Customer Contact Officer - Part time

at  Great Places Housing Association

WE WILL BE HOLDING AN ASSESSMENT DAY ON THURSDAY 28TH NOVEMBER. PLEASE KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR EMAILS FOR AN INVITATION!

You’ll be the first point of contact for our customers and often colleagues for a wide range of queries that will be received through various contact methods. You’ll work in a fast paced and busy Customer Hub with a focus on providing excellent timely resolution for our customers and colleagues. Every day and every enquiry is different, but you will have plenty of support around you to enable you to deliver the level of service expected, including peer to peer support, specialists and managers who are all easily accessible to provide the coaching and guidance needed.

What you’ll be doing

• Responding to a range of customer and colleague queries which will include raising repairs, rent account management, tenancy related issues, ASB queries, re-housing advice and complaints.
• Responding to these enquiries in a timely manner through a range of ways such as over the phone, by email and by webchat in line with our quality guidelines and service standards.
• Providing guidance and assistance to customers to enable them, where possible, to resolve issues themselves or where appropriate signpost to other agencies who can support them.
• Managing difficult situations and customers, but knowing when to escalate more complex queries to the Neighbourhood Colleagues, Specialists or Team Managers.
• Identifying safeguarding concerns and ensure they are dealt with promptly and in line with our guidelines.
• Ensuring that clear, comprehensive and timely records are logged into our systems for all contacts.
• Managing customer expectations about the services we offer and have a good understanding of the customer’s responsibilities when holding a tenancy.
• Part of a team rota, where you’ll be working between the hours of 8am to 6pm.
• You’ll work part of the week in the office, and part of the week from home (once fully trained)
• Great Places Housing Group is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults and expects all our colleagues to share this commitment; this role is subject to a basic DBS check.

What we need from you

• A commitment to understand the challenges and opportunities that exist in the communities in which we work. We particularly value lived experience in social housing
• A passion to advocate on behalf of people and communities
• Commitment to work in partnership with others for the benefit of Great Places
• A commitment to continuous learning and improvement
• Ability to work flexibly and when needed outside normal working hours to ensure service continuity
• An ability to work in uncertainty.
• To be professional and work with integrity, inclusivity and respect for diversity

What you’ll need

• Experience of working in a customer focused role
• Experience of responding to and resolving challenging customer situations
• The ability to, and comfortable with, making decisions supported by knowledge and experience
• The ability to build effective relationships with colleagues and other stakeholders so you are able to find the right information, and resolve problems
• Experience of using Microsoft office or similar
• The ability to complete tasks in an accurate and timely manner when working under pressure
• Great written and verbal communication
• Good organisation skills and the ability to time-manage your work load

What we give you in return for your hard work and commitment

• Pension ¦ DC scheme (up to 10% contribution from both colleagues and Great Places)
• WPA ¦ Healthcare auto enrolled at no contribution level with £1250 of savings available - option to increase & add family members
• Annual leave ¦Start at 26 days annual leave, increasing up to 30 days + Bank Holidays
• Professional fees ¦ The business pays the cost of one professional membership fee for each colleague
• The Market Place ¦high street, restaurant & supermarket discounts, gym memberships, cycle to work, smart tech loans and much more
• Health and wellbeing initiatives ¦ Our colleagues enjoy wellbeing campaigns throughout the year, with activities designed around our four pillars of wellbeing, these include career wellbeing, mental wellbeing, physical wellbeing and financial wellbeing

Great Places Housing Group exists to improve the lives of the people living in our 25,000 homes across the North West and Yorkshire. We are much more than just a landlord, providing a wide-range of services and promoting partnership work to create vibrant, sustainable communities.
You can find details of our story, our vision and our values here.
At Great Places, we are committed to using inclusive hiring practices. By embracing diversity and difference, we enrich our teams with varied perspectives, drive, and innovation to create an environment in which everyone can thrive. We welcome applications from people of all identities, backgrounds, and cultures and are committed to fostering an environment in which everyone can be their authentic self; building a workforce that truly reflects the diverse communities we serve.
We love to hear from anyone who is enthusiastic about working in social housing. We know people can be reluctant to apply if they don’t fill 100% of the job requirements. So, if you are unsure that your qualifications and skills are what we are looking for in this role, why not let us decide?
We want to create a recruitment process that allows you to perform at your best! Should you need any support or information throughout the process, please reach out to our recruitment team at recruitment@greatplaces.org.uk

• Responding to a range of customer and colleague queries which will include raising repairs, rent account management, tenancy related issues, ASB queries, re-housing advice and complaints.
• Responding to these enquiries in a timely manner through a range of ways such as over the phone, by email and by webchat in line with our quality guidelines and service standards.
• Providing guidance and assistance to customers to enable them, where possible, to resolve issues themselves or where appropriate signpost to other agencies who can support them.
• Managing difficult situations and customers, but knowing when to escalate more complex queries to the Neighbourhood Colleagues, Specialists or Team Managers.
• Identifying safeguarding concerns and ensure they are dealt with promptly and in line with our guidelines.
• Ensuring that clear, comprehensive and timely records are logged into our systems for all contacts.
• Managing customer expectations about the services we offer and have a good understanding of the customer’s responsibilities when holding a tenancy.
• Part of a team rota, where you’ll be working between the hours of 8am to 6pm.
• You’ll work part of the week in the office, and part of the week from home (once fully trained)
• Great Places Housing Group is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults and expects all our colleagues to share this commitment; this role is subject to a basic DBS check