VIVID Housing Association Unveils Customer-Skills Credential for Staff Development

VIVID has become the first housing association to introduce a customer-skills credential for its employees, certified under City & Guilds Assured. This initiative underscores the importance of each team member’s role in enhancing the customer experience, fostering a unified approach that empowers staff to make confident and consistent decisions that contribute to a positive living environment for customers.

The newly launched Customer Advocate credential aims to build upon the existing knowledge and experience of VIVID’s staff. Its adaptable content allows employees to engage with learning that is pertinent to their roles, utilising real-life scenarios from their daily tasks to deepen their understanding of exemplary customer service skills. Upon completion of the programme, staff will undertake an assessment to validate their demonstration of the skills, knowledge, and behaviours that VIVID prioritises.

Successful participants will receive a digital badge and certificate from City & Guilds Assured, signifying their completion of training that meets the Assured Benchmark, a global quality standard for internally developed training. City & Guilds, with nearly 150 years of experience in workforce skills development, is recognised both nationally and internationally.

All staff at VIVID are expected to complete the credential within the next two years, with new employees required to finish it within their first six months. This initiative is part of VIVID’s broader customer experience strategy, ensuring that every team member possesses the necessary skills, behaviours, and knowledge to fulfil the organisation’s Customer Promises.

Susan Noone, Director of People at VIVID, remarked: “We’ve always made sure our teams have the technical skills they need to do their jobs well, and they already bring a huge amount of experience and dedication to supporting our customers. What we haven’t had until now is a company-wide customer-focused learning programme that brings all our expectations and promises together. The Customer Advocate credential does exactly that. It develops our teams and gives staff the chance to earn something with real value – both here at VIVID and throughout their careers. Just as importantly, it reinforces that customer skills are every bit as essential to our success as technical expertise.”

Alex Nagle, Customer Service Director at VIVID, added: “Great customer experience is something we create together. It isn’t just shaped by our customer-facing staff – it’s influenced by how we work with each other. That’s why everyone’s getting involved in the Customer Advocate credential. It brings our Customer Promises to life by giving all our teams a shared understanding of what good looks like. It celebrates the strong customer skills we already have and helps us build on them, so we can keep improving the experience we deliver every day.”

Mandy Smith, Executive Director of Awarding & Assessment Customer Solutions at City & Guilds, stated: “Building the City & Guilds Customer Advocate credential into its customer-focused training programme is an excellent way for VIVID to focus on how best to meet the needs of its customers both in their home and neighbourhood, and to tailor its services to support this aim.”