A Toronto-based company, Praxis Adult Training and Skills Development, created a case study to analyze the effects of the implementation of plain language on a financial services company, BANCO. Many of BANCO’s customer service agents were having difficulty assisting customers because of an information overload given by their current online information system.
Praxis developed a system designed specifically for the BANCO customer service representatives that utilized plain language principles. Half of the representatives in the study used their new updated system and the other half were asked to use the old system. Praxis observed four different aspects: the time it took to complete tasks, the number of errors that occurred, the number of support phone calls to the help desk, and the length of these phone calls to the help desk.
“The test showed that shifting to plain language for BANCO’s online information system had the potential to: improve employee productivity by a forecasted 36.9%, decrease employee errors by a forecasted 77.1%, decrease the frequency of calls to the help desk by a forecasted 17.4%, and decrease the duration of calls to the help desk by a forecasted 10.5%” (Grotsky).
The group that used the plain language documents were 61.2% more satisfied, and they claimed they found it easier to navigate the information they needed to effectively fulfill their job requirements. Clearly, the implementation of the plain language documents had a positive effect on the productivity and efficiency of the customer service representatives.
Plain Language and the U.S. Government – Case Study
Plain Language, like any type of technical writing must be thought of as a valuable communication tool. The government needs to communicate with people who possess various levels of literacy and reading comprehension yet currently, “thousands of forms, applications, letters, and notices written by government agencies result in little communication” (Etzkorn 221).
It is difficult for the government to communicate for a variety of different reasons. There is a diverse audience, constantly changing laws, a misguided belief that government must sound official, the need to give all citizens equal access to information, and a tendency to practice false economies (Etzkorn 221-222). Many times, the government does not correctly answer questions citizens have about tax forms, Medicaid coverage, and census forms etc, which leaves citizens confused. Many times, people get frustrated and fill out the forms wrong, or do not fill them out at all and then get penalized, creating further time, money, and paperwork processing.
As citizens have joined the “right to know” movement, some government agencies have chosen to join the plain language movement. “Market research studies indicated an increase in public participation and a growth in participatory democracy, a conviction that with proper information people would make informed decisions about the courses of their lives” (Etzkorn 223). From this research, state support grew and banking and insurance documents began to be written in plain language.
In 1981 the government invoked the Paper Reduction Act that instructed federal agencies to reduce paperwork and eliminate gobbledygook from regulations. The secretary of commerce Malcolm Baldridge was quoted saying he “literally could not tell whether he was saying yes or no” in many of the letters being drafted for his signature” (Etzkorn 223). He ordered writers to write directly and clearly with a clear line between and yes and no. He ordered the departments word processors to reject the words optimize, interface, prioritize, and finalize. “Between 1980 and 1983 the U.S. reduced paperwork government-wide 32%…over 400 million hours of paperwork [were] eliminated so more people can use shorter or fewer forms.
The U.S. government efforts have progressed but are not enough. Irene Etzkorn lists a number of shortcomings in the government’s simplification efforts:
- Government’s “mechanistic approach” to simplification.
- The use of inappropriate measures for calculating the public’s “paperwork burden”
- The focus, particularly in the United States, on reduction rather than simplification
- Incremental rather than comprehensive change.
- Narrow Definition of Communications.
In 1981 Congress mandated that the IRS simplify the system of federal income tax forms and the instructions. A private document design-consulting firm, Siegal and Gale, was hired as the projects primary contractor. Their work led to many improvements in work charts, examples, tips, income averaging, childcare credits, and more. “Overall, the prototype tax forms were highly successful when judged by a number of measures: reduced errors rates, shorter completion time, and more positive tax payer attitudes.”
Following the IRS’s success, the U.S. Bureau of the Census hired Siegal and Gale to develop a people-oriented model census form that included up-to-date computer techniques. In addition, Siegal and Gale ere hired by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to develop simplified forms for the application process to receive food stamps.
Overall, the paperwork simplification process offered “cost benefits as well as long-term social benefits” (230). There are now fewer computer errors, shorter training time for employees, and more accurate processing. The social benefits allow citizens to be properly informed of their rights and obligations. Through plain language, the government can utilize the tool of communication to build a better system.
In other nations, the Canadian Law Information Council was also pushing for plain language throughout the government. In addition, the Netherlands, Sweden, Nigeria, Romania, and Ireland all have plain language projects underway.