Customer Service Officer

Job title: Customer Services Officer

Salary: C1 £29,542 to £32,046

Hours: 37 full time

Contract: Permanent

Location: Contact Centre, Merrion House

As a Customer Service Officer, you will thrive on supporting the Citizens of Leeds, often in vulnerable situations.

Leeds City Council is one of the largest employers in the region with over 14,000 employees. We seek to recruit and develop talented individuals who embody our council values and ambitions .

About you

As a Customer Service Officer, you will bring to the role:

• A commitment to excellent customer care and putting the customer at the heart of everything you do.
• To be able to recognise and act quickly and sensitively in cases of potential risk or high priority.
• The ability to communicate effectively using a variety of media including by phone and in writing with a wide variety of people in a polite and tactful manner.
• A good understanding of the Data Protection Act and its application against computer systems.
• Ability to take ownership of customer enquiries and to resolve most enquiries to conclusion without assistance.

About the role

As our next Customer Service Officer, you'll be part an important team within the Contact Centre, supporting the citizens of Leeds.

You'll have the opportunity to assist some of our most vulnerable customers. You must be resilient to pressure as at times there may be exposure to customers who may be highly emotional, expressed through verbal aggression, and who may have distressing and complex personal circumstances.

The role is integral to our Care & Safeguarding team, mostly dealing with calls to our Adult and Child Social care lines.

What we offer you

We take pride in offering the best employee experience, with benefits including:

• a competitive salary and annual leave entitlement plus statutory holidays
• membership of the West Yorkshire Pension Fund with generous employer contributions
• flexible and hybrid working arrangements subject to service requirements
• a clear career pathway and continuing professional development opportunities
• a range of staff benefits to help you boost your wellbeing and make your money go further

How to apply

Please complete the online application form.

Read our guidance for further advice on completing your application.

We welcome applications from everyone and actively seek a diverse range of applicants from all backgrounds and cultures. We particularly encourage applications from, but not limited to, women, carers, veterans as well as LGBT+, ethnically diverse, disabled and care experienced people. This role is based in the UK. Home Office guidance states that candidates must evidence their right to work in the UK prior to commencing employment, either as a UK or Irish citizen, under the EU Settlement scheme or having secured any other relevant work visa.

If you do not have the right to work in the UK, you must consider your own eligibility for sponsorship for a particular role through the Skilled Worker visa route before applying. To be eligible for sponsorship you'll usually need to be paid the standard salary rate of at least £41,700 per year or meet one of the other eligibility criteria. Please ensure you are eligible before applying.

Job Description

Job purpose

To provide high quality front-line advice and support to customers at the Council's Contact Centre.

To ensure that a responsive, professional and caring service is provided to all customers, across all channels at all times.

To maintain a thorough knowledge of customer issues, processes and related services to enable you to deal with and resolve most enquiries without assistance, including detailed, complex and sensitive cases.

Responsibilities

• To provide the highest level of service to customers and maintain a polite and professional manner at all times.

• To take ownership of customer contact, and to resolve most enquiries for Council services independently, remaining focussed and completing tasks to a high standard despite the competing demands and potential emotional pressure of the role.
• To arrange for customers to receive specialist advice if needed, and to make appointments for customers as applicable.
• To deal with difficult situations effectively, and to be polite, professional and adapt your approach in diffusing the situation.
• To be able to recognise and act quickly and sensitively in cases of potential risk or high priority
• To have an excellent knowledge of customer service techniques, principles of service standards, processes and procedures and a proven track record of applying the skills in a Contact Centre environment, and to constantly achieve excellent customer satisfaction.
• To be aware of and promote digital options and notify opportunities for improvements to customer service through application of digital solutions in all aspects of customer contact.
• To enter into positive, persuasive and controlled dialogue with customers, employing customer service techniques, and to balance quality of contact and outcomes with productivity.
• To deal with non Council enquiries within agreed guidelines
• To be aware of and maintain knowledge of Council procedures, services and IT systems and related community services, and to advise or direct customer enquiries appropriately.
• To follow escalation procedures for service failures and know when to escalate cases to a Manager or Senior Officer where these have been exhausted.
• To be trusted to negotiate payment arrangements and process payments for invoices.
• To anticipate and identify potential challenges, and to use persuasion, negotiation and trouble shooting skills to resolve them.

• To work with colleagues, teams, other Council services and partners routinely to work in partnership with other Departments and agencies to ensure optimum service delivery.
• To respond to non-telephony contact using correct spelling, grammar and to specified timescales ensuring the highest level of service to customers.
• To arrange, organise and complete administrative procedures within the Contact Centre as required.
• To ensure effective and efficient input to recording systems and assist in the development and promotion of new and existing systems using Information Technology.
• To be accountable for the content of reports, statistics and other management information as required.
• To train, motivate and advise new and existing staff as appropriate, including highlighting opportunities for development and undertaking a 'buddying' or coaching role.
• To demonstrate Contact Centre functions to visitors as appropriate
• To maintain complete confidentiality at all times and to sign a declaration to that effect.
• To fully understand and adhere to the requirements of Data Protection legislation, treating customer information as a valuable asset, maintaining it's accuracy and protecting it's security.
• To carry out duties in accordance with the Council's Equal Opportunities Policy and other policies which respect the rights and needs of customers.
• To carry out duties in accordance with Council Values.
• To use own initiative and judgement, providing quality outcomes for customers with complex queries from a range of options
• To ensure your ...