Homes Call Centre Scoops Silver in Top Industry Awards

 

A Sheffield based call centre run by housing management organisation Sheffield Homes has been named as one of the best in Europe.

 

Sheffield Homes was awarded the Silver medal in the ‘Best Small Contact Centre’ category of the Contact Centre World awards, which recognises the top performers in the massive call centre industry. The Company, which manages 42,000 council homes in the city, impressed judges with the quality of its customer services to win second place in the Europe /Middle East and Africa region. It was the only UK finalist in its category for the awards, which were judged by business leaders from across the world. Other categories attracted entrants from corporate giants including Hewlett Packard, Vodafone and FedEx.

 

Sheffield Homes employs 42 people at two contact centre sites to provide a first point of contact for housing related queries for council tenants. It reduced hundreds of confusing public phone numbers to just two, meaning that customers can get a fast, first response on questions ranging from rents and re-housing to anti-social behaviour. Judges for the Contact Centre World awards were impressed by the levels of customer satisfaction offered by Sheffield Homes call centres – 92% overall customer satisfaction and 91% of calls answered within 20 seconds. *

 

The award bid also demonstrated Sheffield Homes’ commitment to offering jobs to local people, providing an excellent training scheme and opportunities for promotion. Around 20% of Sheffield Homes’ Customer Service Assistants go on to be promoted quickly to Housing Officers, demonstrating a clear career path through the company.

 

Jo Radcliffe, Customer Service Manager at Sheffield Homes, said; "Social landlords should aim to give customer service that is on a par with the biggest and best companies in the world. This award reflects Sheffield Homes’ commitment to doing just that. Our staff work really hard to deliver excellent service to our customers and we are delighted that this has been recognized. We won’t rest on our laurels though, we are always looking for ways to improve our service".