For the world to keep turning, customer service is essential. You might not often think about it, but people who work in customer service make your morning coffee, book your car in for a service, help you find items in the supermarket, and in our case, help you find a mortgage or open a savings account.
In fact, over 80% of the UK workforce is employed in customer-facing roles, helping making our lives easier in hundreds of ways, every single day.
"Customer Service as a profession is often underestimated and, in my view, misunderstood. It's a highly skilled role, requiring people to connect, communicate, and listen to another person, whilst being able to show empathy and utlise knowledge, too," says Emma Jones, our Director of People. "For me, ‘customer service’ is not a team or title, but a mindset. This mindset applies to numerous roles here at the Society, covering interactions with both our internal and external customers."
"These skills and abilities are required in many roles. Some can be trained, but mostly they're learnt through mentoring, coaching, on-the-job learning, and experience which enables people to put themselves in the customer’s shoes.
"That's why, at Newbury, we facilitate workshops which help our people to ‘think like a customer.’ In the workshops we share experiences, learn from each other, and ensure our people have the tools and techniques to develop the skills required to support our customers.
"We have many inspiring examples of people who have progressed their careers successfully at the Newbury. This is because they have developed these skills and because they engage with the customer-first approach that is ingrained in our culture."
Our customer service colleagues are the life and soul of the Society, working across the business to deliver the very best outcomes for our savers, borrowers, and supplies.
Today is Service with Respect Day, part of National Customer Service Week 2025, so we took the opportunity to ask a few of our customer service heroes what it's like working in the industry. Here's what they had to say...
