Customer Care Agent (Work from Home)

Primary Role

Responsible for responding to customer inquiries with courtesy and professionalism. Responsible for addressing customer concerns efficiently and completely via the telephone and correspondence as appropriate. This position will be a remote union position represented by UWUA Local 640, and will be required to be within a 2-hour radius from our Gary, IN office.

Key Accountabilities

• Receives inbound calls from customers related to American Water services.
• Clarifies the needs of the customer, answers customer inquiries, and assists in the resolution of concerns.
• Tracks and documents customer contacts.
• Remains accessible to achieve appropriate adherence levels.
• Maintains a high level of application, process, and water utility knowledge.
• Handle customer interactions in a courteous and professional manner.
• Handles difficult calls and avoids escalation whenever possible.
• Continuously improves call handling skills, systems knowledge, water utility knowledge and communications skills to enhance the customer service levels.
• Provides exceptional service to the customer that meets or exceeds all business expectations.
• Supports and sustains a positive environment that fosters team performance and individual excellence.
• Remains receptive to performance feedback and continuously seeks to improve skills.
• Maintains adherence to all policies, procedures, programs, standards of performance and approved business objectives including those involving communications, community relations, human resources, health, safety, and security.

Knowledge/Skills

• Demonstrated problem solving and decision-making skills.
• Excellent customer service and team orientation.
• Strong organizational and communication skills.
• Proficient typing and personal computing skills.
• Personal computing experience, including Microsoft Office applications.
• Bilingual Spanish preferred.

Experience/Education

• High school diploma or state accepted equivalency certificate

• Two years of experience in related business environment and customer service.

• SAP and utility experience a plus

Role Expectations

• General Expectation: A successful candidate cannot leverage this position to care for small children or a sick spouse/parent. The candidate needs to be able to focus 100% of their attention to training and taking calls during their 8-hour shift. Mandated overtime is required in this position.
• Home Address: The home address that they provide to you needs to be the address where they can have equipment delivered. This address should not be changed with FedEx/UPS once the equipment has been shipped.
• Home Environment: Must be free from distractions. A successful candidate needs to have a quiet space in the home, free from distractions and background noise.
• Internet Speed Test: We will ask that the candidates submit a speed test to validate their internet speeds. Additionally, we ask that the candidate have a non-satellite-based internet provider.
• Time Off: During the 90 day probationary period, candidates should not miss any time. All appointments need to be scheduled before the start of class. If you have pre-existing plans please communicate to your TA partner prior to starting for review and approval. This ensures proper training is not interrupted.
• Transportation: The candidate needs to have adequate, reliable transportation.
  • In the event of a technical issue that cannot get resolved with the AW service desk, the employee has two hours to drive to the Gary, IN office for our local T&I tech to resolve the problem.

Competencies