Customer Service Advisor
At Accent we believe everyone has the right to a safe, secure and warm place to call home. Are you ready to go above and beyond to help our customers with their repairs and maintenance queries?
We’re looking for Customer Service Advisors to join our Repairs team in Peterborough. Our next training course starts on Monday 10th February.
About the role and person:
- Flexible working patterns
- Permanent
Always motivated to achieve brilliant standards of service on every call, our Customer Service Advisors take direct calls from customers, diagnosing faults and raising jobs to ensure their home repairs and maintenance needs are met. It can be a stressful time when things go wrong so strong communication skills, empathy, professionalism and resilience are key. You’ll liaise with contractors and internal departments to monitor and manage works to agreed timescales, keeping the customer up to date with progress along the way. This isn’t your average contact centre role – we work Monday – Friday between 8am to 6pm so your weekends and evenings will be free to spend doing what you love and when you’re at work you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing you’ve provided the best resolution for the customer in the first instance to ensure their home is safe. You don't need to know about home repairs and maintenance - we'll provide the training you need. Our office facilities include free parking, a café and free access to an onsite gym.
To view/download a job description please click here.
Salary
The spot salary for this post is £26,460 per annum (£14.53 per hour) for applicants who fully meet the requirements of the post. Applicants, who do not meet all the requirements of the post, will start 5% or 10% below the spot salary.
What will you get from us?
In addition to a competitive salary and agile working, we also have a focus on employees’ development. We support both professional and personal development, ensuring everyone has a development plan and provide access to a wide range of internal and external learning resources.
You’ll also receive:
- 28 days paid holiday (pro-rata excluding bank holidays) per year rising by 1 day per year up to a maximum of one working week.
- A choice of Pension Schemes including a Defined Benefit Scheme with a 7.5% member contribution or a Defined Contribution Scheme with a 4% member contribution and 4% employer contribution. Both pension schemes provide Life Insurance Cover.
- Option to purchase additional holiday of up to 2 of your working weeks (at managers discretion.
- Employee Assistance Programme.
- "Hapi" Benefits App with multiple discounts.
- Cycle to work scheme.
- Free on-site gym
- Free parking
What skills/behaviours do you need to be a Customer Service Advisor?
- Excellent customer service skills having previously worked within a busy customer focused environment.
- Strong negotiation and communication skills
- Demonstrate resilience to conflict and be able to apply conflict handling skills when needed with customers.
- A positive and practical approach to problem solving.
- Confidently use Microsoft Office and other IT systems.
- Experience of working in a pressurised environment.
- GCSE in Maths and English – Grade 4/ C or above.
- Ability to manage a busy workload with conflicting priorities.
- Previous contact centre experience and knowledge of home repairs and maintenance services are desirable.
Location
The successful candidate will be required to live within a commutable distance to our Peterborough office as this post requires you to be on-site. Upon completion of probation, dependent on meeting of role requirements there may also be the opportunity for hybrid working.
Who are Accent?
At Accent, we believe that everyone should have access to an affordable, sustainable, and safe home, and our work across the country aims to do just that.
We’re a national organisation, but with a community focus. We were formed in 1966 and have grown in the time since, and now provide homes and services to over 40,000 customers.
We understand the impact our work can have in creating better places for people to live by providing well-designed housing, which is in short supply, and building sustainable communities where people choose to live. We are proud of our Homes England Strategic Partnership, which allows us to build even more homes in areas of housing need.
But we are not just about building new homes. We invest in our existing homes to make sure they offer our customers the very best in living standards by adapting to meet new ideas, environmental changes, new regulations for safety and security and modern technology to make them a home for life, in every way our customers need them to be.
Caring for our customers also means caring for their environment. With our ambitious energy-efficient development plans, and our retrofitting projects which are modernising our current homes; we are putting sustainability at the fore so that we can drive value for customers now and in the future.
As anchor institutions in the communities where we work, it’s important we leverage partnerships and seek opportunities for customers that provide the foundations for better living. We build relationships which accelerate and advance our work to ensure customers are supported if they need it and can be happy living in their homes.
Our new operating model puts our colleagues in the heart of our communities. We are committed to building strong relationships with our customers and we work alongside them to co-curate the services we deliver.
We never stop evolving – we are ambitious and driven and understand that great performance is a product of an inclusive and supportive environment, where colleagues can thrive and achieve their best. With a new people strategy and corporate strategy which will sets out our commitments from 2024-2027, it’s an exciting time to join Accent.
If you require reasonable adjustments to any part of our recruitment process, please let us know we will ensure requirements are met.
Please don’t delay in submitting your application. Where roles are urgent or we receive a high volume of applications, we may interview and conclude the process prior to any closing date indicated.
If you have any queries about the role, please email: "PeopleServices@accentgroup.org".
Please note candidates must have current eligibility to live and work in the UK, Accent do not currently hold sponsorship.
We are excited about our future and if you are too, we’d love to hear from you.
