Sanctuary manages rented and shared ownership homes and supports community initiatives for thousands of customers across England. Our staff help make a real difference to the quality of people’s lives.

Customer Service Officer (Housing)

Bow Cross, London – E3

£26,006 - £27,375 per year

37.5 hours per week

We are looking to recruit a Customer Service Officer to join our Customer Service Centre (CSC) team in Bow Cross, London. Your role as a Customer Service Officer is to take inbound customer calls relating to Housing, incidents and queries. Sanctuary has over 100,000 properties ranging from General Rented Housing, Housing for older people, Homeownership, Student accommodation, Care & Supported sites, and Commercial properties.

Being on the front line can be challenging at times but at the same time very rewarding!  Our CSC team handles calls from customers who are looking for a property with Sanctuary, assisting with tenancy related issues and answering any housing related queries including Anti-Social Behaviour, so understandably our callers may be unhappy. We are looking for a particular type of person to be good at resolving complex customer queries and complaints.

Confidence, communication, emotional resilience and empathy – this is what it takes to be a great Customer Service Officer. With these skills, you can understand and respond well to the different ways that our customers can react, ensuring that they have a positive customer service journey.

Although this job can be challenging, every day is different and there is no better buzz than helping our customers by turning dissatisfaction into satisfaction.

A full training program will be provided by our in-house Learning & Development team.

The role of Customer Service Officer will include:

• Managing high volumes of calls, and providing excellent customer service by concentrating on resolving the issues on the first contact where possible
• Liaising closely with our housing and maintenance teams to ensure that issues are resolved in a professional manner
• Having empathy and understanding when our customers may be upset or angry
• Listening out for wellbeing cues, to identify vulnerable customers and escalate to our regional teams or the welfare services, as/when appropriate
• Communicating with residents, staff and external agencies to investigate housing and maintenance related queries and complaints, and provide a positive experience
• Ability to work to deadline and hit KPI’s and to work outside of normal working hours on occasion to attend meetings
• Ability to spot potential for improvements and confidence to make suggestions

Skills and experiences:

• Previous experience in a customer service or contact centre role is desirable but not essential, ideally handling inbound calls
• You must also have a professional telephone manner and the ability to cope with a high volume of calls whilst remaining calm under pressure
• You must be able to handle different types of calls and enquiries, adapting your style to our customers’ needs and be able to navigate computer systems
• Strong organisational skills with the ability to prioritise your own workload, as well as working as part of a team towards shared targets and KPIs
• A positive attitude, a can do approach and great communication skills
• Experience of managing a variety of complex enquiries

Why work for us?

Sanctuary Housing is one of the UK’s leading social landlords, providing around 70,000 homes across England. We give our residents good quality, affordable homes in communities that they can be proud of. As part of a not-for-profit organisation, we reinvest any surplus we make back into the local communities we serve.

Our Benefits    

As part of our commitment to making Sanctuary a great place to work, where your wellbeing is of genuine importance, we have developed an attractive employment package. The package recognises your contribution, supports your physical, mental and financial health and gives you the flexibility to tailor your employee benefits by offering:

• 23 days annual leave
• A pension scheme with employer contributions from Sanctuary
• Life Assurance
• Employee Advice Service including counselling
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Voluntary health plans  
• Employee discounts
• Wellbeing support and tools
• Employee recognition scheme
• £26,006 per annum (rising to £27,375 per annum after 12 months, subject to satisfactory performance)

To view the job profile, please click here

Closing Date: 17 March 2024

We reserve the right depending on application numbers to close or extend the closing dates for positions; we would therefore recommend an early application.

‘For an insight into what it’s like to work for us, take a look at #LifeatSanctuary on Twitter’

Building Equality and Diversity

Sanctuary Group encourages and welcomes applications from people from diverse backgrounds to support our commitment to offering an inclusive environment for our employees and customers.
We work closely with the Home Office in order to prevent illegal working.
Sanctuary Housing Services Limited is a subsidiary of Sanctuary Housing Association, an exempt charity.