Date: August 15, 2014
Customer Service Award Nominee:
Employment Counselor – Yolanda Thomas – WDS II
Workforce Solutions – Westheimer Career Office
Yolanda’s daily work exemplifies principles of good customer service both internal and external.
She listens to her customers to determine what services are needed to meet their job search and career goals and to ensure that she fully understands the request. In addition to providing job search guidance and career advice, as required in her role as an Employment Counselor, Yolanda is empathetic and caring. She goes the extra mile not only to provide professional advice and the best service possible but to assure that the customer understands the next step in receiving services from WFS and knows about other available community resources.
Yolanda displays versatility in meeting the changing needs of her customers and co-workers. She is an advocate for the customer and has established herself as a leader among her peers. They defer to her in the absence of the supervisor and she has proven to be invaluable in that role. Yolanda is a team player who encourages her peers. She readily acquires and applies new techniques then proceeds to assist her peer with doing the same. She follows through on assigned tasks, volunteers to take on additional duties and proactively initiates ideas on how to handle situations that arise handling multiple customers at the same time and with her peers.
During a recent office supervisory shortage, Yolanda, by unanimous agreement, was selected by the management team to serve as team lead. Knowing the apparent challenges, she willingly accepted the new responsibility even though outside the normal parameters of her job description. She continues to accept additional tasks and carry out special projects as requested by her supervisor. Yolanda handles multiple tasks at the same time and initiates ideas for continual process improvement. When asked, she didn’t hesitate to utilize expertise from her previous position to assist the office in meeting its 2013 JobPosting Fill goal.The office percentageincreased from 9% to 14.99 % in just a matter of months, with her assistance.
Yolanda is dedicated and hard working. She asks for no recognition for what she does but does it because she loves it. She remains an integral part of the Westheimer team and would be in my opinion, a valuable asset to any team.