British Gas Case Study

Wendy balances busy family life with her part-time career. Wendy talks about how this is possible working with British Gas.

Wendy balances busy family life with her part-time career.

What attracted you to being a Customer Service Advisor?

For me, it’s all about team work and being able to talk to – and help – lots of different people. I also enjoy being valued for the part I play in making the business a success. Our customers are my customers and, if it’s within my power to help them, I will gladly do all I can to resolve their issues.

Tell us about your family?

I’ve got three children, two boys and a girl – and they all keep me very busy when I’m at home. My working hours allow me to drop the children off at school before work and to collect them afterwards. It’s important to me not to have to use after school clubs. The fact that my British Gas holiday entitlement is given in hours also gives me real flexibility to work around other appointments that are a normal part of family life.

What does a Customer Service Advisor do?

We answer any queries a customer may have and find solutions to their problems. It’s about enhancing their experience and promoting products and services that give them real value. I think it gives customers peace of mind to know we are only a phone call away whenever a situation arises.

So describe a typical day…

8am: I drop the children off at school then travel to work. I’m always logged onto the system and ready to take my first call at 9am.

11am: I take incoming calls from customers and make outbound sales calls. Sometimes I attend a buzz session led by my Team Manager around this time. Normally though I’m busy throughout the day, dealing with customer enquiries and promoting our products.

12 midday: I have lunch in our subsidised restaurant. There’s a great choice of hot and cold meals, as well as fridges and microwaves for when I want to bring in my own lunch.

3pm: I leave work to pick up my children from school.

7pm: I make tea and get the youngest children off to bed and check my older children are doing their homework. I generally fall into bed around 10pm.

What type of person suits this role?

A caring person who is a good listener and calm under pressure. You need to be able to speak to many different types of people and deal with any number of different situations. So being able to think clearly and give professional advice is also crucial. Confidence and a good level of self-motivation are key and you’ll need to be the kind of person who enjoys the challenge of working in a sales-driven customer service role.

What advice would you give someone considering this role?

Be adventurous and be prepared to work hard. If you do, you’ll achieve rewarding results and view every single call with a fresh approach. You need to be comfortable promoting and selling products and handling both inbound and outbound telephone calls.

What benefits can I look forward to?

There are a range of great benefits here for the taking. There are family-friendly policies such as paternity and maternity leave, a child care sacrifice scheme and a policy for carers. Aside from those, you can work flexible hours and shifts across all sites, take advantage of employee discounts and services, career breaks and our pensions scheme. You can even take holidays by the hour.

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• Work life balance