Sheffield call centre needs 100 new staff after successful roll out of home working

Nikki Welsh, director of group HR and managing director Phil Westoby.

Eco, formerly EC Outsourcing, is still on a recruitment drive despite hiring 131 people in January, many from the struggling hospitality and retail sector.

The firm employs 100 in Sheffield and 400 in Sunderland and is on track to hit 600 employees by the end of February, it says.

Bosses say growth is due to the success of moving 500 people to home working last year. The company does sales and customer service for seven energy, retail and gaming clients.

Phil Westoby, managing director of Eco, said: “Like many businesses in the UK, we had to innovate slightly during the original lockdown and move around 500 of our staff to working from their homes which has been a huge success, a real testament to the spirit and determination of our staff.

“As a result, our clients have been eager to increase the number of customer service and sales agents across the business based on the results of the previous 12 months, and the successful roll out of home working.”

The jobs in Sheffield will be a mixture of customer service and sales for energy clients, with some working in the office at Dearing House on Young Street in Sheffield city centre and some working from home. The firm moved in 12 months ago.

Mr Westoby added: “We’re committed to keeping home working as a regular fixture now moving forward, even post-Covid.

“Our recruitment team has been working non-stop alongside our marketing team to utilise our social media to attract new talent to the business.

“We’ll be recruiting extensively across the next few months in order to help our clients reach their sales and customer service targets in quarter one.”

Eco was established in 2013, by 2014 it employed 200.

Last week, Sheffield call centre company CC33 offered more than 300 people a job after a Hartlepool utilities firm went bust ‘to ensure there is no hardship during this period’.

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