Celebrating Essential Workers this Customer Service Week
By Essential Chairman and CEO Chris Franklin
One of our primary goals at Essential is to ensure that it is easy for our customers to do business with our company – from turning on the tap or stove, to seamlessly paying their bill. But when a customer needs to reach out to Aqua or Peoples, that typically means something is not going according to plan with their service. It’s our frontline customer service representatives’ job to help resolve each issue successfully and efficiently, and make sure that every customer has a positive experience.
Many would say that working directly with customers during a pandemic is a little more difficult and stressful than usual. Yet over the past seven months, our essential frontline employees have delivered impeccable service to customers across our footprint with kindness and grace, going above and beyond the call of duty. This week, in recognition of Customer Service Week, we are celebrating the Essential, Aqua and Peoples employees who interact with our customers on a day-to-day basis and provide not only positive experiences, but deliver essential services to each and every customer.
Like many other times throughout 2020, the events affecting the world have changed the way we work and interact. We engage with our customers in different ways and from different locations, yet still strive to provide excellent service regardless of a customer’s circumstance. In 2019, we launched a customer survey specific to experiences with our call center and our field services, which has been instrumental in allowing us to stay in touch with our customers. Our customer service employees are able to respond to customer issues appropriately and ensure any unresolved issues are handled timely – which is vital to each customer having a positive experience, especially in a time of national crisis.
Essential has more than 3,000 employees across our 10-state footprint, who are all dedicated to protecting and providing essential resources for more than 5 million people. Our employees know, that when we deliver natural resources and essential services, we are really enabling people to live better, fuller lives. Earlier in 2020, I asked that we thank the essential workers, including healthcare workers, grocery store employees, our frontline utility workers, truck drivers and so many others. I am personally extending that thanks this Customer Service Week, recognizing all of our dedicated employees who work each day to provide an incredible experience for our customers, both directly and behind the scenes. I thank each of them for their dedication to our mission, and to each of our customers, for they are a huge reason for our success.
