Telecoms provider makes move to answer more than four fifths of consumer calls by the end of this year
BT is to create 1,000 permanent jobs at its call centres across the UK as part of an £80 million investment to improve performance over the next two years.
The telecoms provider is aiming to meet more than 80 per cent of BT Consumer customer calls by the end of 2016. It has already filled an extra 1,000 roles in its call centres in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to enable it to service more customers in the UK. It will double this number between now and April 2017. BT declined to reveal call centre employee numbers.
BT’s call centre in Swansea will be the first to benefit from the recruitment drive, where BT will bring in an additional 100 customer service roles to add to the 50 extra advisors recently hired at the site.
The remainder of the jobs will be spread across the UK at BT’s 32 other existing call centres, with further details announced in the coming months.
Each advisor will each receive an additional 100 hours of training. BT said it is also investing in new “simpler” systems for its advisors, improving service on its website bt.com and has launched the BT App to enable customers to check their bill or track progress of their engineer if they have booked a home appointment.
“Fantastic boost”
BT Consumer managing director of customer care Libby Barr said: “We announced in September 2015 that BT Consumer is going to answer more than 80 per cent of its customers’ calls in the UK by the end of 2016 and this means we need more people in our UK contact centres.
“We will have created 2,000 permanent UK jobs by the end of this process, including agency transfers, which is a fantastic boost for the UK economy and many regions where we are already a significant employer.
“Our advisors have recently agreed to support our investment back in the UK by voting to adopt a new work pattern to ensure we have more people available to answer calls in the UK at weekends and in the evenings. This demonstrates the commitment from everyone at BT to work together to improve customer service and to make things easy for our customers.”
