Acas Helpline Adviser (Manchester) Manchester, England
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About the job
Job summary
Acas helps employees, employers and their representatives resolve problems at work through advice, training, mediation and conciliation.
We are currently recruiting advisers to work on our helpline in our Manchester office.
The main role of a helpline adviser is to handle inbound telephone enquiries from members of the public experiencing difficulties at work. With full training in employment law provided, you will become an expert in employment relations issues. However, your role is not just providing information on employment law - you will be helping customers get to the root cause of their problems and resolve issues at an early stage.
Our staff come from a wide variety of backgrounds including retail, contact centres, education and HR. As you will receive full training previous knowledge of employment law is not essential.
Helpline Advisers have the option of hybrid working, with individuals who choose to work from home expected to attend the office as required. Currently this averages at around 1 day a week. It is expected that the majority of the induction training would be carried out at the office.
There may also be the requirement to travel, including some overnight stays as part of the induction training.
The Acas Helpline vacancies are being advertised across multiple locations. If you are interested in more than one location you will only need to apply once, and should apply under the advert for your first location choice, and list in order of preference any other locations you are willing to work from. As the vacancies are linked you will not be able to apply for more than one. Successful candidates will be responsible for their own travel arrangements and the cost of travel to and from the office.
Job description
Job role:
Handle inbound telephone enquiries and provide high-quality, impartial advice on employment rights, employment legislation and dispute resolution options to employees, employers and their representatives, tailoring advice to each individual
Identify appropriate options for customers, including signposting to relevant support services and referrals to other government services
Identify customers who may benefit from other Acas services and signposting or referring accordingly
Offer callers the option to participate in customer evaluation surveys as and when prompted
Accurately inputting anonymised information about calls into the appropriate database
Utilise weekly development time to keep up to date with policy updates, legislation changes and case law developments
Adhere to scheduled rosters as closely as possible to facilitate availability to meet call demand
Person specification
As we don't know what calls are going to be about in advance and legislation can change frequently, it is important that helpline advisers are motivated self-directed learners, who pro-actively keep their knowledge and skills up to date in order to maintain the highest quality standards of advice.
Helpline advisers have to have good influencing skills. Many of our callers will be angry, frustrated or upset. Advisers need to be able to use their influencing skills to calm them down and get them into a frame of mind to be able to deal with their situation in a way that will help to resolve issues at an early stage.
Most of a helpline adviser's time is spent on the phone and due to the demand for the service there are times when we handle back-to-back calls. Advisers have to be able to remain engaged and to work productively in a sometimes repetitive and often challenging role, and to be resilient and be able to jump straight from ending one call into helping the next caller.
This post is open to anyone who can demonstrate the ability to do the role and work in line with Civil Service values (Objectivity, Integrity, Impartiality and Honesty) and Acas values.
Essential Criteria:
- Strong verbal communication skills
- Motivated and committed to providing good customer service
- Good influencing skills
- Emotional intelligence and resilience
Desirable Criteria:
- Previous contact centre or customer service experience is beneficial but not essential
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Communicating and Influencing
- Managing a Quality Service
- Developing Self and Others
- Making Effective Decisions
We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:
- Communicating and Influencing
- Managing a Quality Service
- Developing Self and Others
Benefits
- Competitive rates of pay
- Civil Service pension
- Full training in employment law
- Inclusive environment
- 25 days annual leave + 8 bank holidays + King's birthday
- Additional 5 days leave after 5 years' service
- Family friendly policies
- Salary advance to purchase annual travel tickets
- Continuity of service maintained for existing Civil Servants
Things you need to know
Selection process details
Application Stage:
- Communicating and Influencing
- Managing a Quality Service
- Developing Self and Others
Interview Stage:
- Communicating and Influencing
- Managing a Quality Service
- Developing Self and Others
- Making Effective Decisions
There will also be a Situational Judgement Task as part of the interview process that will be assessed using elements from the above four behaviours.
In the event of a large number of applications being received, an initial sift on behaviour 1, Communicating and Influencing, may take place and places at interview may be capped.
Further information on the application and selection process and on the specific assessment criteria that will be used is provided in the Candidate Information Pack attached to this vacancy, so please read this thoroughly before applying.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
Nationality requirements
This job is broadly open to the following groups:
- UK nationals
- nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
- nationals of the Republic of Ireland
- nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with settled or pre-settled status or who apply for either status by the deadline of the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
- relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service
- relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals who have built up the right to work in the Civil Service
- certain family members of the relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals
Working for the Civil Service
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles.
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