Claire Thompson

Recruited to a newly created role to support the Head of Client Management through a period of rapid growth within our campaign.

Key Responsibilities

• Led customer service teams to exceed challenging targets in fast-paced BPO contact centre.
• Coached and developed five Operations Managers, overseeing 500 employees remotely.
• Scaled operations to accommodate 600 personnel in South Africa.
• Established strong client and vendor relationships, facilitating effective contractual negotiations for four-year contract extension.
• Streamlined processes to enhance operational efficiencies across organisation.
• Analysed performance metrics to pinpoint opportunities for operational improvement.
• Fostered collaborative environment, promoting positive team dynamics.
• Oversaw HR processes including disciplinary actions and flexible working arrangements.

Achievements

• Key part of bid team securing new 4-year contract.
• Leading role in the upscaling of our South African operation.
• Working successfully across multi-disciplined campaigns, including Bereavement, Vulnerability, Complaints teams and maintaining high standards of delivery.
• Only person in the organisation at my level to achieve Star status on the 9-box grid.

Recruited to take on the role of Service Delivery Manager, leading a team of 5 Team Leaders and 65 agents and gaining promotion to Operations Manager within a 3-month period.

Key responsibilities

• Lead a team of Service Delivery Managers and 150 agents, managing performance, conduct, absence and attrition in line with company HR policies
• Ensure performance targets are met through careful analysis of data and translating that effectively to managers to execute delivery of KPI's
• Manage, monitor and improve upon current shrinkage and attrition figures
• Use effective time management strategies to ensure the biggest impact is made on performance
• Communicate effectively with all levels of the business
• Conduct 121's and undertake any relevant training to plug skill or knowledge gaps
• Coach and develop Team Managers and create a talent pool within our teams
• Create an environment that people want to work in through effective employee reward and recognition programmes
• Providing data and contributing to key client meetings, fostering close working relationships
• Keeping knowledge current with industry changes

Achievements

• Within 4 weeks of being in role, I have established myself as a strong leader, recognised by other Ops Managers and asked to share my best practices
• Being accepted into a team who have lacked leadership and where performance levels are low and gained respect whilst immediately positively impacting performance
• Raising standards and expectations of Team Managers and agents and helping to successfully overcome the demotivating effect from customer base to unidentified
• Selected to work on changing the face of the entire induction programme to ensure campaign wide attrition figures are lower and a better standard of ES is cultivated
• Taking part in the recruitment of the new SDM's

Based in Cambridgeshire, I ran a chauffeur company mainly providing airport transfers for corporate clients. I am responsible across all functions of the business, however, my key strengths lie in the process implementation required to run the business at scale and building a strong team to ensure 100% client satisfaction.

Key responsibilities

• Managing team of 40 drivers and 6 office staff
• Scheduling and planning all the driver's workloads and managing any last-minute changes under pressure, which could be anything up to 200 jobs per day
• Projecting any potential issues with scheduling ahead of time and plugging the gaps. This could be holidays or periods of increased demand.
• Recruitment, induction, engagement and training of drivers and office team
• Managing the driver's rates of pay, to ensure maximum profit and cost efficiencies, whilst ensuring drivers receive a fair rate for their outputs
• Troubleshooting any logistical issues with passenger routes
• Managing budgets and costs, liaising with suppliers and stakeholders as necessary
• Producing budget and profit reports
• Manage all aspects of the HR process, including coaching and training and identifying the gaps through regular reviews and engagement
• Ensuring high quality standards of service for trips completed (approx. 2500 per month)
• Responsible for the Health and Safety standards both in vehicles and office
• Leading from the front, creating excellent company culture

Achievements

• Recognised as the leading provider of Chauffeur services in Cambridgeshire
• Increased revenue by 300% in 5 years
• 100% fulfillment of all journeys booked, year on year
• Excellent driver retention levels, some drivers having been with the company 8 years
• Built team from 15 to 40 drivers in a 4 year period

Working on the Teacher Pay Reform contract which was a new Government initiative to make teachers pay related to their performance. This was an extremely challenging project that was met with strong resistance from teachers. Being part of a small project team from it's infancy, I was able to influence change from a Team Manager level, which enabled significant career progression for me to Operations level within 2 years, where I managed the day to day performance of the team at the age of 24.

Key responsibilities

• Lead a team of call centre staff
• Support Head of Operations in streamlining procedures during infancy of the contract to meet Government KPI's
• Establish a good working relationship with the client
• Implementation of procedures across the operation
• Deliver training and coaching on dealing with difficult calls
• All aspects of HR including appraisals and coaching

Achievements

• Promoted 3 times in 2 years due to consistent high performance
• Process implementation in my teams saw a 98% approval rating from users of the service, compared to 89% on average in other teams
• Improving the communication across all departments to work towards common goals by leading working groups with a cross-section of employees
• Lead employee engagement across the department
• My team had the lowest attrition across the unit