At San Jose Water, customer service is a job that spans from assisting customers in understanding their water bills to overseeing the rollout of advanced metering technology, and everything in between. We had the chance to sit down with our newly appointed — though not new to SJW! — Director of Customer Service to learn a little more about her and her goals stepping into this new role. Read on for an employee spotlight Q&A with Director Sharon Whaley.
Hi Sharon! Can you tell us what your role is at San Jose Water, and what your career path was to get there?
I am the Director of Customer Service here at San Jose Water. I have had a very long and interesting route to this current position. I was here many years ago, during the late 80s and early 90s, during what I call drought number one. We did have mandatory conservation at that time, and I was in the role of public relations specialist. I left to raise a family and then came back 21 years later, and have had so many opportunities since then. I came back working in conservation, then I moved to recycled water. And all along the way I was also dabbling in the communications side of things.
Ultimately, I was the Communications Manager here at San Jose Water, and then stepped in when we had some opportunities open up here in customer service. So I am happy to be with so many familiar faces that I've worked with over the years.
What's your connection to the San Jose area?
I consider myself a transplanted native here in California. I was born in New York then moved out here and spent most of my growing up years in Cupertino. I am a graduate of San Jose State, and I have an MBA from Santa Clara. I raised my family here in the bay area, too. So I’ve been embedded here for a long time.
What's your favorite part of your role at San Jose Water now?
I'd have to say the people. I definitely am a people person. I like working with our customers. And I like working with our staff. It really is a small family here. And the one thing we all have in common is that we're here to serve. There's a driving passion to make sure that we are aiming for a world class service. That is something we are deeply committed to. And we're going to do everything possible to make sure that we provide a great customer experience every time we touch a customer, whether it's online, on a phone call, or out in the field with any of our staff.
Coming in as Director of Customer Service, what can customers expect to see from you in this role?
I think we're going to see, over the next few years, a lot of technological changes. Most people don't view water as a high tech kind of company. I often have heard, ‘it's just water, how hard could it be, it's just going through some pipes, and it falls from the sky’. But to make sure that you have water every time you turn on the tap, and it's high quality water, there's a lot of people working really hard behind the scenes to make sure we have that infrastructure in place so you don't think have to about us, you just go about your day, and water is there.
For example, we're rolling smart meters out over the next few years. And that's going to really revolutionize the way we provide customer service. Customers and San Jose Water staff will be able to see exactly the same data at the same time, and we will have granular water usage data that we just don't have today. So we are on our way to providing that for customers. It's something that's been asked for for years, and we've wanted to provide it. It's a huge lift to put 330,000 meters in the ground. But we are doing it.
What are some things you personally do to conserve water?
We have removed all the lawn in our backyard. Now it is all planter beds on a drip system. We plant drought tolerant and California native plants, because I think they're really beautiful. I encourage others to do it, too! You can design your landscapes with scent or color in mind. There’s so many different options out there to mix and match. So really, it's not a sacrifice. I think many years ago when you talked about drought tolerant planting, people thought it would be like a cactus with some rocks around it. But now there's just so many gorgeous options and I definitely think it's something people should all consider adopting.
Is there anything else you want to say to SJW customers?
Even though the drought is over and mandatory conservation has gone away, I really would advise people to still use water wisely because we never know when we're going to be back here. History shows we'll be back again. So of course let's use what we've got right now during this bountiful time of rainfall — but let's use it wisely.