Serco : Sandwell team achieves industry first with top customer service standard

Date: 16 Aug 2016

Serco's environmental services team in Sandwell has been awarded Customer Service Excellence (CSE) accreditation - a national standard which assesses and recognises organisations with outstanding performance in customer service. Serco is believed to be the first and only company within the waste environmental services sector to achieve this important milestone.

Serco underwent a rigorous assessment process to demonstrate that is working within the high standards required by CSE and places the customer, and the customer experience, at the heart of its service provision in Sandwell.

Assessors concluded that: 'the Sandwell team were found to have a deep understanding of, and commitment to, Customer Service Excellence. This commitment was displayed from senior management through to operations and front line staff'.

Serco now aims for all its environmental services contracts to achieve CSE accreditation over the next three years. It will also use the CSE best practice framework and toolkit to support continuous improvement in Sandwell.

Robin Davies, Serco's Marketing & Business Development Director for Environmental Services, said: 'We are delighted to achieve the Customer Services Excellence Standard which is a real endorsement of the hard work and effort put in by our local team day in, day out and their commitment to going the extra mile for the residents we serve.

'Serco's environmental services business is truly unique in the way we place local residents at the heart of service design and delivery. This first accreditation represents an important milestone for us and we are confident that all of our waste contracts will achieve this standard over the next three years.'

Serco's customer centered approach to environmental services sees the business survey over 15,000 local residents each and every year across its contracts. This feedback is used to support continuous improvement across frontline services.

A significant number of Serco's service payments in environmental services are directly linked to customer satisfaction which also helps put residents in the driving seat by giving them real power in helping focus the company's efforts on local issues and priorities. Over the past five years, Serco has worked to increase customer satisfaction to over >90% for collection services across its contract portfolio.

Also, across a number of contracts, Serco enlists local resident volunteers, known as Community Champions, to provide eyes and ears on the ground and report any problems. This enables Serco to tackle local environmental issues before they become a bigger problem.

Ends

For more information, please contact:

Tracey Cobbett, Head of Media Relations
Tel: 07590 779 327 and Email: tracey.cobbett@serco.com

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