customer service representative

analyst

handler

technical analyst

marketing executive

Water Plus

I left my catering job to work for water plus because the money was better but when i got there and the 3 short months I lasted I went in there a confident willing worker to a depressed mess on meds to keep my depression in check that this place caused. The 3 weeks training was useless and served no purpose on shop floor u take 40 calls a day and alot of the calls u get u have not been trained to handle. Adding to the stress the management is horrable to the point there a clicky bunch u know will stamp on u to better there selfs I felt bullyed by one of the team leaders while I was there got dragged in to the office twice in one week cause i was not coping with the job and they did not like the facts I spoke out about that so because of the high stress and was not getting any help and felt completely hopeless I went home one night and just had a massive brake down and because of it i have been heavily depressed on the highest dose of meds I can be on and now jobless struggling to suvive with what I got the only good thing about this job is the other call agent staff that worked with me made 2 great friends in my academy but as caree people do not apply run for ur life horrable job managers dont know how to lead lot of back stabing from managment level and bullying from management I was told by the team leader in question who took me on to the meeting rooms to talk about my behavor and she said well if ur not happy here u should just leave I was like wtf in my head I just gave up my other job to be here is hard enough finding a job in stoke on trent and now I'm unemployed on strong meds for my depression struggling on universal credit thanks alot water plus.

Water Plus is a genuinely good place to work. After comparing roles and benefits across similar businesses in the region and in the sector, the package here is very competitive. Colleagues are supportive, teamwork is strong, and there are real opportunities to progress if you bring the right attitude.

Leadership is a real positive. The CEO is supportive, visible, and clear about what we need to focus on to build a profitable business and deliver great service for customers.

Some negative reviews feel unbalanced. Support and training are available, but you need to engage with them. Progression is possible, I’ve seen it first-hand but it comes with performance and effort. This isn’t the place for anyone expecting rewards without contribution.

Overall, I’d recommend Water Plus to people who want to develop, take ownership and be part of a business with a clear direction.

A typical day at work was working on the phones, having to deal with both verbally abusive customers and then having to deal with a verbally abusive Team Leader. Getting shouted at because someone in a higher position decided to incur late payment fees and DCA Fees on the customers account. You can't win no matter what solution you found. Ultimately the job made me miserable so I left. 

The Monday to Friday 8:30 to 17:30 hours are ok but I found I was working to pay the bills and didn't have much left to have a decent social life. 

Micro-management on a scale beyond ridiculous. I was also getting verbally threatened by my tl in front of everyone. 

The way certain people are treated within each team is a joke. I was genualy giving it 100% but got labelled as being the idiot in the team. Other people in the team made mistakes and they got away with it.   

I still speak to a couple of people who I got on with, and people seem to be on the verge of walking out. I've got a new role with a different company in January but people should know what they are letting themselves in for.
 

Advice to management 
* Scrap the three way call system, it doesn't work.
* TRAIN PEOPLE PROPERLY 
* Keep a close eye on your team leaders. Some are decent but others you need to watch out for.
* Reconsider the monthly pay as it's not suitable for everyone ( For those living alone etc)
* Pack it in with the bullying , micromanagement and favouritism. This is why people are leaving.

First off, I saw the mass exodus to waterplus from my previous job. Like everyone else I was attracted by the reasonable starting salary and the 'normal hours'.
I took the leap. 

In a nutshell, big mistake. This place is so poorly run I don't know how they are still in Business.
To be fair the training team are fantastic. I can't fault them. They try their best for a business that changes its mind more times than my Mrs trying on shoes for a night out.

Once out of training that is when the cow pat hits the oscillating blades. Clueless managers, targets plucked from thin air. Performance meetings based upon imaginary numbers. This place has a very bad gossiping culture also. As stated in previous reviews it is very much a case of to get promoted your face must  fit and you have friends higher up. No promotions are on merit.

The work, best summed up as mind numbing. If you like doing the same thing over and over and over and over and over again go for admin.

If you like being screamed at, insulted and have an escalation every call go for customer services. 
I genuinely feel sorry for the customers. They are promised fixes after major billing errors and they might as well relieve themselves in the wind. 


If your career means anything to you I implore you to avoid this place.

