Customer Relations Officer

Customer Relations Officer; Complaints 

£43,671pa

Origin – Great homes, positive people and strong communities

An inspiring past and a bright future

A home is the essential foundation for a good quality of life, so what we do every day really matters to the wellbeing of our communities.  Here at Origin, we trace our roots back 100 years, building and managing high quality homes as well as providing support services and housing for those who are most vulnerable in London and Hertfordshire.  We work to provide safe, decent affordable homes and support for individuals and communities.

Focused on our residents, our driving ambition is to provide services that make people’s lives easier, and homes and communities they can be proud to live in.  We are ‘not for profit’ and reinvest all our surpluses back into our varied and vibrant neighbourhoods.

The role – Customer Relations Officer; Complaints

We’re looking for a highly experienced Complaints Relations Officer to deliver a professional customer experience for our residents who have made a complaint. You will be responsible for your own complaints workflow and caseload from day one, and you'll need to hit the ground running. You need the skills and knowledge to conduct thorough, high quality and resident focussed investigations,  remaining resolution focussed throughout.

We’re big on communication, so you’ll need to regularly keep residents updated throughout your investigation. Our vision is to provide the best possible complaint service for our residents, making sure we overcome any obstacles to provide our response on time, and to a high standard. You will need to demonstrate you’ve understood the root-cause of a complaint, and actively build (or re-build) trusted relationships with residents so they feel heard and have confidence we’ll learn from their experience.

What you’ll do

This role isn’t about closing cases and hitting KPIs – although that needs to be done too - it’s about meaningfully resolving concerns and developing positive relationships along the way. As a result, the Customer Relations Officer needs to be comfortable working in a dynamic and responsive way whilst being truly focused on service.

You will

• Investigate and resolve complaints, focusing on enhancing the delivery of our services and the relationship with our residents
• Take responsibility to manage your own complaint caseload effectively, with autonomy and to a high, professional standard
• Role model complaint handling excellence, record keeping and time management

What you’ll need

We’re looking for someone who has:

• Strong and excellent written skills with the ability to produce high quality, professional and comprehensive complaint resolution outcome letters – we’ll assess this during the interview process
• Expert problem-solving skills to effectively investigate complaints
• Self-discipline to work independently and be proactive when resolving complaints
• Experience of working collaboratively with other internal departments with a strong, demonstrable passion for forging excellent working relationships, using your fine-tuned abilities, and influencing skills, to work collaboratively whilst focussing on the outcome for our residents. 
• Effective team player who can work collaboratively with residents, colleagues, and senior stakeholders.

Desirable:

• Experience of working in the housing sector
• Experience of managing a complaint’s caseload

Our Values

Our core values are at the heart of how we work

• Take the lead
• Create energy
• Build trust
• Be generous
• Stay grounded
• Remember the little things

We're committed to the wellbeing of our people and in creating an environment that promotes diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.

Our benefits to you

• Origin’s ways of working make it easier for you to balance work and home life.  You will benefit from flexible working which offers you the opportunity to work from where you are most effective, with the technology and equipment you need, as well as access to flexible space for collaborative working.
• Competitive salary of £43,671pa
• A generous 25-day holiday allowance plus bank holidays, that increases with time, with the opportunity to buy and sell leave
• 2 additional ‘giving something back’ volunteer days
• A pension scheme with contributions from 4% - 8% of your salary
• Family leave, compassionate leave and enhanced maternity pay
• Simply Health cash plan providing money back when you spend on health appointments including physiotherapy, dental and opticians
• Interest free loans to help spread the cost of a season ticket or another big purchase
• Annual staff conference, team away days and annual team meal allowance
• Access to Perk Box for fantastic savings on everyday purchases and much more
• Free employee assistance programme
• Opportunities to join staff network groups
• Refer a friend bonus

We’re also committed to ensuring that our people have access to an excellent range of learning and development opportunities including our induction programme, course sponsorship, leadership development, mentoring and talent schemes along with professional membership if it’s a requirement to your role.

Tell us your story

We are looking forward to learning about you. Please help us get to know you by sending your latest CV and covering letter (in no more than 500 words) detailing how your skills and experience meet the job description for Customer Relations Officer outlined above.

Closing date for applications:  8th December 2024

Interviews will be held: Week commencing 9 December 2024

Please note that suitable candidates will be invited to interview throughout the application window and therefore the vacancy may close at short notice. However, all candidates will be advised of the outcome of their application and therefore interested candidates are encouraged to apply at their earliest convenience.