Customer Service Team Leader

We are seeking to recruit a Team Leader to support the management of our frontline services, including our busy council office, contact centres, and outreach drop-in sessions.What will you be doing? In this role, you will be required to manage and support a team of customer information officers with a variety of enquiries face to face and over the telephone, manage our front-line service across our busy council officers, outreach settings and contact centres. You will work closely with our housing team to ensure our customers receive a seamless experience. You will also lead, manage, motivate, coach and develop a team of Customer Service Advisers by:

• Empowering team members with skills to improve their confidence, knowledge, and communication skills.
• Creating a pleasant working environment that inspires the team.
• Managing performance and attendance in line with the council's policies
• Be confident in dealing with escalations/complex enquires in order to provide a resolution for the customer.
• Managing change effectively.
• To identify and maximise the use of first point resolution.
  
  Previous customer service experience is essential, along with good communication skills, natural empathy, and a good sense of humour.
To succeed in this challenging role, you must be flexible and able to demonstrate the skills necessary to work under pressure within a team environment:
• Demonstrable experience of managing a team.
• Excellent communication and listening skills.
• Able to work as a team.
• Attention to detail.
• Engaging personality.
This role will be based in Northampton, with a requirement to work across our other offices and outreach setting within West Northamptonshire.

At West Northants Council, it's about our people. People who thrive with ambition, bubble with new ideas, demand better ways of working, caring about every detail, and who never shy away from a challenge. Our culture is a gateway for new experiences. A place to forge new opportunities. To empower you in your career and unite you with like-minded people. Our vision is 'to make West Northants a great place to live, work, visit and thrive'. We truly stand by this and work hard every day to make this a reality. Our corporate values, THRIVE, stand for: Trust, High Performance, Respect, Innovate and Empower, they underpin everything we do and how we deliver services. Hear more from our Chief Executive, Anna Earnshaw, about what it's like to work at West Northants Council https://youtu.be/lV0EfeUF4aU We are committed to ensuring diversity, equality, equity, and inclusion is woven into the fabric of WNC and everything we do, to enable all colleagues to develop and maximize their full potential. We are a disability confident employer, a member of the Armed Forces Covenant, and a Care Leaver Covenant partner The following film was created by us to communicate our intentions - watch WNC colleagues explain what DEI means to us.

We offer a wide range of benefits to our employees, these include:
• Generous annual leave entitlement starting at 28 days annual leave per year, 29 days for senior managers (pro rata, depending on how many hours per week you work), plus bank holidays. An additional 5 days, linked to continuous service, and ability to purchase up to 6 weeks additional leave per year.
• Cycle to Work scheme.
• Local Government Pension Scheme plus immediate life cover (3 times your annual salary from day one) and ill-health protection.
• Employee discounts with local and national retailers, days out, finance, health and beauty, travel and eating out plus lots more.
• Car Lease scheme
• Payment of professional subscription / membership - If your job description requires that you are registered with or are a member of a professional body, WNC will pay for your professional subscription or membership fees.
• Employee Assistance Programme - We have an employee support programme run by Health Assured, an independent, external organisation. Health Assured is available for you and your immediate family members, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year and includes telephone counselling, legal advice, bereavement support and medical information.
• Ongoing training and development opportunities.
• A variety of flexible working options to support your work/life balance, including full or part time, term time, 9-day fortnight, etc. (subject to business needs).
• Our West Ways of Working - We want our workforce to thrive, and we equip our employees with the right technology to support hybrid and collaborative working, on or off site, depending on the role.
• Making a difference - If you want to use your skills and experience with an organisation that are genuinely invested in making a difference, are committed to improving people's lives, and whose success has a direct impact on the wellbeing of your family, friends and people in your local area, then West Northamptonshire Council is the place for you.