Calling on customers, be the voice of your community
We’re on the lookout for Abri and Silva customers to join our regional customer panel for the south east.
Do you want to make a positive impact and champion the needs and priorities of your community? Are you passionate about sharing your authentic experiences to help influence how we do things in your area? If that sounds like you – keep reading to find out more about the opportunity to join our regional customer panel for the south east.
A bit about us
Back in October last year, Silva Homes joined the Abri group. It was clear from the feedback of customers in the south east that our plans for a regional model, centred around a large but local approach, would be the best way to respond to a challenging operating environment and, most importantly, to deliver the very best service for our customers.
The south east region, which is the first to go live with our new regional model, is made up of Silva's existing homes, centred around Bracknell, together with Abri homes, predominantly centred around the Windsor area, adding up to just over 13,500 homes in total.
We have our regional board, and now we need our regional customer panel
It was decided that each Abri region would be held accountable by a regional board and supported by a regional customer panel. The south east board are now in place, so now we’re on the lookout for a group of volunteers to join the regional customer panel.
What part does the customer panel play?
The south east customer panel is designed to empower customers in the region to influence and shape decisions made by the south east regional board. By volunteering to be part of the panel, you’ll play an important role in making sure that the customer voice is always considered. Sharing your insight, experiences and feedback will help the board understand what matters most to our customers in the south east, ultimately shaping how they manage the services and experience you receive in your community.
Will I be right for the panel?
We’d love to hear from you if the following two statements are true for you!
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You’re an Abri or Silva customer living in our south east region that covers Berkshire, Surrey, Oxfordshire and South Buckinghamshire
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You want to make a positive impact on the customer experience in the south east region, and can champion the needs and priorities of your community
Don’t worry if you’re not an expert on all things housing, we’re just looking to hear from customers who are passionate about sharing their authentic experiences, that’ll influence how we do things in the south east region.
How will the panel and board work together?
Because this is a brand new panel for the Abri group, we hope customers who join as volunteers can help us shape their involvement and share ideas on how they think the panel should work. As the nature of the panel’s involvement will be focused on the south east region, we’d be keen for the panel to get together in person for four meetings a year, with a few extra opportunities to meet with the regional board and involved customers from various other panels and groups.
Sounds interesting, are there any other benefits to getting involved?
We’re grateful to any of our customers who’d be kind enough to volunteer some of their time to help us shape the services and experiences our customers have in the south east region. And we’d like it to be a fulfilling and worthwhile experience for you too.
Volunteering gives you the opportunity to develop transferable skills like communication and active listening, and gain experience you otherwise might not have been able to. These can be used to make your CV stand out from the crowd and make you an even more attractive candidate to future employers.
It goes without saying that we’ll train you up on everything you need to know, in order to help on our panel, including anything IT related. You’ll also get to meet with other customers who live in your region, with the understanding that comes from sharing similar experiences.
I’m interested, what do I need to do next?
If you like the sound of this opportunity and want to register your interest send us an email to Resident.Involvement@abri.co.uk or give us a call on 023 8062 8062. We’ll spend some time getting to know a bit about you, and together we can decide whether being on the customer panel will be a good fit for you.
Opportunity to lead the panel
As we look to set up the customer panel, we’re also in search of a Chair to lead the group. If you’re interested in the panel but think you could take on a leadership role in being the driving force behind amplifying the customer voice, you might be the person we’re looking for!
As you’d expect, this position will be slightly different to that of the voluntary members on the panel. The Chair will lead the group, amongst other responsibilities, which means that it’ll be a renumerated (paid) position. We’re looking for someone who’s:
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An Abri or Silva customer living in our south east region that covers Berkshire, Surrey, Oxfordshire and South Buckinghamshire
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Passionate about empowering customers to improve our services in the south east
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Able to communicate with, and lead, a diverse range of people
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Confident in influencing change for our customers, alongside our senior leaders
If you’d like to find out more about the position please reach out to us at Resident.Involvement@abri.co.uk or give us a call on 023 8062 8062, we’ll be happy to talk you through the opportunity.
We’d like to have our panel in place in May, so if you’re interested in either of these opportunities, please get in touch with us by Monday 6 May 2024. And if you’re unsure and would just like to find out a bit more information, please don’t hesitate to have a chat with us.
Thank you for taking the time to read about the exciting opportunities we have for you to get involved in the future experience of communities in the south east region.Your voice matters, and together we can use it to drive the positive change we all want to see.