Pensions administrator improves contact centre staff training

rpmi currently looks after the pension interests of over 500,000 people in the UK and with such a large and diverse customer base, the company puts great emphasis on the value of good customer service. rpmi has an established training programme in place for its pensions administrators, more than half of whom are QPA qualified or studying, but wanted to extend its training offering further across the contact centre helpline team as an important part of its commitment to providing a high quality service to its customers.

To this end, rpmi has chosen to offer helpline staff the opportunity to gain an NVQ level 2 in Customer Service, while the Customer Helpline Manager, Tony Wood, chose to take on an NVQ level 3 in Contact Centre Management. rpmi decided to use national training provider Intec Business Colleges to deliver the qualifications because it could demonstrate its success in delivering them previously to an impressive portfolio of clients.

"The decision to offer these qualifications to our staff was part of our commitment to continuous improvement in customer service, but it was also to show our employees how highly they are valued," said Tony. "Last year we grew our workforce by 25 per cent and our staff turnover rate is half the national average at 8 per cent. We believe part of this is down to the fact we value the contributions of every individual and invest in their development. We encourage our staff to become professionally qualified and this initiative is just another part of that."

rpmi has found that the most relevant qualifications for those directly engaged in pensions administration are the Pensions Management Institute's Associateship examinations, and their NVQ based Qualification in Pensions Administration (QPA). However, the customer service NVQ Intec could offer was the most relevant qualification rpmi had found for its contact centre helpline staff.

"We are already very proud of the job our helpline staff do and this NVQ will help the team continue to deliver the quality of service that our customers have come to expect," said Tony.

And Tony is encouraged by how well the learners have responded to the training: "I have received very positive feedback from team members. They are finding the programme very helpful and they are using their learning to identify ways of further improving the quality of the services they provide to our wide range of clients."

10th March 2009