Orbit is celebrating after one of its employees was shortlisted in the prestigious national Housing Heroes Awards 2020.
Customer Services Director, Louise Palese, has been nominated in the Inspirational Leader of the Year category, which recognises an individual who inspires others through their leadership. The Housing Heroes Awards reward and showcase the people that help housing organisations do the vital work they do.
Louise joined Orbit as Customer Services Director in 2016, having previously worked in Immigration, Health and the Education sector.
Her desire to understand the challenges that our customers face, has led to a clear focus on tackling the issues that are most important to our customers, including in-work poverty, universal credit, homelessness, customer safety and domestic abuse.
Louise has forged strong working relationships with a number of partner organisations to allow our customers to benefit from a full wraparound service. This ensures that the support we provide goes far beyond a customer’s housing needs in order to positively impact upon the lives of our customers.
Louise has also pioneered Orbit’s new Customer Hub building in Coventry, where each team from customer services now work alongside each other in a facility that is dedicated to supporting Orbit customers. The opening of the new Hub has been influential in driving Orbit’s customer satisfaction up to 89%.
In addition, she has also been responsible for creating new Orbit services covering Tenancy Services, Tenancy Sustainment and Income. Having the right people in the right roles is paramount to Louise’s success, she is passionate about the work that she does and engages with everyone to create a culture of openness, transparency and continuous improvement.
Paul Richards, Orbit’s Group Customer Services Director, said: ““Putting our customers first as we respond to a changing society is key for Orbit and Louise helps to drive that every single day. Since joining Orbit in 2016, she has developed and transformed our customer services offering. Louise is a clear thinker and strategist – what she doesn’t know she will find out – and her passion aligns with our values. She does not shy away from the big issues and ensures her teams understand and feel empowered to find the best ways to support our customers.
“At Orbit, we support people to excel in their roles and Louise is testament to that. She thoroughly deserves this nomination and I wish her the best of luck!”
Commenting on being nominated for an award, Louise added: “I am delighted to be nominated for such a prestigious housing award. My fresh approach to housing meant that I came into the sector with a fresh pair of eyes and the ultimate aim of ensuring that Orbit’s services should be much more customer focused and streamlined.
“What drives and motivates me is supporting our customers. I have a fantastic team behind me who I strive to encourage and challenge to succeed. I am so proud of what our directorate has achieved, and I look forward to hearing about the other worthy nominees at the awards ceremony.”
The virtual awards ceremony will take place on Thursday 10th September 2020.
For more information on the Housing Heroes Awards 2020 visit: https://www.housingheroesawards.co.uk/