Land vs. City: The citizen service in the Eifel works so quickly!

Land vs. City: The citizen service in the Eifel works so quickly!

Registration, re-registration, new ID card-the hurdles for citizen service in urban areas in Rhineland-Palatinate can be frustrating. But it seems to be going very differently in the country! Everything goes smoothly there and, above all, quickly. A comprehensive SWR research shows that in the rural associations, the citizens' offices are well staffed, which means that citizens are much easier to make appointments and applications are processed faster.

The reasons? A stable occupation and minimum waiting times! In many rural citizens' service, such as VG Hunsrück-Mittelrhein or VG Alzey-Land, the staff sits like one. Even unexpected visits without an appointment rarely lead to longer waiting times than an hour. In contrast, the lack of personnel in large cities such as Mainz and Koblenz is alarming: up to 20 places are often vacant there. These grievances lead to a long wait in front of the offices - the nerves of the citizens are bare!

rural advantage: less pressure, better conditions!

The rural citizens' offices radiate a completely different atmosphere! The competitive situation on the job market is much milder here - this is how the authorities manage to keep qualified staff and avoid overload. This ensures that the employees are more satisfied, which in turn leads to a more positive experience for the citizens. In cities, on the other hand, overtime and frustration are the order of the day - this stress spiral means that many employees submerge somewhere else after a short time.

Despite these positive news for the rural officials, there is a shadow on the horizon: the shortage of skilled workers also arrives here! It remains to be seen how long this idyll of the shorter waiting times and top occupations last, because the competition and the demands increase. The digitization of the administrative processes becomes the key in order to continue to secure service quality in rural areas in the future!