Alistair Houghton visits O2’s giant Preston Brook call centre to meet new head of site, Jason Duffy

IF JASON DUFFY wants to see how far he’s risen through the corporate ranks, he just needs to walk the length of O2’s cavernous Preston Brook call centre.

Because there, barely visible from his desk, thanks to the dozens of desks in between, sits a small mobile phone store.

Duffy started his career in mobile phone retail when the trade was in its infancy, starting as a salesman and learning from Southport tycoon Mike McComb before moving up the ranks at O2.

Last month, he was named head of site at O2 in Preston Brook, which employs more than 1,400 staff working both for O2 and for joint venture Tesco Mobile.

Duffy is new to the call centre world, but he is already annoyed with people who stereotype such centres as dull places to work, insisting that Preston Brook is an “exuberant” place where people take pride in their jobs.

And, as someone who has himself risen through the ranks at O2, he believes that one of the people manning the phones at Preston Brook today could be the company’s managers of tomorrow.

He said: “I started as an adviser. I speak to people round the business, and that could be them.

“The people starting out now, aged 19 or 20 – I could do it, so why can’t they?

“I’ll always have a chat to anybody to tell them what I’ve learned through the years.”

Duffy moved into the mobile phone world 18 years ago, after spells living in Australia and working for the family business, cooked meat supplier Duffy Meats.

He became trainee sales adviser at the Mobile Phone Store, in Lord Street, Southport – the first store in the chain launched by tycoon Mike McComb.

He soon rose through the ranks at the growing chain, becoming area manager and moving to London to open stores there.

By 2000, when the chain was sold to BT Cellnet, Duffy had become head of sales for its 127 stores.

“That was quite a rise up the ranks,” he said. “I learned a lot from Mike.

“He’s still a mentor for me now – I’ve a lot to thank him for.”

In 2002, BT Cellnet rebranded as O2. The business was taken over by Spanish giant Telefonica in 2005.

In 2006, Duffy became head of sales at O2’s chain of more than 400 stores.

“Retail has been in my bones,” said Duffy. “I really loved it. The pinnacle was getting that head of sales job for O2 – that was massive.”

But, last year, Duffy moved away from retail for the first time, taking charge of O2’s telesales operation.

And last month he was named as Preston Brook’s head of site.

“Moving from retail to call centres was a big step,” he said.

“I’d always known retail – I was Mr Retail. I’d known every level from sales adviser up. There was a lot of respect that I’d done that and not just come in.

“It was a personal challenge for me to move to another part of the business. But so far, so good.”

Duffy’s retail jobs saw him travel to stores across the country, while as he rose through the ranks at O2 he spent more and more time at the group’s Slough base.

But Duffy has never been tempted to move from Waterloo, where he was brought up and where he still lives today with his wife and three children.

“When I became head of sales for retail, everybody prior to me had been based down south,” he said. “I was the first person based in the North West who had managed to get a role such as that.

“It was a big thing for me – I wanted to stay close to my roots.”

As head of site, this is the first time Duffy has been based in a call centre. But, as he points out on a tour of the building, O2 has done its best to make it a lively workspace.

“People have this view of contact centres as being quite dour,” smiled Duffy. “But this is exuberant. There’s a lot of buzz.

“We like people to enjoy themselves. You have to do your job, but have fun along the way.

“You spend most of your time at work. If you can’t enjoy it, what’s the point of being here?

“You can see call centres where people are just sat next to each other, and there’s no room. But here we have lots of space and there are lots of facilities. We have a lot of people coming to this building who want to learn from O2.

“We’ve had utility companies come here, and we’ve given them an overview and a tour. More often than not, everybody is blown away. They look from the mezzanine over the size of the building and they’re amazed.”

Unlike some offices which ban personal items from desks, O2 encourages staff to decorate theirs. Family photos are common, but one desk even has a New Zealand flag hanging above it.

It boasts a “break-out area”, The Den, where staff can relax away from their screens and phones. The blue-lit room includes televisions and video games consoles.

O2 invites in local traders to sell products, from handbags to fruit, to the company’s staff.

Some 300 staff have signed up to the Shapeshifters weight-loss programme, where they help each other to lose weight.

Meanwhile, Preston Brook staff have enthusiastically backed the Think Big programme, through which O2’s staff are encouraged to support community projects.

Duffy said: “Think Big is a national initiative – through Telefonica, it’s a global one – but Preston Brook leads the way.

“We’ve done a ton of work with the local community. We’ve just done a sensory room for a school for disabled children in Toxteth.”

Preston Brook handles a wide variety of queries from O2 customers. Its staff handle calls on matters ranging from upgrades to VIP services, reserved for high-paying customers.

On the building’s top floor, 130 staff handle calls from O2’s business customers.

“It’s for quite a wide range of SMEs – it could be a plumber with a couple of guys working for him,” said Duffy.

Part of the site is reserved for a 150-person Tesco Mobile call centre. Tesco Mobile is a joint venture between O2 and Tesco.

Duffy is a relaxed boss, regularly referring to his staff as “the guys” and basing himself at a desk in a corner of the call centre.

“I sit out on the floor,” he said. “I’m very approachable. Anybody can come and speak to me. I do walkabouts and speak to people.

“I’ve had meetings in the last few weeks where I ask people what makes them put the duvet over their head in the morning, or what gets them jumping out of bed.

“There is passion out there. People want to do the right thing. I enjoy speaking to the guys out there and speaking to our customers. That’s where our best ideas come from.”

Duffy is continuing the Preston Brook tradition of giving rewards to staff who come up with ideas to improve the site, or who “go the extra mile”. Prizes include the right to park next to the staff entrance for a month.

“It’s not a big investment, but it’s a good way of recognising the guys,” said Duffy.

O2, he says, remains committed to its UK call centres and to Preston Brook. As O2 develops, he says, there will be more opportunities for its Cheshire staff.

“We are the number one employer in Halton, and that will continue,” he said. “We’re always looking at ways to improve the site itself, and will speak to the guys to find out what we can do differently.

“We’re always, from an O2 business point of view, looking to the next thing to come down the line. We’re not just a telephone company now – we’re moving into financial services and other areas.

“There are more opportunities and conversations we will be having with our customers. There will be different, specialised groups of people coming to the call centre.”