KEY workers from a Warrington call centre are raising coronavirus cash to help beat the lockdown blues.
Charity challenges ,which happened weekly at United Utilities’ call centres before the lockdown, have now been resurrected by colleagues working on their own from home using apps like WhatsApp and Paypal.
And as an added extra, managers have agreed to boost whatever they raise by£500 a week
In Warrington, the first charity to benefit was Warrington Foodbank, which received a £500 cheque from United Utilities plus extra food donated by staff themselves. With the vast majority of its 500staff working from home, and the skeleton crew of people in the office keeping a wide distance from each other, the call centre building at Lingley Mere Business Park was eerily quiet.
Customer service adviser Katie Holbrook who nominated the foodbank said: “With what’s happening in lockdown, a lot of people are really struggling and what some of them really need is food on the table. The foodbank is round the corner from where I used to work and I know people who have been in difficult situations and are glad it’s there. This is something we can do which could makea difference.
”United Utilities call centres deal with thousands of customer queries and staff there are key workers, not least because they support customers through difficult times, offering payment breaks on their bills, or signposting them to one of the company’s many assistance schemes. Customer services and people director Lou Beardmore said United Utilities was giving £500 of charity cash a week for each of the company’s two call centres in Whitehaven and Warrington.
Staff in both locations will choose a different local charity every week
“Every week, we are keen to support local charities and causes important to our communities. Our call centre staff always do some great work to raise money and we wanted to keep that going. Now more than ever having some fun, supporting each other and supporting our charities and communities is critical and together we can make a massive difference,” she said.
