In the spirit of Austria-Hungary: Czechs still go to offices and officials write letters

Citizens still most often stick to the proven model when communicating with the authorities. He comes to the authorities in person.

And this despite the fact that a number of important milestones have taken place in the last few years, thanks to which it is increasingly easier to handle some things over the Internet: Citizens can use Internet banking login to communicate with the authorities, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs digitized applications for the most requested benefits, such as parental benefit or housing benefit, as well as pension claims.

Data from the latest Ipsos survey for the long-term project Seznam Práv How to live in the Czech Republic reveal that people still remain conservative in their attitude.

The respondents most often stated – over 55 percent – ​​that they communicate with the authorities in person. And surprisingly, even young people aged 18 to 24 more often prefer a personal visit (40.5 percent) to telephone communication (34.5 percent).

Conversely, authorities most often communicate with people in the form of a written letter (35.5 percent) or e-mail (31.8 percent).

“Basically, we see that both parties are relatively conservative. One writes letters and the other goes to meetings in person. The effort would obviously have to be higher from both sides,” explains Ipsos agency analyst Michal Kormaňák, why the expansion of digital communication options has not been reflected in the greater popularity of electronic communication.

Specifically, only 15.6 percent of respondents identified communication with the authorities using a bank identity, which the state is currently focusing on, as the most used. After the letter, this is the least popular option so far.

“The use of data portals or data boxes in the population is not yet completely widespread. We did research for the Ministry of the Interior directly focused on the bureaucratic burden, we know that people are often used to going in person, because in the event of something unclear, they are used to asking an official,” says the analyst.

In the core, the model experienced already during the Austro-Hungarian period still survives in the people. “Tradition should not be underestimated in people’s attitudes. It is so. It has been with us for centuries,” added Michal Kormaňák.

According to him, although people generally complain that they lack digitization, in reality they do not use the online tools that have been created that much. “It’s not that the tools aren’t there, but also that we don’t use them often,” says the analyst.

The reason, according to him, is that people tend to solve the whole matter within one contact – one phone call, one visit.

“We know that in terms of bureaucratic burden, it is often a problem for people that they have to solve things repeatedly. For example, by phone and then they still have to come to the office. That’s why they rely on the office to solve everything at once, or ask for the information they need,” says Michal Kormaňák.

The data thus confirms observations from queues in front of employment offices, where people described to the reporter that they still perceive going in person as the safest way.

“I prefer to go in person. Eye to eye, to be sure,” explained Mrs. Marie, for example, who went to the Prague employment office last year to avoid the crowds.

The research among 1029 respondents took place at the end of April. People were given the opportunity to mark two options for questions about the most common method of communication.

It is also essential in this case that the survey was conducted through an online tool, and thus among people used to moving and communicating within the Internet environment.

Realistically, in the Czech population, personal attendance at offices may still prevail a little more.

“Maybe by a few percentage points, but we’re still speculating, I don’t expect it to make any extreme difference,” explains Michal Kormaňák, referring to the fact that roughly 15 percent of Czechs are completely offline.

How to live in the Czech Republic

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Seznam News goes to cities and towns to find out how you live in the Czech Republic. We are interested in how you cope with rising prices, how you live, what opportunities you have for work. The year-long project is based on internal data from the data team and IPSOS surveys.

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