Waking up to a text declaring: “European winners! Thank you!” isn’t something we do every day – but it was a lovely start one morning in June 2014.
Yorkshire Water’s Waste Services teams had been through a massive transformation during 2013. It had been done swiftly in order to make a difference for customers as soon as possible, and the results had lifted the service from near the bottom of the regulator’s customer service league, to the top. An award-winning tale if ever we heard one.
If that wasn’t impressive enough, the several hundred people who went through the change (which for some included new contracts, new hours and a total change of working processes) trusted their employer more at the end of the change than they had at the start.
We worked with Yorkshire Water to write their entry for the European Contact Centre and Customer Service Awards (ECCCSAs) Improvement Strategy category. They were shortlisted and, after a tough interview with the judges in London, were named winners at a glittering awards ceremony in June 2014.
Patrick Killgallon, Customer Service & Change Champion for Yorkshire Water said: “It is fantastic that the hard work and dedication of the team has been recognised in this arena against some really strong competition from not only the UK but in Europe. We are immensely proud of this award and it builds on winning our own CEO’s award at the end of 2013 for the same project.
“As with any project it is not just about the outcome, in this case which was about improving and maintain at this new level to our Customers, but about the individuals who played their part, big or small, in this transformation.
“On the night of the award it came as a massive shock to the team representatives who were there and 6 weeks on there is still a buzz around our offices because of this.”