Awards News
26th September 2019
Link Financial Outsourcing – Award Winning Learning and Development
At Link Financial we place a great deal of emphasis on learning and development and making sure that our people have the best possible support in their roles. We are enormously proud of the team for achieving the highest score in the CSA Collector Accreditation Initiative tests, and winning at the UKCCC awards for the 5th year in a row.
We asked Jeremy Baber, Director of Operations, about Link’s learning and development programme.
At Link Financial, we pride ourselves on finding positive outcomes for our customers. How important is learning and development in delivering this?
Our programme is focused on making sure that our team members are well equipped to help customers get their finances back on track. We train our people to do the right thing for our customers, treating them with respect, empathy and dignity.
We understand that no one likes being behind with their loan payments but we ensure that colleagues have the right tools to help customers turn things around – we are here to help.
We also take great care to ensure that vulnerable customers receive appropriate support – how does the development program help with that?
All of our customer-facing team members receive regular vulnerability updates; to make sure they are able to recognise the signs of vulnerability and can refer affected customers to our specialist team. We train in TEXAS (Thank, Explain, eXplicit consent, Ask, Signpost), BRUCE (Behaviour, Remembering, Understanding, Communication, Evaluation) and IDEA (Impact, Duration, Experiences, Assistance) – which offer a good structure for providing support to customers.
We also have a dedicated specialist team who receive advanced specific and focused training to ensure the right level of care and attention is provided for our most vulnerable customers.
We regularly attend third party conferences and events to stay informed on relevant issues, for example, the City of London Corporation’s Suicide Prevention Awareness session which is run by the Samaritans. This helps to make sure we are up to date with the latest developments.
Why do you use the CSA Collector Accreditation Initiative?
Our entire customer facing team takes the CAI test every year. It covers a wide range of areas, testing knowledge of the FCA, GDPR, the Consumer Credit Act, the CSA’s Code of Practice and much more.
We believe that CAI accreditation is an excellent benchmark, and our successful results reflect the importance that Link attaches to learning and development. We firmly believe that better trained people deliver positive outcomes for customers which, at the end of the day, is what we are all about.
