The boss of British Fuel is working from house amid a nationwide power disaster and hovering buyer complaints.
Chris O’Shea, chief government of Centrica which owns British Fuel, advised Cash Mail he is not going to return to the workplace 5 days per week regardless of working-from-home tips ending final month. As a substitute, he’ll keep at house a minimum of one or two days per week in step with the agency’s new flexible-working coverage.
It comes lower than two weeks after civil servants have been urged to return to their desks in a bid to spice up the financial restoration after the pandemic. The Authorities hopes the return to workplace working will assist struggling companies in ‘ghost city’ metropolis centres, whose takings have been decimated throughout lockdown.
Chris O’Shea (pictured), chief government of Centrica which owns British Fuel, advised Cash Mail he is not going to return to the workplace 5 days per week
Critics additionally blame the transfer to house working for plunging customer support requirements at main corporations, with name wait occasions hovering.
Complaints about British Fuel rose from 105,651 within the three months to September 2020 to 154,430 in the identical interval of 2021.
And gripes in regards to the agency’s HomeCare cowl, which gives boiler insurance coverage, greater than doubled within the first half of final 12 months to 191,414 from 69,665 in the identical six months of 2020.
Clients mentioned they confronted weeks with out heating or sizzling water whereas engineers repeatedly failed to show up as promised.
The agency was final week offered with Cash Mail’s Wood Spoon Award for the worst customer support in Britain, voted for by readers.
Britain can be going through a nationwide power disaster, with the typical annual invoice predicted to hit £2,000 later this 12 months.
On its web site, the power large claimed its ‘Versatile First’ working coverage for its 6,000 contact centre employees would enable workers ‘to learn from an improved work-life stability to do issues like handle childcare, caring duty or getting match’.
Britain can be going through a nationwide power disaster, with the typical annual invoice predicted to hit £2,000 later this 12 months
Talking from his house close to Studying, Mr O’Shea – who earns £775,000 a 12 months earlier than advantages, bonuses and shares – mentioned he had requested his chief folks officer to look into versatile working choices however was suggested he would want to stay to the coverage too for it to work.
‘I’m of the agency perception that folks take note of what you do greater than what you say,’ he mentioned. ‘I’ve dedicated to [a flexible policy] and I prefer to maintain my phrase so I cannot return 5 days per week to the workplace.’
Mr O’Shea, who was appointed as chief government in April 2020, claimed the flexibility to run name centres from house would assist ‘give clients what they need when they need it’.
Talking from his house close to Studying, Mr O’Shea – who earns £775,000 a 12 months earlier than advantages, bonuses and shares – mentioned he had requested his chief folks officer to look into versatile working choices
However he added that whereas it’s sensible when it really works, ‘when it doesn’t it’s a nightmare’.
Shopper knowledgeable Helen Dewdney, founding father of The Complaining Cow web site, mentioned there was ‘no excuse’ for Mr O’Shea to stay at house.
She added: ‘There may be an power disaster occurring and clients are fed up with poor customer support. By working from house, the bosses are giving the picture they aren’t taking these points significantly.’
