Call Monitoring Policy Cornwall Housing Treven Kernow Date: 21/08/2012 Version 2.1
Policy control sheet Current document information Status Reference Approved CMP/021/EW Last reviewed 21 August 2012 Sections amended since last version Reason for change Document type Various Versioned onto new template Policy Document location Area applicability Mid Cornwall: all except Housing Options Version history Version Version created Date approved Date for review Author/s Approved by Revised by 2.1 21-08-12 06-10-10 Aug 2013 E.West + T.Harris Governance Committee J.Robinson + C.Mortensen Equality impact assessment record Date Type of assessment conducted Stage/level completed Summary of actions/decisions Completed by Impact assessment review date 31-08-12 Full Complete See EIA E.West Aug 2015 Cornwall Housing Ltd., Call Monitoring Policy 2
Notes Legal influences on this policy Data Protection Act, 1998 Equality Act, 2010 Non-legal influences on this policy Other documents linked to this policy Tenants Handbook Tenant Compacts Tell us What You Think Policy and customer leaflet Our Customer Promise Policy and customer leaflet Unacceptable Actions and Behaviour Policy Cornwall Housing Ltd., Call Monitoring Policy 3
Table of contents Page 1. Cornwall Housing objectives 5 2. Introduction 5 3. Policy objectives 5 4. Call recording 6 5. Call monitoring 7 6. How will it affect staff and customers? 7 7. Data security 7 8. Data access 8 9. Data retention 8 10. Review 8 Cornwall Housing Ltd., Call Monitoring Policy 4
1. Cornwall Housing objectives At Cornwall Housing, our aim is to provide a housing service which ensures that whenever you as our customer phones, visits or contacts us in any way, you receive consistently good customer service (see Our Customer Promise Policy for further details). Our staff have a responsibility to ensure that services are delivered in accordance with our vision: To deliver high quality homes and housing services to the communities of Cornwall. We expect every member of staff within our organisation to meet the standards of this policy and we ensure that our staff receive regular customer care training. We will always strive to deliver our services with pride, passion, pace and professionalism so that we continuously improve our services to our customers. We will ensure that no individual is discriminated against on grounds of sex and gender, marital status and civil partnership, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, language, social origin, pregnancy and maternity or other personal attributes including beliefs or opinions (e.g. religious beliefs or political opinions). We will promote equality of opportunity by publishing information in different languages or formats such as large print, audio or Braille, on request. 2. Introduction Much of our business is carried out over the telephone and we have set standards to make sure that we provide an excellent service, and we monitor ourselves to make sure this happens. Customer perceptions matter and the style and quality of communication and contact between us and our customers sets the tone for all aspects of our service delivery. We will record all telephone calls received by the Mid Cornwall Business and Customer Support. All staff have the right to work without fear or verbal abuse. If a caller is being abusive to a staff member, they have the right to warn the caller that they will end the call if the abuse persists. If the abuse persists, they have the right to end the call. (Please see our Unacceptable Actions and Behaviour Policy for further details). 3. Policy Objectives The purpose of this policy is to:- monitor the standard of our phone contact with callers, as part of maintaining our service objective of Excellent Housing Services; support staff who receive verbal abuse via the telephone and need to take appropriate action to deal with it; and Cornwall Housing Ltd., Call Monitoring Policy 5
ensure a caller s views or comments are accurately captured if the caller subsequently makes a complaint. 4. Call recording To ensure that we continue to provide an excellent customer telephone service, we have installed a call recording system to record all calls to Mid Cornwall Business and Customer Support, together with designated team phones (0300 1234 161). This will enable us to proactively monitor quality, so that relevant calls can be used for staff training and development purposes, as well as to assist us to reactively monitor quality. For example, in instances where a complaint is received detailing dissatisfaction with our customer service, we can recall and listen to the call and respond accordingly. All calls received by Mid Cornwall Business and Customer Support will be recorded. These recordings will only be used for the purposes specified in this policy. There will also be a designated phone within nominated departments for frontline teams to use should they need to make or