Customer Service Administrator

Job Purpose

Job Title: Customer Service Administrator 

Working Hours: 37 Hours Per week, Monday - Friday

Advertised Salary: £25,153 (£4k Inner London Allowance per year if home location within the London area, or £2k Outer London Allowance per year if home location is in the outer London area.)

Location: Home working - Occasional travel to Little Venice, London Hub

We are the charity who look after and bring to life 2,000 miles of waterways across England and Wales, because we believe that life is better by water. Every role across the Trust plays it's part in transforming our canals and rivers into spaces where local people want to spend time and feel better, bringing wellbeing benefits to millions.

The role of Customer Service Administrator is to deliver excellence in customer service. This will involve supporting our customers both over the telephone, email and online notice boards. The role will also involve general administration and financial support to the regional team.

You will be based working from home and applicants should be confident and comfortable to work from home on a permanent basis. You will be required to attend the local hub locations at either Little Venice London, or Milton Keynes as and when required for monthly team and collaborative meetings.

How we make a difference

Knowledge, Skills/Qualifications & Experience

About the role

Key Accountabilities:

• Being part of the regional customer service team, ensuring that all telephone and email enquiries are managed in a friendly, helpful, professional and conscientious way.
• Managing customer enquiries to resolution and in line with our service level agreements in a timely manner through our customer relationship management system Sugar.
• Clearly communicating navigational updates such as restrictions, closures and advice notices via online customer notice system.
• Accurately booking lock passages and pre-bookable moorings for boaters via online customer licensing system.
• Logging reports, faults and failures of boater Customer Service Facilities such as elsans, pump outs, and bins. Liaising with contractors to update live notices.
• Working with internal insurance team to progress and resolve insurance claims.
• Logging all incoming reports of customer accidents, incidents and/or near misses via our internal health and safety system.
• Produce accurate and timely communication for our customers via online notice boards, social media and our website.
• Coordinate the organisation of events and functions within the waterway, for both internal and external customers.
• Provide administration services for the waterway including, minute taking, organisation of occupational health visits and updating of training records.
• Produce accurate and clearly presented reports that support the needs of the business.
• Maintain accurate and well organised systems of records that are easily retrievable (e.g. Sharepoint)
• Use SAP to provide financial and administration services to the waterway, to ensure effective ordering of materials and supplies, to work with notifications and other financial processes. Tasks will include raising purchase orders and invoices and actioning goods receipts.
• Ensure that diversity and inclusion are integrated into all aspects of Trust life.

About You:

• Proven experience in a customer service environment, e.g. providing “front of house” services via telephone, email, notice boards, post, email, social media, etc. 
• Proven experience of administration.
• Communication skills that allow you to inform, help and advise customers clearly and professionally and liaise with other professionals.
• Ability to deal with difficult and potentially confrontational situations.
• Confident in the use of the MS Office word processing and spreadsheet software.
• Confidence, patience, politeness, tact and diplomacy, when addressing customer enquiries
• Calm under pressure, with good prioritisation skills
• Ability to provide a positive interaction and experience with customers on the phone and face to face.
• Understands importance of working safely.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient suitable applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

What We Offer

In addition to your salary, we also offer a competitive contributory DC Pension scheme arrangement, and numerous other employee benefits, including several salary sacrifice benefits we are also open to flexible working arrangements. These include:

• Competitive contributory DC Pension scheme arrangement, where we will double your contribution to a maximum of 10%.
• 25 days paid holiday (plus paid Bank Holidays), increasing to 30 days after 5 years.
• Annual £200 personal learning & growth award to spend on any learning related activity.
• Free access to specialist counselling on a range of issues, e.g. health, financial, well-being and domestic matters.
• Access to a range of employee benefits including store discounts, boating holiday discounts and holiday purchase scheme.
• 2 days paid volunteering leave per annum, allowing you to volunteer for a local community project etc.
• Free fishing facilities across our canal network.

At the Trust we care passionately for our waterways, and as importantly, for those who look after and use them. We strongly believe that a diverse workforce brings with it a diversity of ideas, thinking and ways of working which enhances what we do as a Trust. We are striving to represent the diverse communities that we are a part of and welcome applicants from across all sectors of the community.

All candidates will be treated on the basis of their merits, skills and abilities and solely by being assessed against the requirements for the job.

When you join the Canal & River Trust you become a member of an engaged team working to preserve our heritage for future generations. Come and share your passion and knowledge with a team that makes a difference to millions of people every day.

Find out more about us on our website: https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/about-us