When young families settle, communities flourish. But only one in five mothers say they’d recommend their LGA to others. This community survey uncovers the services and touchpoints that shape their experience, and how local governments can turn ambivalent residents into advocates.
‘Demography is destiny’ is an old and often-used phrase highlighting the importance of population changes on a society’s social and economic success. For governments, especially local governments, the effects of demographics and demographic trends also have significant implications for what services are provided and service delivery, which have a further impact on a council’s financial sustainability.
One of the most important demographic groups is young families. These are families that have children aged from birth to five. What makes this group so important is that it represents both the future population health of a Local Government Area (LGA) and a significant driver of economic growth.
Young families are in a period of rapid change, investment, community engagement and decision-making. This period of their lives has long-term implications for whether they stay or leave an LGA and how they engage with their councils and communities.
For a quick outline of the main demographic trends facing new families, read our article on ‘Changing Family Demographics in Australia: What Local Governments and Businesses Need to Know’. This article comes with an easy-to-read and helpful infographic.
Q: How satisfied are new families with the services your council provides, and would families in your community recommend their area to others?
About the community sentiment survey we conducted
We conducted a community survey, n=628 interviews with mothers of children aged 0 to 5 years in an online national survey that used random stratified sampling that was representative for mothers’ and children’s age, and for location.
The community survey was part of a broader study of mothers and healthcare.
The infographic below provides a summary of the key results on how satisfied mothers of young families are and what drives their satisfaction and willingness to recommend living in their local government area to other potential young families.
How satisfied are young families with their local government?
Overall, the community survey showed mothers felt satisfied with their local government. Although one in ten felt dissatisfied with their council, just under half (41%) felt either very satisfied or satisfied, with only one in ten feeling very satisfied. A third (39%) felt only somewhat satisfied. This result indicates an ambivalent attitude towards how well their council was meeting their needs.
This ambivalence is clear with the 68% CSat Index that mothers gave their council. A CSat Index is a weighted mean score, where Very Satisfied is 100% and Very Dissatisfied is 0%, and each point in between is scaled accordingly. Unlike scores based only on adding satisfaction together, the index reflects differences in levels of satisfaction. The CSat Index provides a clear sense of community sentiment.
Would mothers recommend their LGA to other families?
Very few mothers (19%) felt they were very likely to recommend other families to live in their local government area. With an additional third (35%) being unlikely to recommend, and the remainder sitting in the middle (46%).
Using the Net Promoter Score approach, mothers are less likely not to recommend their LGA (-16 NPS). This score is obtained by subtracting Promoters (mothers highly likely to recommend) from Distractors (mothers highly likely not to recommend).
Unlike satisfaction, which measures how well councils meet needs, recommendation requires mothers to believe that their local government area – including both councils and non-councils – is offering something worth changing. Why would they recommend moving to their LGA? When making recommendations, people are also weighing up the potential risks for those they are recommending to.
Before discussing drivers of recommendation for an LGA, we need to provide a short overview of the Net Promoter Score approach.
What is a Net Promoter Score (NPS)?
While NPS is not common in LGA community surveys, it is common among large service providers like banks, telecommunication and data providers, airlines, business-to-business oriented businesses and government service providers. We have regularly included NPS in studies for business in these areas for many years.
The NPS framework became popular after Fred Reichheld published his approach in the Harvard Business Review in 2003. His approach took the commonly used 11-point likelihood scale that was also used for willingness to recommend and split it into three groups: Promoters, Neutral and Detractors. Promoters give scores of 9 or 10, indicating they are very likely to recommend. Whereas Neutral gave scores of 7 or 8, and Detractors gave scores of 0 to 6.
Why this grouping? That is a whole new article. Suffice to say, the grouping reflects the way people respond to 11-point likelihood scales.
The NPS score is then calculated by subtracting the Detractors from the Promoters. The result is a score that ranges from 100 to -100. Neutral answers are ignored in the calculation so that the score is more sensitive to extreme results, ignoring ‘fence-sitting’ answers.