take a call on a specific case, or to speak to customers where it would be helpful to have the call recorded. The other designated phones will be within the following nominated teams:- housing management, Falmouth; housing management, Truro; neighbourhood enforcement team; empty properties team (voids); and responsive repairs and planned maintenance. All recorded telephones will be clearly labelled. Callers to the 0300 1234 161 number will hear a message advising that their call will be monitored for training and quality purposes. All the calls made to and from the other designated phones will be recorded. However:- there will be no automated message to inform people who receive a call from these numbers that they are being recorded; there will be no automated message to inform people who call the number directly (not through the 0300 1234 161 number) that they are being recorded calls made to and from the designated lines with Cornwall Council departments when ringing an external line will be recorded (and there will be no automated message to inform callers or people receiving a call that they are being recorded); and internal calls within Cornwall Housing and Cornwall Council will not be recorded. Cornwall Housing Ltd., Call Monitoring Policy 6
In order to comply with the Data Protection Act, we will take all reasonable steps to broadcast as widely as possible that call recording is in place by ensuring that in future:- all correspondence (template letters) issued by staff in the course of their work is annotated with the sentence please note calls may be recorded for training and monitoring purposes. notification of call recording is placed on our website at www.cornwallhousing.org.uk and this policy is available to download. 5. Call monitoring We will only retrieve recorded calls to proactively or reactively monitor performance and satisfaction. This will only be in response to a:- specific satisfaction complaint from a customer or staff member; staff member who has identified a call that they think will be valuable for individual or group training purposes. 6. How will it affect staff and customers? External Lines If you receive a call from, or make a call to Mid Cornwall Business and Customer Support, the call will be recorded. Under normal circumstances it will not be retrieved or monitored, unless:- it is necessary to investigate a complaint; it is necessary in order to resolve a dispute; there is serious concern about a staff member s handling of a call; there is a threat to the health and safety of visitors or staff; it is necessary for the prevention and detection of a crime; or it is specifically requested by the data subject (anyone who has been recorded has a right to request a transcript of that call). Recordings may be used for training. However, this will only be permitted in a group training setting if:- the recording is edited so that the caller remains anonymous; and the member of staff who was party to the call agrees to it being used in this way. 7. Data security Recorded data will be stored within our secure computer network system with limited physical and data access (see section 8 below). Only Cornwall Council Information Systems staff responsible for systems maintenance will have physical access to the system. Data will be backed up daily. Cornwall Housing Ltd., Call Monitoring Policy 7
8. Data access Data access will be restricted to the following:- Cornwall Council and Cornwall Housing information computer technology staff responsible for systems support and maintenance; Cornwall Housing s Contact & Engagement Manager and Business and Customer Support Team Leader. In order to retrieve a call, details of the date and time will be required, and if possible the extension number. 9. Data retention Data will be retained for a maximum of 24 months. The Information Computer Technology Project Officer will be responsible for implementing a rolling programme of deleting recorded calls. 10. Review This policy will be reviewed with tenants within three years. Cornwall Housing Ltd., Call Monitoring Policy 8
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Alternative formats Furvasow Erel If you would like this information on audio CD, audio tape, Braille, large print, any other format or interpreted in a language other than English, please contact:- Mar mynnowgh hwi kavos an kedhlow ma war son-sidi, sonsnod, yn Braille, prynt bras, furvas aral po styrys yn taves dres Sowsnek, kestevewgh mar pleg:- Address Cornwall Housing Ltd Higher Trenant Road Wadebridge Cornwall PL27 6TW Telephone General enquiries and repairs: 0300 1234 161 Repairs (North East area): 01208 893489 Text: 07941 712 712 Email General enquiries and South East repairs: info@cornwallhousing.org.uk Repairs (Mid): midrepairs@cornwallhousing.org.uk Repairs (North East): ncdcrepairs@oceanhousing.com Website www.cornwallhousing.org.uk Cornwall Housing Ltd., Call Monitoring Policy 10