The NRLA: Who we are
The UK's largest membership organisation for private residential landlords, the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) supports and represents more than100,000 members across England and Wales.
Created by landlords, for landlords, it offers investors everything they need to run a successful and compliant lettings business, whether they are full-time property professionals running large portfolios or accidental landlords with a single let.
The NRLA is a trusted ally, on hand to guide members through the complex regulatory environment, with all the essential documents and guidance needed to run a successful and fully compliant business.
A truly member-first organisation, innovation is at the heart of what we do and have invested in and developed new proptech solutions for members, including the acquisition of property safety certification firm Safe2 and the development of property management system Portfolio.
A dynamic and fast-paced organisation, the NRLA is a great place to work, and it is not just us saying that, we have Investors in People Gold status to prove it. The association was also named one of the best companies to work for in the UK in a list compiled by The Sunday Times.
Our enthusiastic and ambitious staff work out of offices in Central Manchester and Central London with hybrid working options available. Colleagues typically work from home four days a week with one day in the office.
We are looking for colleagues who are professional, adaptable, and innovative. In return we offer an inclusive and creative working environment with attractive options for training and career development and a competitive salary and benefits package.
The NRLA package:
25 days annual leave increasing to 26 days with three years’ service, 27 days with five years’ service and 28 days with seven years’ service
Additional annual day off for your birthday
Salary exchange Pension scheme
Life assurance
Cash plan health and wellbeing benefit including Employee Assistance Programme and counselling service
Sick pay
Cycle purchase loans, season tickets loans and interest-free staff loans
Complimentary NRLA membership
Non-contractual annual performance-related bonus scheme
Enhanced maternity and paternity pay
Main Purpose & Scope of Job:
Ensure that the NRLA delivers a first-class landlord support service for our members by managing time, coordinating, supporting, training, coaching and mentoring a team of advisors.
Ensure that this leading front-line service always provides effective and professional engagement with members by providing exceptional levels of customer service across all channels utilised. Project the values of the NRLA by promoting its position as the leading independent national organisation.
Find ways to reduce the need to call us by ensuring appropriate online information is provided and signposted to members and that new technologies are tested and effectively deployed.
Duties & Key Responsibilities
People Management:
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Carry out daily team management activities including managing attendance, division of duties, holidays and sickness.
- Manage rota working in conjunction with fellow Team Leaders
- Ensure the team delivers to the agreed KPIs including the Service Level Agreement, abandon rate and agent availability.
- Review and resolve escalations including complaints & satisfaction surveys and provide training and build the knowledge of the team to reduce escalation volumes.
- Ensure that individual team members have the resources, systems and knowledge to complete their role effectively.
- Coaching/training team members in their development, including system updates, IT systems and the private rented sector.
- Monitor performance through individual 121s & performance development reviews, ensuring objectives are set and met. Deal with poor performance when appropriate, involving the Director and the HR department if a team member is consistently not meeting expectations.
- Offer support on any issues that may arise within the team and ensure they are successfully resolved.
- Assign and delegate tasks to team members on an ongoing basis.
- Ensure team members are trained and confident in using all systems required to successfully fulfil their role.
- Recruit and train new colleagues in your team and work with the other Team Leaders to maintain and develop training programs
- Co-ordinate Advisors' offline tasks to make best use of downtime
- Work with other Team Leaders to ensure we make the best use of the Complex Query team
- Ensure the membership database and individual records are managed to a secure and high standard and that the whole team are accurately entering call details and outcomes and regularly cleansing data when possible
Membership Advice and Queries:
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Take personal accountability for the technical content provided by Landlord Support to ensure that it is current, accurate and consistent by working with the Advisers and Policy Teams to develop the NRLA view and update as appropriate.
- Ensure that each channel used for service delivery (inc. chat, video, email etc.) is staffed and managed appropriately
- Review and respond to member queries ensuring successful resolution.
- Deal with the escalation of member complaints and queries
- Ensure that there is an effective escalation or delegation path for complex member queries and ensure that case reports/solutions are shared with the relevant member(s) of staff/departments and the member is satisfied.
- Find ways to reduce the need to call us by ensuring appropriate online information is provided and signposted to members, and that new technologies are tested and effectively deployed.
Reduce the need for support calls:
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Develop insight & research to improve our understanding of members’ support needs
- Explore ways of using segmentation and engagement metrics to improve the handling of different call types, e.g. more experienced landlords are routed to more experienced advisers
- Develop the concept of skills-based routing for the NRLA and trial its effectiveness
- Propose new services or products that can be offered through the contact centre
- Explore ways of improving advisor efficiency by delivering appropriate content & signposting during and after a contact
- Work with the other Team Leaders to contribute to the self-help project to ensure it delivers positive outcomes for our members
Mentoring and Reporting:
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Generate reports on team and individual performance, making recommendations for improvements.
- Monitor and maintain the phone system by reporting any issues
- Manage and report on member call statistics and the call assessment process in a timely and efficient way
- Process writing for new systems developed for the advice service, including live chat.
- Work with fellow Team Leaders and the project manager on optimising the service and efficiencies to be effective
- Communicate with all departments to ensure a joined-up customer service experience
- Ensure team members are answering calls as they arrive in a timely and correct manner, and monitor their wrap and pause times and ensure these are kept to a minimum, to ensure that we meet our KPI obligations at all times.
- Deal with and highlight to the management team any areas of concern on time.
Other Activities:
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Carry out other related tasks required across the department, as instructed
- Take responsibility for the creation and delivery of a programme of improvements for the department
- Ensure that the Landlord Support function improves efficiency and effectiveness by working on projects and supporting the project manager in delivering an agreed list of projects on time and to budget.
- Engage in cross-functional projects across the organisation
Qualifications:
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Educated to GCSE level and must include English and Maths or equivalent
- Ideally have a management qualification
Skills & Abilities:
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Ability to work within a team as well as individually
- Excellent time management and customer service skills
- Attention to detail
- Analytical skills
- Ability to train/coach others
- Good problem-solving and organisational skills
- Delegation skills
- Problem-solving skills
Experience:
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Managerial and supervisory experience
- Solid background in housing
- Experience in resolving escalated housing-related queries
- Experience dealing with complex queries
- Experience working within a membership organisation would be advantageous
- Must have worked in a call centre environment
Knowledge:
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Strong and demonstrable knowledge of the private rented sector and how legislation varies in different regions of the UK
- Computer literate, with day-to-day general use of Microsoft Office including word, excel and PowerPoint
- Detailed knowledge of the legislation and common practice surrounding and the creation, management and ending of PRS tenancies
- Must be familiar with the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR)
- Computer literate, with day-to-day general use of Microsoft Office including word, excel and PowerPoint
Personal Attributes and other requirements:
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Demonstrable team player who can evidence a collaborative approach to working with internal and external stakeholders.
- Willing to travel to offices and occasionally work unsocial hours
- Must be able to deal with several tasks at the same time and be able to prioritise
- Believe in excellent customer service
- Embraces change in a positive manner
- Can demonstrate and hold an affinity to the mission and values of the NRLA
A dynamic and fast-paced organisation, the NRLA is a great place to work, and it is not just us saying that, we have Investors in People Gold status to prove it. The association was also named one of the best companies to work for in the UK in a list compiled by The Sunday Times. Our enthusiastic and ambitious staff work out of offices in Central Manchester and Central London with hybrid working options available. Colleagues typically work from home four days a week with one day in the office. We are looking for colleagues who are professional, adaptable, and innovative. In return we offer an inclusive and creative working environment with attractive options for training and career development and a competitive salary and benefits package.