Contact Center Supervisor - Water Utility

Aqua, an Essential Utilities company, employs people in a variety of roles within our eight-state footprint, ranging from field workers and customer service representatives who are on the front lines working with customers, to scientists and engineers who help ensure we're delivering reliable water and wastewater services to our communities. If you're looking for a rewarding career helping improve our environment and protect our natural resources, we encourage you to join our team!

About Essential Utilities

Essential Utilities, Inc. delivers safe, clean, reliable services that improve quality of life for individuals, families, and entire communities.

Operating as the Aqua (water and wastewater services) and the Peoples and Delta (natural gas) brands, Essential serves approximately 5.5 million people across 10 states. We are committed to sustainable growth, operational excellence, a superior customer experience, and premier employer status - including a competitive and comprehensive benefits package as well as a commitment to career growth opportunities.

We are advocates for the communities we serve and are dedicated stewards of natural lands, protecting more than 7,600 acres of forests and other habitats throughout our footprint.

Our company is one of the most significant publicly traded water, wastewater service and natural gas providers in the U.S.

Are you looking for a fantastic career at Aqua? We have an exciting opportunity for a Contact Center Supervisor in our Aqua Customer Operations [ACO] team in the Kankakee, IL area!

While reporting to the Contact Center Manager, this person will be responsible for the day-to-day supervision of the Customer Service Representative team within the Contact Center site to ensure that a high-level of customer satisfaction is being met while maintaining key operational metrics. This individual is responsible for ensuring daily service level goals are met, quality standards are adhered to, and appropriate staffing levels are in-place to meet call volume.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES:

• Directly manage day-to-day activities of Customer Service Representatives who are handling customer calls in a high-volume call center environment.
• Oversee daily activities of the Contact Center by supporting, following, and promoting standardized procedures.
• Promote positive communication and build cross-functional relationships across the ACO teams as well as other departments.
• Manage established polices in conjunction with the Human Resources [HR] department; this includes being responsible for the reporting, compliance, and adherence to these policies.
• Identify, establish, and communicate Contact Center Key Performance Indicators [KPI's] to meet customer-related performance requirements; this includes ensuring that Company policy, procedures, programs, standards of performance, and objectives are adhered to / achieved while also identifying areas of improvement.
• Create / maintain a working environment that fosters high performance while also recognizing and rewarding excellence in individuals and teams in order to improve employee commitment to performance and developing a culture of employee empowerment.
• Promote and utilize Workforce Management resources.
• Audit and approve bi-weekly time sheet submissions.
• Prepare reports and monitor productivity for all phases of team level Contact Center activities.
• Handle complex customer inquiries when Supervisor assistance is required.
• Identify, implement, and apply principles of conflict resolution within the Contact Center team.
• Evaluate current processes / services to provide information & recommendations to management that maximizes customer satisfaction.
• In the absence of the Contact Center Site Manager, this role may serve as the Group Representative in meetings.
• Work as an escalation point of contact for internal & external Aqua customers.
• Conduct ongoing effective performance management for direct reports; this includes communicating organizational & team objectives as well as identifying strengths & development needs of your direct reports to meet current & future needs.
• Assist Site Manager in maintaining the Contact Center buildingin order to ensure working condition suitability, building maintenance requirements, and security for employees & company assets.
• Interview, hire, set high-performance standards, and manage performance in accordance with all applicable HR policies / procedures; this includes creating an energized work environment, fostering an atmosphere that enables employee trust & engagement, inspiring confidence, and motivating others to perform at their best (especially when developing / coaching staff while effectively addressing performance issues).
• Assists with other tasks or projects, as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• High School Diploma (or Equivalent); Bachelor's degree is preferred.
• At least 2 years of professional experience in working customer service and/or business-related activities; professional leadership experience is preferred.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES:

• Excellent written and verbal communications skills; this person will be expected to communicate effectively (clearly, concisely, and professionally) with internal customers.
• Strong customer service skills.
• Ability to work well under pressure.
• Ability to work on multiple projects simultaneously and adapt to changing priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• A Team Player demeanor with the ability to work effectively and multi-task in a team-fostered environment.
• Demonstrated experience with solving complex and difficult problems associated with merging/sharing resources between multiple locations.
• Computer-literate with advanced proficiency in Microsoft Office applications.
• Preferred candidates that have state-of-the-art experience with Contact Center technology (CIS, ACD, IVR, WFM tools, social media, websites etc.).

WORKING CONDITIONS / PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

• Perform sedentary work - exerting up to 20 pounds of force occasionally, and/or a negligible amount of force frequently or constantly to lift, carry, push, pull, or otherwise move objects (including the human body); sedentary work involves sitting most of the time.

Aqua, an Essential Utilities company is an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action employer. Equal employment opportunity is provided to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to the following legally protected characteristics: race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, pregnancy (including childbirth and related medical conditions, including medical conditions related to lactation), physical or mental disability, covered-veteran status, genetic information (including testing and characteristics), sexual orientation, gender identity or expression or any other characteristic protected by applicable local, state or federal law.
Aqua is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities. If you have a condition that may prevent you from applying for a job online or need to request an accommodation during the interview process, please call (1-877-271-9012).
To maintain the integrity of the recruitment process and to avoid real or perceived conflicts of interest due to employment and/or assignment of family members and personal referrals, specific guidelines apply to the hiring and assignment of these individuals including, but not limited to:

• Family members cannot result in a supervisor/subordinate reporting relationship
• Family members cannot work in the same department.