There are some wonderful people that work here but we just don’t have faith in our senior management (and they seem to be growing with every month but we seem to be shrinking  at Agent level, the ones bringing the money in!)
Feels like we don’t know what we are doing as a company. All i know is that the targets are unrealistic and the pressure teams are under is ridiculous. We get regular senior management briefings where we are told we aren’t doing well and we need to work harder even though we are at breaking point. For the price of all these extra senior managers you’d be able to get loads more staff in on the ground where we need it.
Pay is ok, benefits are standard. Moving into a new office where only some people can park outside, rest have to park 10 mins away but guess it’s free at least.
There used to be flexible working and we had 2 days working from home. They’ve changed that now to only 1 day, and they basically said we should be grateful it’s not 5 or no one is being made redundant. 
For the sake of the good workers here I hope they can turn it around, but I doubt they can if the last 6 months is anything to go by.

There are pockets of some incredibly talented and hard working people there that go above and beyond to help the business perform. Unfortunately, few of these are in senior management positions that can really make a difference.
The Exec team is the team that keeps growing and actually it's a talent to grow that much and still not achieve anything! The leaders seem lost and unable to stick to any kind of plan that they make. So much money has been wasted over the years on consultants and firms to help rescue the business, but surely with a team that size they should have some expertise in house by now. On the shop floor there isn't much faith in the business improving because we promote a lot of the time on if your face fits rather than if you could do the job.  The leadership team don't seem to be held accountable for failure like the rest of us and they still get their bonus even if the company is millions in debt.

This has to be the worst company I have ever had the misfortune to work for.

The actual staff are great, it is all the management levels that are bad, from Team Leaders to Senior Management.

Team Leaders are promoted based on being mates with management, or actually in relationships with management, no one is promoted on merit, which means they don't have a clue on how to do the actual job, other than shouting and/or threatening staff.

They constantly disregard employment law, which to be fair, staff don't know their rights are constantly violated, so the get away with it.

Hours are 8:30 to 5:30, however, you have to start work at 8 as it takes that long to log on, if you are not on by 8:30 your get warning of disciplinary action.

They are constantly changing their minds on priorities, so you never know what or why you are doing things, you only have to read the Google Reviews to see what customers think of Water Plus who had the worst complaints recorded with OfWat than any other water company.

I was part of the new intake in June 2016 to train as a Customer agent for the combined customers of Severn Trent and United Utilities. Training was fine and plenty of help at hand from ST and UU personnel.
I was selected to work in an elite team of 22 but this depleted to around 10 in a few months and they were not replaced. The call rate went up to approx 35-40 calls per day. A lot of the calls became complex and there was not enough time to to service individual calls and answer the phone with-in 5 rings as well. Pressure grew enormously.
Co-workers were good hard workers and a generally nice place to attend. 
The team lead was doing their best but the higher management did not address the shortfall in personnel.
I left after 10 months.

I worked at water plus for a few years and the office I worked at was sound. The people were amazing and the atmosphere was chill. But the managers don't know how to manage properly. You get a 'comfort break' for 10 minutes a day but they have a go at you when you actually use it. I was off sick more than 3 times in a year and got told off a few times, which was ridiculous. The training is so bad, you get training for 3 weeks then get chucked onto the call floor. Also, you get customers screaming at you, calling you names and everything but don't get any support after these calls. The place is very much work driven and doesn't care about their staff. However, the people working at the Sheffield office are the some of the best people to work with. If you are wanting somewhere fun, draining and depressing to work go here! 

I joined late Feb just before Covid!  everyone was welcoming and all people at all levels want to do the right thing for the customer.  The CEO puts his people first because wise enough to know happy folk means happy customers.  There are many things to improve, training not where it needs to be but plans and changes for deployment are ready to make the difference.  over the past 9 months I have noticed a difference in shift of working as one team, it was siloed now its much more united with everyone pitching in.  Although no one wanted Covid I do think its made us stronger.  Hardest thing is trying to do too much at once via the improvement program, the best thing is the wonderful team in it together feeling, the people are simply great.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Customer service representative 4 salaries reported	£25,399 per year
Analyst 3 salaries reported	£32,333 per year
Handler 2 salaries reported	£25,000 per year
Technical analyst 1 salary reported	£36,500 per year
Marketing executive 1 salary reported	£26,500 per year

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