National Recognition for Emergency Work

Posted by on 25 May 2005 | 0 Comments

About 600 hours of call centre work by seven City Council Customer Service Centre staff in the first week of the 2004 flooding emergency is a proud record and it’s been recognised tomorrow (Thursday) by the Westpac Bank.

The staff, led by their manager, Glenda Parata, will be awarded the Westpac Banking Corporation Business Community Service Award by the Area Manager, Business Banking for Manawatu/Wanganui, Steve Davey, for “their outstanding work during the emergency.”

The Customer Service Centre staff were nominated for the award by the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management.

City Contact General Manager, Peter Eathorne, says the award is well deserved.

He says during that crucial first week and the weeks that followed they responded to calls from around the region, clarified information, reported decisions made by the regional emergency group established during that period, assisted Red Cross with requests for assistance and relief and took calls that other call centres couldn’t handle.

“The award will be recognition of the work the staff carried out over that period in what was difficult and challenging times for the community,” Peter Eathorne says.

Glenda Parata says in the first two weeks following the emergency the team took 21,700 calls, more than double the normal inquiries the Customer Service Centre handles. Two-thirds were calls received by the relief 0800 line they established together with the Red Cross.

“The team was absolutely fantastic. No-one went home at night until the calls had reduced sufficiently for the after hours staff to handle,” she says.

“They also worked willingly through the first two weekends to handle calls.”

Source: Palmerston North Council.

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