Meet the Reconomy Team – Jon Cox

Job title: National Service Team (NST) Team Leader
Daily number of hot beverages consumed: I’d say I average a solid 4-a-day
Accompanying biscuit of choice: It has to be Bourbons every time. You either love them or hate them, but I love them. Don’t listen to the haters!
How long have you worked at Reconomy?
I’ve worked at Reconomy for over 2 ½ years now, so I’ll be celebrating my third work anniversary here in September. I started out working in the accounts team, and after 18 months I was given the opportunity to be one of only four people selected to join Reconomy’s Leadership and Management Development Programme (LMDP). This afforded me the opportunity to work in different departments of the company, which has given me a really rounded working knowledge of the business. Following completion of the LMDP I’ve since joined the NST team in a supervisory role and have been in this position for 6 months.
What are your core responsibilities?
As NST Team Leader, it’s my responsibility to look after the Account Co-ordinators within the department, and help them to do their jobs as efficiently as possible. Because of the fast-paced nature of the department you never really know what the next customer’s phone call will be about or what their requirements will be. Consequently, we have to be able to react very quickly to meet their needs.
I’m there as a buffer, so if an Account Co-ordinator is struggling to fulfil a customer’s requirements, I can step in and assist. I’m very fortunate as I have a good working relationship with many of our supply chain partners, meaning I’m able to call in quite a few favours if a customer is up against a particularly tight deadline. I consider what I do to be a combination of customer services and problem solving wrapped into one. It’s extremely satisfying when you are able to exceed the customer’s expectations by turning something around really quickly for them.
How do you make a difference everyday?
I like to think that I make a difference by enabling other people to make a difference. Key to my role is helping to develop and coach new members of staff by training them up to be more confident on the phones, so that they can better deal with customer enquiries. Ultimately they are on the front line and are the voice of the business, so if they are performing well and providing customers with a positive experience then it not only reflects well on me, it reflects well on the whole company.
How is the changing face of the waste industry directly impacting upon Reconomy and your job role?
The fact that the waste industry is becoming more and more service driven rather than solely focused on price is, I believe, a good thing. Price is always going to play a part, but the fact that many businesses are looking for a waste management service demonstrates that they are more conscientious than ever about minimising their waste. As market leaders though, we have a responsibility to deliver on this good will by making sure that customers get the best possible service.
Rapidly changing circumstances within the marketplace have also demonstrated that we need to be light-footed and able to react very quickly. The floods in Cumbria at the end of last year and the subsequent clean up resulted in a massive demand for our services. To cope with the influx of calls it was essential that we stayed focused and communicated with each other so that we could prioritise customers with the most urgent needs.
What did you do before you joined Reconomy?
Reconomy is actually my first full-time job. I started working here straight after I finished my A-Levels at college. Originally I was only supposed to be here for 2 weeks – I joined the accounts team as a temp and ended up staying there for 18 months. Though I really enjoyed my time in the department, I wasn’t really looking to follow a career in finance. I’ve always been far more interested in sales, and I feel quite lucky because I’ve been able to move into a role that is a lot more sales-orientated, which really plays to my strengths.
What one possession could you never live without and why?
I live in the middle of nowhere, so I’d be completely lost without my car. As I’m sure you can imagine, being a teenager and living in an area where the buses only ran once or twice a day was massively frustrating. The day I passed my driving test was one of the best days of my life! My car isn’t just a means to get to and from work, my entire social calendar revolves around it!!
What is the best thing about your job?
Definitely the people. The enthusiasm of the people that I work with is extremely infectious and it creates a very positive working environment. If you walk around the office you hear very little negativity ““ people are generally very upbeat and always willing to help each other out. I think this is because everyone here knows that they work for a company that is really going places and that they’re all part of something special.