TUI Invests in team with help of Gower College Swansea

Leading leisure, travel and tourism company, TUI has invested heavily in its staff by enrolling 50 members of its team onto several apprenticeship programmes, all of which are delivered by Gower College Swansea.

Staff are completing apprenticeships in contact centre operations, learning and development, digital marketing, data analytics, business improvement techniques, and leadership and management programmes, to support the business as the demand for post-pandemic holidays continues to increase.

Commenting on how the TUI call centre, located in Swansea’s Alexandra House, has adapted to the challenges within the industry, is Antonia Williams, Contact Centre Training Manager at TUI Group:

“Like many other industries, the travel industry has faced enormous challenges over the past few years due to Covid. It has been an extremely challenging time, with continuous uncertainty. We have had to take an ‘all-hands-on’ approach and staff at the contact centre and wider business have been working above and beyond to go the extra mile for our customers. This training will help us invest even further in our staff and demonstrate how committed we are to their learning and career development.

“We have carefully selected several apprenticeships to ensure everyone has equal opportunities to develop, regardless of their current skills or backgrounds. The rollout of apprenticeship programmes over the past six months has already proven to be a roaring success and we have already seen several management promotions from staff members on the apprenticeship schemes.”

The apprenticeship programmes have been specifically designed to support the areas of need within TUI and its operations. Contact centre workers thrive in a pressured, time-sensitive, and target-driven environment, and so Gower College Swansea’s bespoke approach has enabled both the learner and business to hugely benefit from the learning process.

One learner said: “It has given me the knowledge and the tools I need to apply to be a good and confident Team Manager. It has also allowed me to assist with my new starters and helping them grow and make sure they are ready to join their teams.”

Commercial co-ordinator at Gower College Swansea, Einir-Wyn Hawkins, said:

“We are proud of what we have achieved with TUI. It demonstrates exactly how we can support businesses with their individual needs. We help businesses identify skills gaps and work closely with them to ensure teams have the right level of skills to thrive in their work environment. Apprenticeships are an excellent way to upskill existing staff and future proof workforces.”

Head of Contact Centres at TUI Group, Claire Emery, said: “I am immensely proud of the teams here in the Contact Centre. They have shown resilience and commitment without question through a very challenging time. We have had to be agile and flexible in our ways of learning and developing our people. The successful partnership that has been forged with our training team and Gower College will really strengthen skills, deliver a structured career path for our people and overall, a better experience for our customers.”

The Gower College Swansea course is blended and is delivered via both online and face-to-face classes at Sketty Hall Business School. For more information on the course, contact: training@gcs.ac.uk.