INVESTING IN EXCELLENCE

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 helpline team as an important part of its commitment to providing a high quality service to its customers and to raising standards within the pensions administration market.

With this in mind, rpmi initially chose to offer it’s 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. Following successes in those qualifications, almost all of the team have now moved onto Customer Service level 3 qualifications, including Tony himself. rpmi decided to use Intec Business Colleges to deliver all these 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. “In 2008 our workforce grew 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.

“We are very proud of the job our helpline staff do and this training has helped 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 qualifications very helpful and are using what they have learnt to help identify ways of further improving the quality of the services they provide to our wide range of clients. Individual team members have been encouraging and helping each other and each of them is keen to pass their qualifications because they can already see how they are able to add value to their role. ”

rpmi is committed to investing in staff development and is considering the option of integrating this programme into its standard training for the helpline, in order to enhance the development of new recruits to the team.