Twelve months ago, Gentoo's complaints team was drowning. Tenant satisfaction sat at 70%, and the regulatory clock was ticking.

Fast forward to today: TSM scores have hit 80%, they've achieved C1 regulatory grading, and the organisation has been certified as a Great Place to Work.
Here's how they did it — and what other housing associations can learn from their transformation.

In a recent webinar, Michael McGuigan, Customer Voice Manager at Gentoo, walked through exactly how they made it happen — while supporting over 60,000 customers across 28,500 homes.

The Starting Point: Recognising the Need for Change

At the end of 2023, Gentoo were facing issues that will sound familiar to many in the sector:

• Siloed working and fragmented communications
• A reactive culture focused on compliance over prevention
• Excel-based reporting that was out of date by the time it reached teams
• High escalation rates from Stage 1 to Stage 2 complaints
• Little visibility of insight across departments

Michael McGuigan, Customer Voice Manager, summed it up:

“We had a compliance team that was compliant, but there were opportunities to improve. There was quite a reactive culture, and we created a customer committee to hold us to account.”

Phase 1: Building the Foundation (Q1-Q2 2024)

Restructuring Around Customer Voice

The first big shift? Moving from a traditional complaints team to a broader Customer Voice function — signalling a shift from “complaints” to genuine listening.

The new structure included:

• 5 Stage 1 handlers, renamed Customer Voice Partners
• A Customer Complaint Lead focused on Stage 2 and Ombudsman cases
• A brand-new Customer Insight Advisor role
• A Customer Engagement Lead to ensure tenant voices fed into strategic decisions

Upskilling the Team

This wasn’t just a change in org chart — it was a serious investment in people. Gentoo delivered:

• 7,000+ hours of training in customer excellence
• A new CARE model (Clear, Assured, Respectful, Empathetic)
• Behavioural skills development
• Advanced complaints handling and resolution training

Upgrading Tech and Processes

Behind the scenes, they also overhauled the systems and processes that support good service:

• Switched from Excel to Power BI dashboards
• Introduced a complaints tracker system
• Brought in a 15-point QA framework
• Used SharePoint to automate governance workflows

External Validation and Assurance

To sense-check progress, Gentoo welcomed:

• A deep dive inspection from the Regulator of Social Housing
• Engagement sessions with the Housing Ombudsman
• An external audit that delivered “substantial assurance”

Phase 2: Cultural Evolution (Q3-Q4 2024)

Creating a Great Place to Work

Gentoo knew that teams dealing with difficult conversations need support, so they built an environment that encouraged wellbeing, not burnout.

They introduced:

• A more welcoming, relaxed office space with areas to decompress
• A wellbeing zone with plants, quiet space, and even a tuck shop
• Quarterly “brilliant conversations” instead of traditional appraisals
• A culture of regular peer-to-peer celebration

“There’s genuine camaraderie in the team,” said McGuigan. “We all recognise this work is hard, but valuable.”

Making Insight Everyone’s Business

Insight wasn’t kept locked away in Customer Voice. Teams across Gentoo were given access to:

• Live Power BI dashboards tailored to their work
• Alerts and analysis built into existing workflows
• Opportunities to act on insight quickly — rather than wait for monthly reports

The result? Teams went from asking for reports to becoming proactive insight users. Data became part of everyday conversations, not a once-a-quarter obligation.

The Results: Measurable Impact

TSM Improvement:

• 📈 Overall tenant satisfaction jumped from 70% to 80%
• 👍 Complaints satisfaction reached 40%, a marked improvement
• 💬 Stability across key customer experience metrics

Operational Wins:

• Fewer Stage 2 complaint escalations
• Better categorisation of service requests
• A clear and fair compensation matrix
• A happy, low-turnover Customer Voice team

External Recognition:

• C1 regulatory grading
• “Substantial assurance” on independent audit
• Officially certified as a Great Place to Work

What Made It Work?

Here’s what Gentoo credit as the key drivers of their success:

1. Culture Before Process
“Culture is key to delivering improved performance,” says McGuigan. “You need good data and strong processes — but none of that works without the right mindset.”

2. Data for Everyone
Self-serve dashboards created a new hunger for insight across Gentoo. By making data easy to access and understand, they empowered people to take action.

3. Customer-Led Accountability
Their six-member Customer Committee now meets every eight weeks, providing challenge and direction on how Gentoo serves its tenants.

4. Beyond Consultation
They’ve moved past traditional tenant engagement to more proactive, personal approaches:

• Evening drop-ins in community centres
• A new mobile unit hitting the road in 2025
• Targeted outreach to reach “seldom heard” voices

What Other Housing Associations Can Learn

Gentoo's story proves that meaningful transformation is achievable — but it starts with a mindset shift. Customer feedback isn't a compliance exercise; it's fuel for improvement.

Here's what other HAs can take from their approach:
 
Invest in people first. Strong performance in complaints comes from well-supported teams. Investing in wellbeing isn't fluffy — it's strategic.
 
Share insight widely. Self-serve dashboards created a new hunger for data across Gentoo. When everyone can access insight, everyone can act on it.
 
Think long-term on TSMs. "Don't overreact to quarterly scores," says McGuigan. Build sustainable improvement, not quick fixes.
 
Let tech do the admin. With Power BI and automated workflows, teams spend more time using insight, not wrangling spreadsheets.
 
Triangulate everything. Complaints, TSMs, and engagement data all matter. Together, they tell a more complete story than any single metric. Because when everyone sees data as their business, change doesn't just happen — it sticks.

Looking Forward

Gentoo isn’t slowing down. The transformation work of the past year has laid a strong foundation, but they’re already looking to the future. Next on the roadmap is achieving TPAS accreditation, reinforcing their commitment to transparency, accountability, and trust in tenant engagement. 

They’re also taking community outreach one step further with a mobile engagement unit, a physical presence that will bring conversations directly to tenants in their neighbourhoods, making it easier for “seldom heard” voices to be part of the feedback loop. 

And we’re looking forward to working with Gentoo ourselves. Gentoo plans to use Wordnerds to automate even more of their feedback analysis, freeing up their team to focus on the human side of service and ensuring insight is acted on, not just collected.

Watch the full webinar with Michael McGuigan, VoC Manager at Gentoo Group, here.

Want Similar Results?

We help housing associations turn tenant feedback into measurable improvements. If you're working toward TSM targets or preparing for regulatory scrutiny, we'd love to chat.