Drivers of family satisfaction with council services?
Mothers were more satisfied and willing to recommend their council when they felt they used their council’s services regularly and when they used a wide range of services.
Satisfaction and willingness were significantly higher when mothers recalled using a council service or facility at least once a week. This is perceived frequency, not actual frequency. Perceptions are driven by what they believe are council services and how often they recall having used them.
Mothers who use a broader range of council services tend to be more satisfied and more willing to recommend them. Using three or more services within the past year was a strong predictor of higher sentiment.
What services increase willingness to recommend an LGA
Controlling for all other experiences, mothers who have used a council library, have attended a council community event, or have used a council venue or hall within the past year were more likely to recommend living in their LGA.
A mother using any one of these services was more likely to recommend living in their LGA.
But why these services?
What these services have in common is that they bring people together in a social environment, and they require people to engage with council staff in a situation where they are assisting. They are also not things a mother would use every week, which makes them memorable.
We were able to single out these services by using statistical modelling that allows us to determine which services were the most important in increasing recommendations, while controlling for the use of other services.
What mothers want their councils to improve
When asked what councils could do to improve living in the LGA for people with young families, there were six main areas they suggested:
- Improving recreation facilities (40%). Mothers suggested focusing on improving the availability of age-appropriate play facilities in a variety of locations to increase use of local parks, and when travelling to other areas in their council.
- Improved planning (35%). Mothers pointed out that they lived in areas where many other young families had moved, but felt the local infrastructure was not in place to meet needs, including paths, road crossings, and public toilets.
- Increased availability of community events (21%). To increase opportunities for families and community members to come together and engage with others, mothers wanted more events, from micro-events like pop-up activities and events to larger family days and community festivals.
- Improved safety (15%). Some mothers felt their councils needed to improve protection from harm through improved play area fencing and improved path and play area lighting when using facilities in late afternoon, especially in winter when it becomes dark early.
- Improved general maintenance (12%). Other mothers wanted to see their councils better maintain public amenities and play equipment. They often comment on maintenance and safety together, reflecting a ‘broken-windows theory’ approach to safety.
- Improved availability of early childcare (12%). To help mothers return to the paid workforce and meet increasing housing costs, they sought more access to a variety of childcare options, ranging from early childhood daycare to out-of-school care (OOSC).
Implications for building new family engagement for your council
Young families are an essential part of a community. Add to the social and economic vibrancy of an area and the future residents of that community. For these young families, it is a period of rapid change and one where they become more engaged in their community and regular users of council services and facilities.
The short study reported in this article and infographic revealed several key learnings for councils to ensure young families feel supported by their council and would recommend their area to other future families.
- Increase awareness of what services and facilities are provided. Mothers are likely to underestimate how many and how often they use their local government services.
- Increase the breadth of engagement with the services you provide. Starting a new family often means having to learn about services and facilities that are available.
- Create opportunities for community engagement. From small pop-up events to broader community events, these events increase a new family’s sense of engagement with their community, provide learning opportunities about new families, and are a memorable way for families to recommend your community to others.
What are your next steps?
New families are one of the many key groups in your community. To understand how to sustainably support this community group and drive improved outcomes for your LGA, your first step is to review your community surveys, research and feedback to see what young families need from your council to thrive, and recommend your local government area.
Review the services you provide and how you engage with new families to identify potential issues and low-cost quick wins.
Next, consider undertaking specific young family research, ideally qualitative or a survey built on a clear understanding of potential needs that focuses on providing deep and actionable insights. If you have existing community surveys, look at how to better include demographic and needs groups in its design do that you can draw needs and experiences of new families. Then working with your teams and front-line staff, implement and consistently communicate how you are helping new families.
To understand young families in your area and address their needs or experiences with your council, we have the experience and expertise to support your organisation in driving real and sustainable outcomes.