Customer services group to recruit 300 staff over six months

Manchester-based customer services group alldayPA is planning to recruit 300 people over the next six months after revenues more than doubled to £28m.

The ‘on-demand customer services’ group as seen rapid growth since the start of the COVID-19 crisis with turnover rising from £13m in 2020 to £28m this year.

Currently, alldayPA handles phone calls for more than 24,000 businesses across the UK, ranging from small businesses to lawyers, accountants, professional services firms, doctors and a growing number of e-commerce companies.

It answers calls and emails 24/7 and offers a range of services including dedicated customer service lines, appointment booking, online order verification and diary management. It also provides bespoke solutions, such as emergency call-out lines.

However, like many businesses across the country, alldayPA has had to adapt to the changing needs of its clients. As such, it has expanded its customer service offering by introducing web chat, email and social media query management, as these social and online services have supported multiple SMEs during these uncertain times.

It has seen a record number of incoming customer calls during 2021. Recent telephone stats show that the May Bank Holiday was one of the busiest periods of the year – the day after May bank holiday saw a record of 48,000 calls handled in a day.

Head of customer services, Gareth Jeffery, said: “May Bank Holiday was the busiest day we’ve had in five years. Our PAs have been handling, at times, 1,000 calls every 15 minutes. Similarly, the callers are varied and we’ve noticed a mix of consumers and business customers. This has obviously been a really busy period for us, and we see it as a very good sign for the UK economy.

“One big shift in the pattern of calls is that there’s no longer a spike at 9am in the morning or 6pm at night, weekends have become busier and weekdays have become more quiet. It seems that people don’t consider weekdays as work days necessarily anymore. There’s been an obvious change in the behaviour of both businesses and consumers. The pandemic has altered your typical nine-to-five day and a five-day working week.”

Company founder, Reuben Singh, said: “The pandemic has accelerated changes that were already happening. The digital world has transformed customer expectations.

“Customers want 24/7 service and businesses need to be accessible and responsive to compete. The last year has seen record numbers of new businesses created. It’s an exciting time to be an entrepreneur.”