Customer Service Team Manager at the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) Steven Short has been recognised with a Stellar Achievement Award from the Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals (SOCAP), recognising his leadership of contact centre teams across Melbourne and Sydney.

More than 1800 consumers contact AFCA by phone, email and webchat each day, many enduring financial and emotional stress.

AFCA COO Justin Untersteiner says Mr Short has excelled since joining AFCA in 2018, implementing new service standards, a quality assurance model, performance indicators and improving AFCA’s response to natural disasters.

“Steven combines his passion for service delivery with an in-depth understanding of complaints management, and this drives a culture of exceptional customer experience at our front line,” Mr Untersteiner said.

Mr Short, who has more than 14 years’ experience in customer service, says supporting customers in difficult circumstances has “never been more important as we have all been going through tough times with COVID”.

“To be recognised for this award is amazing and I am absolutely thrilled to be this year's winner,” he said.

“Having a supportive, customer-centric culture behind me has enabled all this great work to happen,” Mr Short said, adding he was particularly proud of supporting people after bushfire, storm and floods in Australia during the last 18 months.