Correspondence Clerks

Job purpose

To read incoming correspondence, gather the records needed to answer it, and compose letters and electronic replies on matters such as damage claims, credit enquiries, delinquent accounts, incorrect billing and unsatisfactory service, so that writers receive an accurate, properly authorised reply and the exchange is fully recorded.

Skills

• Knowledge of office and records procedures, of written English — composition, grammar and spelling — and of the billing, credit and account arrangements that the correspondence turns on, with the arithmetic needed to compute charges. Secondary-level education is the norm, with a substantial minority holding a two-year degree, plus a few days to a year of on-the-job training; little or no prior experience is required.
• Writes to external customers and members of the public in composed letters and in standard form letters, setting out governing rules and regulations in plain terms. Confers with colleagues in other departments on whether a request can be met, and handles a large volume of telephone, e-mail and face-to-face contact besides the written work.
• Establishes from each item what the writer's concern is, gathers the pertinent records and checks them for completeness and accuracy, and judges what can be answered directly and what must be routed elsewhere for reply. Problems are procedural, with precedents and standard formats available, but decisions are frequent and carry through to colleagues and company results.
• Works a continuing flow of correspondence against response deadlines under time pressure, with appreciable latitude to set the order of work within standards set by others.
• Seated keyboard and paperwork with repetitive motion: typing, assembling documents into the prescribed form with the correct number of copies, and preparing records for despatch by certified mail.

Responsibilities

• No supervisory responsibility. Works as part of a group and at times coordinates others to get a piece of correspondence completed, and relies on the output of the departments to which items are routed for reply.
• Computes the cost of records furnished to requesters and writes to obtain payment, ensures money collected is properly recorded and secured, and processes orders for goods requested in correspondence. Holds no budget and commits no expenditure; charges and terms are set elsewhere.
• Ordinary care of a workstation, correspondence and control systems, and the office equipment used to produce them. No responsibility for stock or plant.
• Maintains the files and control records that show correspondence activity, attaches supporting records to replies, and compiles data from records into periodic reports. Reviews outgoing items for format and typographical accuracy before submitting them to an authorised official for signature, so final content rests with others; accuracy matters, since replies state the organisation's position on claims and accounts.

Effort required

• Sustained accuracy across a repeating cycle of reading, record-gathering and drafting. Each reply calls for judgement about what is being asked and what the records will support, and decisions are made frequently and to a deadline.
• The correspondence concerns money owed, claims declined and service that has fallen short, so a proportion of it comes from people who are dissatisfied or discourteous, and disputes arise that must be handled with composure in writing and on the telephone. Contact with colleagues and the public runs at a high volume.
• Seated at a workstation for most of the working day, with repetitive keyboard use and document handling. No lifting or exertion.

Working conditions

• An indoor, environmentally controlled office shared with colleagues, where surrounding noise can be distracting. No physical hazards; exposure is psychosocial, from conflict situations and from correspondents who are angry or discourteous.
• Incumbents are on a regular established schedule, most at around forty hours a week although a substantial minority work longer. Time pressure attaches to response deadlines and much of the work repeats, but there is real freedom to determine priorities and decide how individual replies are handled, subject to sign-off of outgoing correspondence by an authorised official.