Member Article

Webhelp TSC brings employment skills to Yorkshire jobseekers

Webhelp TSC, one of the UK’s largest contact centre companies, has launched a skills initiative in Rotherham – The Customer Experience Academy - that has brought employment to a category of the unemployed who couldn’t reach the first rung of the jobs ladder.

The pilot scheme, which has been running for the last few months, has been so successful that the company is looking to roll it out across the UK.

Webhelp TSC has 45 trainees currently employed at its Dearne Valley site, with potentially hundreds more to come.

The Webhelp TSC trainees complete a five-week work skills course - with a job interview by the company on completion.

Those who made it through are now not only employed full-time by Webhelp TSC, on a standard wage, but are also supported through a modern apprenticeship, which takes 12 months to complete.

In addition the trainees gained a recognised Customer Service qualification, which would assist them in finding a job with a variety of other employers should they wish to develop their careers with other organisations in the future.

Webhelp TSC CEO David Turner explained the driving force behind this company initiative: “With a rapidly expanding business of over 6,000 people throughout the UK and plans to recruit 400 new team members in the next two years, we are in almost constant recruitment mode.

“We noted that there were a growing number of candidates who didn’t quite have the interpersonal skills to pass our recruitment tests. But they were only just failing. We felt that it wouldn’t take much to get them over the line and once they were in employment, they would blossom.

“With that in mind we devised our Customer Experience Academy where would-be recruits came in for a five week course which would get these people work ready.

“We decided to launch it as a pilot project. We have 137 people now in employment with us through the scheme. Whilst we’re not able to track all of the graduates, we know that many are also gaining employment elsewhere, in retail for example, on the back of having completed the qualification.

“It is an initiative which can bring employment to a part of our society which desperately needs it and I’m very proud that we have been able to turn the pilot project into a nationwide campaign.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Mark Lane .