Jessica

Jessica's STORY

Customer Service Specialist, E.ON Energy UK

Customer Service Specialist
E.ON Energy UK

When Jessica first joined E.ON, she had never worked in an office before. She had concerns that her condition – Multiple Sclerosis (MS) – might have a negative impact on her work and prospects. However, her fears proved to be unfounded thanks to E.ON’s supportive approach.

What do you do and where do you do it?

I’m a Customer Service Specialist in the Data Share Team. I’ve been with E.ON for just over seven years now, it was my first proper job after university. I had graduated in 2011 and spent a year looking for work without success. Certain jobs – like working in a shop – were out of the question because of my condition. So I started looking for more of an office based role and E.ON was the first company to come along that was willing to provide me that opportunity.

I was initially based in the contact centre, but they could see it wasn’t quite right for me – so they offered me a role in credit operations which worked out to be a much better fit for my skill set. Since then I have gone on to work within a number of business areas and have recently started a new role working in the Data Share team.

How does E.ON support you?

E.On had belief in me during the interviews – and I’m happy to say they’ve believed in me ever since. They’ve been so supportive and understanding from day one and I have never felt the need to keep my illness a secret . For example, I started off working in the contact centre,but they could see it wasn’t quite right for me – so they offered me a role in credit operations which worked out to be a much better fit for my skill set. Since then I have gone onto work within a number of business areas at E.ON and have recently started a new role working in the Data Share team”

They’ve been supportive in other ways too. For example, by kitting out my computer with speech recognition software. This means I don’t have to worry about hand tremors or shakes disrupting my work. They’ve also been sympathetic when my condition had worsened. MS can flare up at any time and 2014 was a pretty bad year for me. I had to take quite a few days off, but they were very understanding. After consulting with me, they adjusted my rota to make life easier going forward. I now work a fixed shift pattern, and I find this routine and consistency has helped prevent further relapses.

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E.ON believed in me during the interviews – and I’m happy to say they’ve believed in me ever since. They’ve been so supportive and understanding from day one and I have never felt the need to keep my illness a secret.

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What Challenges have you faced and how has the company supported you in overcoming these in order to develop?

I am visually impaired and did some thorough research on assistive technologies that could support my role As a member of the call centre team. I use adapted software called JAWS (Job Access with Speech), a computer screen reader programme that allows sight impaired users to ‘read’ a screen through text-to-speech output. The company has taken every opportunity to ensure that I have everything I need to succeed in my role.

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I’m grateful to E.ON because they haven’t just given me a job – they’ve given me a career.

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What about training and development?

The company has also invested in my training and development and my team managers have always been on hand to help with my progression.. I’m grateful to E.ON because they haven’t just given me a job – they’ve given me a career.