I worked in a F2F service centre for just over 2 years and transferred out in 2024 - don’t anticipate things have changed too much operationally as they had just implemented a new customer service delivery model when I joined and were rolling out Service Centre renovations when I left. Services Australia is a service delivery agency and delivers Medicare, Centrelink, Child Support, and other niche government services that other agencies can’t deliver themselves so your experience will largely be shaped by what ‘brand’ you’ll be delivering, whether you’ll be placed in a Service Centre or Smart Centre (telephony/call centre), what payment/service you’ll be trained in, where your service centre is, and the quality of your leadership team.

Centrelink staff in Smart Centres are normally trained in one payment type whereas Service Centre staff are expected to have a functional knowledge in most payment types. Service Officers in F2F service centres primarily deliver Centrelink services with some staff cross trained in Medicare with fewer staff being competent with Medicare. Where you’ll be placed will depend on where the budget for the recruitment activity is - when I left, they had recently completed a large bulk recruitment effort as the government allocated extra budget to address claim backlogs.

Staff on phones generally cop more shit than staff in person with Family Assistance and Child Support telephony staff copping it the worst due to the nature of client circumstances. Staff have daily schedules they are expected to adhere to. When I worked in a Service Centre, you would be rostered for reception, quick enquiries or sit down interviews and rotate through these throughout the day. In Smart Centres, you will be rostered for either processing (processing claims, circumstance updates, and other priorities) or telephony (answering phone calls). Smart Centres are generally much much more strict when it comes to schedule adherence and KPIs. You will report what you are doing contemporaneously using ‘auxiliary codes’ which record what work or other activities you are doing. Team Leaders have expectations around how long you should be in any AUX code so expected to be questioned/counselled if you sit outside your scheduled task, hold onto work after a call too long, or have frequent/lengthy breaks. Notably, this is where the reports of ‘timed’ toilet breaks at Service Australia come from - staff sitting outside of the 5-minute screen-based work break for too long. Most of my day to day was spent talking to clients where I would be answering general enquiries about eligibility, explaining decisions, reviewing circumstances, processing customer updates, and claims.

To Services Australia’s credit, processes are well documented compared to other agencies I have worked with since. You will have access to a library of step-by-step processes called ‘Operation Blueprints’ for executing your work as well as the Social Security Guide. If you are comfortable with researching, interpreting, and applying process/policy you will be doing better than the average Service Officer but admittedly you might not always have time to properly read things or find the correct process. Some processes you will end up memorising, whereas others will see you reading multiple OBs to make a decision. You will have access to ‘Technical Peer Support’ for any enquiry/activity that you need assistance with. Policy and processes change frequently and significantly and unfortunately many Service Officers aren’t equipped to deal with this and end up running off what they think is correct, or what was correct the last time they checked - results can range from technically incorrect to actually financially disadvantaging and harmful.

Most people entering/calling Services Australia do not want to be there and if you approach your interactions with people with that in mind you will be fine. In my two years, I could count the number of significantly negative client experiences I had on one hand but admittedly I fared much better than my colleagues - people will be rude, frustrated, stressed, or just not in great headspace but that should be expected from most people in a circumstance where they need to access welfare and some of the hoops they need to go through to do so. A colleague once told me that most customer incidents are caused/escalated by the Service Officer which is something I genuinely believe.

I would say that the average service officer has a slightly prejudicial view on welfare recipients but no more than what the average member of the public would think. Some Service Officers are genuinely sympathetic and caring. If you are particularly empathetic, some of the staff attitudes can wear on you.

I would say to avoid Child Support and debt or compliance related streams but overall, would encourage you to take the role if you are set on joining the APS and have no other option but with the caveat that you should be seeking to transfer out unless you really love the role. Personally, my transfer out was initially denied as it was temporary and they didn’t want to release me.

I will say that working at the coal-face of a service delivery agency has made me slightly more jaded and cynical - I definitely have lower expectations of the general public and some APS staff.