumstances. Managers and planners should give careful thought to tailoring client flow systems best suited to their particular needs and resources.

Figure 2 : Client Streaming and Single Service

Figure 3 : Client Streaming - Multiple Service

Line forming, queuing Most queuing systems require clients to join a line upon arrival at an office or other public contact area and then work their way forward until they reach the counter and interviewing officer servicing their particular queue. The process requires least management but it does possess drawbacks. Clients arriving later than oneself and joining a different queue always have the good fortune to join a faster moving queue and are invariably attended to ahead of oneself. This experience is intensely irritating to certain personality types and can result in aggression among clients as well as between client and, once he reaches the head of a queue, interviewing officer. The tragedy is that if one changes one's queue, then the queue one was in first off then moves faster. Pushy types who attempt to counter this phenomenon by switching to and fro between lines are liable to wreck the system entirely. This drawback can be avoided by arranging a single line which stops well short of a counter. As each interviewing officer becomes free they then signal the client at the head of the queue forward either orally or by means of an illuminated sign or chime.

The second drawback is that lengthy queuing is not well suited to invalids, the elderly, the pregnant and amputees. Disadvantaged clients distressed at having to wait in a queue are unlikely to be in a positive frame of mind by the time they reach an interviewing officer.

Queue jumping, that is clients pushing either into lines or even going straight away to the head of a line without waiting, is a form of behaviour that may produce aggression. Research evidence suggests frustration and aggression occurring in a client subjected to another's queue jumping behaviour is likely to vary according to how close to the head of a queue the client is. The closer to the front of the line, the greater the frustration and aggression generally experienced (Ahmed 1982, Milgram et al. 1986). This finding possesses obvious implications for counter and interviewing officers.

Queue lanes should be marked by means of either heavy duty tape affixed to the floor or by cords attached to stands. Supporting signage should be utilised in either case. Cords and stands are more flexible in that they can be easily moved to suit varying configurations and placed sufficiently high to avoid the possibility of short-sighted persons tripping over them. On the other hand, all systems which impede intrusion into lines by the impatient and so reinforce normative behaviour warrant consideration as ushers/guards are rarely available these days to perform such a function.

Calling clients forward A common alternative to standing in line is that of providing each client with a numbered ticket on arrival. Clients then wait on (hopefully) clean and comfortable seats until their number is called over a public address system or illuminated on a digital screen. This procedure is also a form of queuing (Milgram et al. 1986). Some enterprises are clearly better suited to line forming than calling clients forward by number and the reverse is true of others. However, there are situations in which clear selection criteria are not always evident. Managers in doubt are best advised to opt for a calling forward system.

Appointments Formal appointments are better suited to some forms of interviewing, such as legal aid or public trustee matters, than others. The system can be useful but sometimes inflexible, particularly if a client does not appear and there is no one else to interview during that time slot. Interviewing time is then wasted. On the other hand, as everyone who has ever attended a medical practitioner or dentist knows, there is often a tendency to extend appointments. Thus, interviewing officers often fail to keep their appointments on time. There are few things more infuriating to a client pressed for time and who presents for an appointment on time to be kept waiting. In view of this, when appointments are utilised, care should be taken to ensure scheduling is realistic.

Having to reassign interviewing officers at the last moment may be another irritant associated with the appointment method. Clients who have an expectation they will be dealing with a particular interviewing officer by appointment, especially when that officer has a knowledge of their case, are unlikely to be impressed by any reassignment.

Many agencies using an interview by appointment system deal continually with a stressed clientele, for example, Family Court counselling or desk tax auditing. Under such conditions it is important waiting clients be transferred to their interview room as smoothly as possible. A professional, businesslike, approach is desirable. A receptionist might say, "Good afternoon Mr ..., the auditor, Ms ..., is expecting you. I'll let her know you are here. Please take a seat and she'll be with you in a few moments".

Poor Queuing Arrangememts

Regulated entry Most thinking regarding problems associated with client flow is predicated on the assumption that the number of clients in a waiting room or other public contact area will be limited only by the available space. However, if a particular service/industry or location is subject to serious problems of security then an alternative approach may be necessary. Reasons for limiting the number of clients in an office at any one time mostly revolve around issues of client behaviour although fear of holdups in agencies carrying cash may also apply.

If, for whatever reason, it is determined entry should be limited it then becomes necessary for clients to wait outside the office, whether that be a street, concourse, mall or even another part of the same building. Placed in such a position intending clients will normally queue, but not always, and thus the potential for irritation can be heightened considerably. Under such a restricted access regimen, a single client (or family group) is admitted through the public entrance by a guard on a "one out one in" basis or, conversely when the guard is advised to admit a client by a waiting interviewing officer. This system is not unusual in Europe, where businesses are fearful of having crowds on their premises that might become targets for terrorists' bombs quite apart from robbery reduction considerations. The method can also be useful in offices in which groups of client (and even non-client) youths, for instance, congregate and misbehave. Although the system possesses distinct disadvantages there may be occasions when its advantages will outweigh its disadvantages.