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Osborne helps Government Design New Customer Service Apprenticeship

Osborne has channelled its customer service expertise into helping create a new, government-backed apprenticeship.

The news comes as the family-owned contractor has joined the prestigious 5% Club of 110 leading British businesses, whose members pledge to ensure at least 5% of employees are apprentices, sponsored students or graduates.

The Customer Service Apprenticeship Standard was written by a ‘trailblazer’ group of exemplar companies that was formed by government invitation, of which Osborne was a founder member, with The Institute of Customer Service acting as the expert professional body. Other members of the group include Alliance Boots, British Gas, BT and 16 other major UK businesses.

The standard was published at the end of last month and sets a template for use in any UK business sector of how a Customer Service Practitioner apprenticeship might best work.

It is a key part of a government campaign to generate 3 million apprenticeships by 2020.

Nick Sterling, Managing Director of Osborne Property Services, said: “This is an important step towards ensuring companies across the UK are able to offer the best-possible customer service from the frontline to the boardroom. We have worked hard in recent years to continue improving Osborne’s customer experience and are a long-standing employer of apprentices, as demonstrated by our recent commitment to The 5% Club.”

Nick added: “We are proud that a recent independent review of our customer service performance by the Institute of Customer Service has seen us awarded the prestigious ServiceMark accreditation. As such, we are delighted to help the government in passing on the lessons from our experience.”

The Customer Service Apprenticeship Standard is one of 59 new standards created by UK businesses and the government, aimed at raising the quality of apprenticeships and boosting the number undertaken by 700,000 on the five years to 2015.

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