Head of Customer Relations

We’re looking for a Head of Customer Relations to join our team here at Wickes. 

Each problem expressed by a customer must be treated with care and understanding to ensure that our customers feel well supported during the complaint handling process.    

As Head of Customer Relations you’ll lead and inspire a ‘best in class’ Customer Relations Team and approach to complaint management ensuring strong customer recovery and business outcomes across a variety of escalated situations.

You’ll also  take strategic responsibility to ensure we learn from poor experiences and meet our customer expectations in the future, by surfacing issues/trends for the broader business to address, driving action through continuous improvement and imprinting an ethos that gets it right first time for the customer. 

What you’ll be doing:

Lead, inspire, develop and manage a highly knowledgeable and competent team of 30, with high engagement levels & recognised as a high performing team within the business

Lead and drive effective management of escalated complaints across a variety of technically complex and sensitive areas, including court claims, pre court action, GDPR and breach allegations, personal injury and property damage, press complaints, discrimination and staff conduct allegations, section 75 and finance mis-selling allegations

Responsibility in relation to customer claims and issues that are high risk and present potential impacts to brand reputation, and working with our PR agency to build statements

Direct support and “go to” for the Executive Team in dealing with customer issues and bringing them to resolution,  working closely with the CEO

Achieve and grow excellent customer satisfaction for the recovery of customer complaints, influencing future customer advocacy

Assess customer complaints, building root cause data & insight and embed this back into the broader business, working across stakeholders and levels to ensure bad experiences can be reduced in the future

Managing significant costs to the business appropriately - compensation budget on an annual basis, delivering a consistent approach to the application of compensation & goodwill

Minimising business risk & commercial exposure by Ensure the Furniture Ombudsman, Financial Ombudsman Service and Court claim processes  are conducted effectively 

Responsibility for managing, warranty claims across core, and showroom sales channels - making appropriate judgement calls to balance customer and business outcomes

Management of non standard, but critical processes to meet key business targets, such as closure of Section 75  legal complaints and managing customer issues where orders have a risk of finance expiring to ensure that they are dealt with effectively and in a timely way. 

What we’re looking for:

The most suitable candidate is likely to have  over 10 years experience in a customer service/executive resolution environment and the oversight of the regulatory and compliance environment as they relate to customer service with experience of ensuring appropriate mechanisms are in place to meet regulatory accountabilities. As well as this you’ll be an excellent, empathetic communicator with customers & colleagues across all levels. You’ll have extensive team management experience- able to lead and inspire large operational teams giving organisational clarity and purpose. As well as this you’ll have: 

Strong Judgement - ability to apply/coach in a variety of complex situations

Strong organisational skills & management of performance within the team

Experience of developing resourcing/workflow plans to ensure we meet key business objectives & improve service. 

Excellent collaboration, networking, impact, influencing and stakeholder relationship management 

Strong knowledge of the Customer Service industry, new trends

Composure in highly stressful or adverse situations, employing reason driven decision making and keeping those around calm. 

What can we offer you?

You’ll be supported with fantastic learning and development and have the opportunity to grow and develop your career with us.

We’ll also equip you with a benefits package that includes: 

Competitive bonus

Save-as-you-earn scheme

Car allowance

Private Medical and Life Assurance

Enhanced contributory pension scheme 

Colleague discount 

Discount platform including savings and cash back at numerous retailers, savings on gym membership, cycle to work scheme

Our widely recognised wellbeing strategy is something we’re proud of at Wickes. As part of this, we offer a range of health and wellbeing benefits and support, including an Employee Assistance Programme, financial education & loans, and access to parental, menopause and fertility support. 

You’ll work from our Northampton site, where our Customer team are based, along with our other support functions.  We recognise the value of bringing our teams together to collaborate, support each other and build on our amazing culture.  We are also encouraging our teams to work flexibly, with a blend of remote / office working. 

About Us: 

Wickes is a multi-channel retailer operating in the home improvement market.  With 50 years in industry, Wickes now generates revenue in excess of £1.6bn across 230 stores delivered by 8,000+ colleagues.  

But it is the Wickes’ culture that is considered its best kept secret; it’s a collaborative, down to earth, fun and inclusive environment where people feel part of a winning team. All our colleagues come from different backgrounds, but what we all have in common is a determination to succeed and a passion for being the best we can be. If that sounds like you, we’ll make you feel right at home.