Acas Helpline Adviser

**Details**:
**Reference number**:
192495

**Salary**:
£24,252

**Grade**:
Executive Officer

Acas Grade 10

**Contract type**:
Permanent

**Business area**:
ACAS - Delivery

**Type of role**:
Contact Centre

**Working pattern**:
Full-time, Part-time

**Number of posts**:
5

***:
Location

Manchester, North West (region), M1 3BN

About the 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.

Acas offices have now re-opened, but Covid safety plans mean that the majority of Acas staff are still working from home. The success of homeworking during the pandemic and the flexibility it offers means that working from home will remain an option for helpline advisers, with individuals attending the office when required.

**Job description**:
We make sure that our customers get advice and guidance that will help them resolve disputes at work. Good questioning skills are vital so we can fully understand a customer’s situation and we are able to explain relevant legislation and options clearly and concisely. Early dispute resolution is an important part of what we do, encouraging callers to take an approach to their situation which will help resolve the issue at an early stage. This can be really challenging as customers are often understandably angry or upset about their situation, and we work hard to remain impartial at all times.

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

**Responsibilities**:
The main role of a helpline adviser is to take inbound telephone calls from members of the public about employment issues, and to offer them advice about their rights and the options available to them. Helpline advisers therefore have to be excellent communicators who can tailor their communication style and language, and can explain complex information in ways that meet the needs of a diverse range of callers.

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 agains