MEET THE TEAM: PAWEL JASKIEWICZ

If you’ve had a file reviewed with us recently, the chances are our business quality analyst, Pawel (or Pav as we all know him), was providing the feedback.

Since he joined B-Compliant last year, he’s really been pulling his weight. Luckily for us, the keen powerlifter has the skills to take it all in his stride!

England bound

I joined the financial sector straight from school, landing a basic customer service and cross-selling role for a consumer credit company in my home country, Poland. It didn’t pay very well, but I had lots of downtime between customers, which I used to devour as much information about the industry as humanly possible.

After a while, I decided a change of pace and a new environment was in order, so I emigrated to the UK, where I landed a job as an administrator on a payment protection insurance (PPI) project in Northampton. Once I’d committed to the idea, the move went pretty smoothly, although not knowing anyone here was certainly anxiety inducing to begin with!

A year or so later, I managed to secure a contracting role for another PPI provider. The catch was, the job was based in the North East and I had less than two weeks to make it happen. Despite this being a logistical nightmare, I decided to throw caution to the wind and I went for it. Luck was on my side and I managed to sort everything out for my starting date.

I rose quickly through the ranks, going from a complaint handler to a subject matter expert and then team manager. By this point, I’d seen thousands of complaints and staff turnover in the hundreds. It taught me a valuable lesson – sacrificing quality for quantity is not the way to go and will only lead to trouble down the line.

Instead of taking the easy way out, I made it my priority to ensure my team had all the training, support and attention I could give them. It paid dividends. By treating the work I was doing as an investment, not wasted effort, we outperformed our counterparts and were consistently ranked top team in the project.

Compliance comes calling

After a brief stint as a mortgage adviser, I finally decided to focus my career on compliance. I landed a role as a file checker for a wealth management company, which gave me the opportunity I needed to further develop my skills.

Checking countless case files allowed me to truly embrace my focus on quality. I also had the chance to experience virtually all aspects of compliance, whilst working with advisers and colleagues from across the business.

It was around this time I discovered a new hobby – weightlifting. Whilst I probably won’t ever reach the dizzy heights of competitive level lifting, I enjoy the idea of pushing myself to my limits and seeing what I can achieve.

At work, however, the office politics finally got the better of me and I decided it was time for another change. The idea was to return to contracting and I soon found a new role with a major firm on a huge complaint handling contract. I passed my accreditation with flying colours – complaint handlers must demonstrate their proficiency by successfully dealing with a set number of cases in a specified time – and I was on course to make this my new home for the foreseeable future. That’s when I received an email from a recruiter asking if I’d be open to a chat about B-Compliant…

Common goals

Within the first few minutes of meeting Vicky and Jeremy, it became obvious we shared the same uncompromising approach to standards. The idea of working for a small firm really appealed – there would be none of the artificial barriers inherent in large organisations – and instead, I could focus on putting people, integrity and quality first. When they offered me the position, I accepted immediately.

And here I am now, doing my best to help and educate our clients by providing them with rigorous file reviews, carried out to the best of my ability. Everyone I work with is genuinely looking to provide good value and they are as competent as you can get, so I learn something new every day.

We all embrace the values we promote and I particularly like the fact we don’t just sell ‘off the shelf’ solutions. Instead, our services are tailored to our clients’ needs. In the context of file reviews, this means we don’t see them as a tick box exercise. We take time to understand the firm’s clients, their circumstances, motivations and objectives, which puts us in a position to assess the advice provided objectively and offer an honest opinion on any potential blind spots.

We will always give credit where it is due and highlight strong points and good practises within a file review, as we believe it helps our clients give a consistently good service. This is why I put particular emphasis on the KYC information. Every file is a story, behind which are real people.

Years of experience in complaint handling has taught me that the more we know about where clients were when they decided to speak to an adviser, the better the outcome will be. It also improves your chances of reaching a fair resolution if things don’t quite go to plan further down the line.

If you would like to know more about our wide range of services, or discuss how B-Compliant’s support could benefit your firm, don’t hesitate to contact us on (0161) 521 8641 or email: info@b-compliant.co.uk