Innovative training

Our Derby-based customer contact staff have received specialist training to further hone their communication skills – led by actors with learning difficulties.


WPD’s Jackie Maidment, Priority Service Register Team Advisor takes part in role play with Hijinx actor Matthew Purnell at one of the training workshops held in Derby.

The actors belong to the Cardiff-based Hijinx Theatre Group, which has provided similar training for some of our staff in Wales.

At our Pegasus office near Derby, 28 contact centre staff took part in two-day workshops, as Hijinx’s Dan McGowen, who ran the initiative explained. “By acting out scenarios using role play, the actors were able to encourage staff to start thinking about the different ways to communicate in a broader, more flexible manner.

“When you are speaking to people on the telephone you can’t rely on body language and facial expression so it’s sometimes difficult to understand what’s being said. So it’s about learning to ask questions in a different, perhaps more simplistic way.”

A Contact Centre Team Leader, James Harmer said the workshops were excellent and greatly enjoyed by staff. “The training has proved invaluable, and will definitely assist us when dealing with vulnerable customers in the future.”

This was first time that Hijinx actors had travelled outside of Wales to deliver their specialist training.