Our engagement programme provides you with the chance to feedback on your experiences, review our performance, influence decisions and shape recommendations for improvement. Volunteers are always active at the heart of every UK community and below we hear from a few members of our customer engagement group about why they get involved:
“I first got involved with Orbit 12 years ago because I wanted to make a difference to people like me who were living in an Orbit home. It’s important to me to use my voice for positive change and when the opportunity to get involved presented itself, I decided to volunteer. I was pleased to meet other residents, as well as employees from Orbit. Everyone was friendly and keen to listen to customer views, to understand what’s most important and make improvements where they are needed. If you want to get involved, training is provided, so don’t worry if you haven’t had any experience – it’s more about your opinion of their services and how they can be improved for you and your neighbours. You can attend meetings in person, or if it suits you better, you can contribute online – it’s entirely up to you. Your voice really does matter and your opinions will be taken seriously, so I encourage you to get involved today.”
Samir, Engaged Customer
“When I first got involved with Orbit I wasn’t in a good place. I had just lost my business and my house, and I was recovering from my second hip replacement. Within eight weeks of moving into my Orbit home I was contacted by my then housing officer as the business were looking for customers to help with the upcoming 2020 vision project.
I applied and was asked to go to for an interview. I was accepted. I then attended a training session in Chester with fellow customers, which covered research and interview techniques. Meeting fellow customers was great as we all had different skill sets that we bought to the project. We worked together for nearly seven months interviewing employees and customers alike. I then became more involved with other engagement activities on Orbit’s Customer Engagement programme and have since worked with numerous customers from across the whole of the housing portfolio.
Orbit doesn’t always get it right and we as customers are well within our right to hold them to account, so that they do. I do this not just for myself, but for all Orbit customers. By wanting to ‘make a difference’ to the services we as customers should expect from our landlord, so I urge you to get on board, join us and let’s hold Orbit to account together.”
David, Engaged Customer, Resident Board Member & Interim Chair
“Orbit doesn’t get it right every-day, they frustrate us as customers which can cause ill feeling. There are two solutions to this, sit at home and feel lost, angry and misunderstood, or do as I have and become an engaged customer.
As an engaged customer I can draw on my experience, and work with Orbit to help improve every aspect of the business, meet staff who actually strive to make a positive change to improve the service and work with the customer engagement team who enable your voice to be heard. We also have the opportunity to interact with other customers from all around the country, make friends and work as critical professionals meeting Orbit as equals to really make a difference and improve our services. We work together to make their houses into our homes.”
Neal, engaged customer volunteer for 11 years.
How you can get involved
You don’t need any previous experience and do not need to take part in every activity - you give as much of your time as you choose and decide what topics interest you.
Our digital engagement platform can be accessed via your mobile phone, tablet or computer. Once registered, you can share your views on topics that matter to you. Get involved: Your Voice – digital engagement platform
Sign up to our monthly E-Zine which lists all of our upcoming activities, training sessions and where you can see how we are using your feedback to make a difference. Sign up today: Monthly E-zine
For more information on how you can get involved, click here.
Get involved in #VolunteersWeek – post a photo or tell us your volunteering story on social by tagging @OrbitHelp on Facebook or Twitter.
