Your stories – Glen Tokley

Glen Tokley
Telephony and Customer Contact Technology Lead 

How long have you worked for the council? 

I have worked for the council for 32 years and 59 days as of today (30 April 2024) .

Why did you choose to work for the council? 

I was in between jobs and saw an advert for a temporary community charge (poll tax) officer and applied and was successful. I loved this job and working for the council, and my work colleagues were fantastic, so I applied for other positions and here I am 32 years later.

Describe what you do in 100 words? 

Within my role I enable our customers to contact the council easily and seamlessly by making sure our telephony solution is configured correctly.

This involves routing the calls to the relevant departments and their staff, whilst making sure we use appropriate messaging, options, and other clever configuration to get the customer to the right place and people during our office hours, and of course to our out of hours service in emergency situations.

I will make sure the customer remains well informed by liaising with the departments and putting their messaging on the lines. In future I will be configuring and maintaining alternative contact channels such as WhatsApp.

What do you enjoy most about your role? 

I enjoy the challenge of creating new IVR’s (the method of routing calls) with new queues, options, and messages. It is like piecing a jigsaw puzzle together and needs a thorough thought process to get it right as there is so many areas it could fail.

Throughout your career at the council, what has been your most rewarding moment?  

Throughout my career I can without any doubt say the most rewarding moment (or moments) was when I was a housing advisor and I managed to prevent families with young children from being evicted and becoming street homeless from the family home.

The relief and gratitude shown is priceless.

What would you say to someone thinking about a career at the council? 

I would say go for it, as you cannot beat the camaraderie from colleagues, and the feeling of fulfilment. Forget what you see in social media about corrupt staff and brown envelopes.

We are all here because we want to help, and we do help.

You would be amazed at the skill, commitment and going the extra mile that is involved and this is what a career in the council would be for you.

Describe the council in one word 

Awesome