Eight staff from the company have begun producing work to put forward for the Institute of Customer Services (ICS) Professional Communications Award.

It is the first time that Coloplast’s customer care staff have been given an opportunity to achieve a qualification using the work they do in their everyday lives as examples.

Customer service is a key area of Coloplast, which is a leading supplier of wound, continence and stoma care medical appliances. There has been high demand from customer care staff to join the qualification process and work towards achieving the award. All staff will be given the opportunity to participate.

To achieve the national ICS award staff need to demonstrate that in their everyday work they can deliver customer service consistently to a professional standard. The qualification assesses how staff work with customers and colleagues, how they relate to their organisation and how they learn and develop.

Achievement of the award demonstrates that staff can, among other things, deliver excellent customer service consistently, build relationships with customers, resolve customer problems, understand the organisation’s products and understand how their work fits in with the wider aims of their organisation.

Emma Branch is one of the first members of the customer care team to start working towards achieving the ICS award.

She joined Coloplast in 2001 and works as a customer care specialist, taking incoming calls to help customers with their enquiries and orders.

Emma said: “Working towards the ICS award is a great opportunity to obtain a recognised qualification that demonstrates my skills and a commitment to providing a high standard of customer service. Coloplast is supporting everyone studying for the award in a number of ways. For example, each person is allocated a coach who is there to help them track progress and give guidance as necessary.”

Achieving the qualification will take about six months. It will involve both internal and external assessments of work including a log book of evidence and a personal profile.

Two Coloplast staff, customer care manager Dawn Tocco and customer care training manager Wendy Lister, are being trained as internal assessors.

Dawn said: “The ICS professional award gives staff the opportunity to be recognised as a customer service professional. The programme will complement the work we have already done to ensure our customers receive award-winning service.”