In the UK 60% of employees work in customer-facing roles and for a wide range of businesses, service is key to revenue growth and reputation. Customer service skills are therefore high-ranking for a variety of roles from entry-level through to management.

Shipley College recognises the importance of customer service skills to the local region and has experienced demand for customer service training from many sectors that interact with customers – not just those buying products, but those who receive a service.

To respond to this demand, Shipley College became approved to deliver WorldHost – a globally recognised programme providing the critical skills needed to offer and deliver an unrivalled level of service.

With several trained and approved to deliver the programme, the college uses WorldHost to train employees in local businesses as well as supporting unemployed people through Sector Based Work Academies funded by the Adult Education Budget in partnership with local Jobcentres, giving them in-demand skills to support them into employment.

Through the expert delivery of the approved WorldHost trainers at the college, the programme has helped upskill the current workforce, supported career enhancement and confidence building, giving participants an understanding of the principles of customer service and how it acts as a key differentiator for high-performing organisations.

Having trained over 400 people over the last year, the college see WorldHost as a highly valuable programme:

“WorldHost is a great programme that complements our offer to support local businesses and unemployed people back into work. It provides the critical skills in the principles of service excellence that are in high demand. We’d definitely recommend it to other colleges – it’s great to be able to incorporate a globally recognised programme into our delivery and it acts as a valuable add on to other programmes.” – Vicki Robinson (Curriculum Relationship Manager)

The feedback they’ve received from participants in their recent delivery has been extremely positive.

“This was a great course to attend as everything we learned were things applied to my current job role and any future roles.”

“I’d like to thank my trainer for his brilliant tutoring on the customer service course. The content was informative and engaging, with various methods to explain the concepts in an effective manner. Throughout this course I’ve learned essential customer service skills that will assist me in my professional career.”

“Good course, I never got bored. Different styles of learning were delivered and the whole group appeared engaged. The tutor was friendly and made me feel at ease, encouraging all to ‘join in’ but didn’t feel pressured.”

“I would highly recommend this course. Our trainer was exemplary in learning about his students to ensure he met all personal learning needs, as well as understanding our overall culture. He provided a range of activities for our team to review our existing practices against the key principles being delivered.”

The delivery team at the college has firm plans to continue delivery throughout the coming year and are looking forward to working with more employers in the Bradford region in connection with BD25 – Bradford City of Culture 2025.

*UKCSI – The state of customer satisfaction in the UK – July 2023