“This is undoubtedly a worrying time for everyone, and I want to do my bit to help every time a customer gets in touch. Our teams out in the field are carrying out critical work to keep the power flowing, and I’m proud to be part of a company which is playing an essential role in the fight against coronavirus.” Jordan Fay, social media officer and web content editor.
As coronavirus forces increased online interactions between customers and businesses, digital teams have become more important than ever before. As part of our Keeping Us Connected campaign, we look at the work Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) is doing to help its customers online.
Jordan Fay, a social media officer and web content editor, is part of the team that monitors SSEN’s social media channels. The team also manages the networks’ website and its ‘Power Track App’, which allows customers to alert the company of faults via their mobile phone.
Fay said: “We’re here 24/7 to help and support our customers with whatever they may need, from power cuts to connection queries. To ensure the safety of our customers and engineers in these challenging times, we’ve also been asking customers a few more precautionary questions when they contact us on our digital channels to report a power cut.
“The safety of our customers and our staff has always been our number one priority, and so where possible, our engineers will carry out their investigations and repairs without entering the customer’s property.
“To help us do this, we’re asking customers to confirm whether their electrical meter is located inside or outside of the house, as this is where our equipment will be too. We can then let the team going to the property know before they arrive, that little bit of extra information can make all the difference and helps them adhere to the government guidelines on social distancing when working at the property.”
While social-distancing measures mean the majority of shifts are now done from home, Fay and her colleagues are required to work from the office for the overnight shift. To help maintain safe social distancing, only a skeleton team is in the building. Despite this and thanks to WhatsApp, the team is able to keep in touch regularly.
She continues: “Although we’re now working on our own, we have our team WhatsApp group where we regularly chat and check in to see how everyone is doing.
“Also, as most of us have pets, we’re sending daily pictures into the chat group to show how our pets are ‘assisting’ us while working from home. It might not seem very important, but it helps us all to stay positive and brings some joy to the day.”
Keeping Us Connected is a new series from Utility Week in which we highlight the achievements of employees across the utilities sector in getting the UK through lockdown. To nominate a member of your team for recognition, please email jameswallin@fav-house.com.