The Crealy Theme Park and Resort has been investing in training and upskilling their staff following the pandemic. The theme park has taken part in Devon County Council’s ‘Open Up to Skills’ initiative, which aims to upskill employees within the hospitality, catering, retail, leisure, and tourism sectors, and is supporting employers to rebuild workforce capability following the devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Caroline Howle, HR Manager for Crealy Theme Park and Resort, explained the reasons why they decided to sign up to the initiative: “Given that the Covid-19 lockdown has impacted us on our staff development, the range of training courses that was offered by Seetec Outsource were immediately appealing to us.”
The training courses offered included customer service skills and conflict resolution, with all designed to build the key knowledge and skills required by employees in the hospitality industry. Team members were selected for the training from a number of different departments, with the interactive nature of the course helping to improve wider communication across the teams within the resort.
Caroline described the value of this in terms of the wider business: “Team members feel valued when we can invest the time into training, and this also improves team collaboration. The feedback from the team was very positive. The team can use what they have learned from the course and implement it into their various job roles. It is great to have courses available that are designed to meet the needs of our business and recognised by the industry.”
One of the team members who completed the course was Jake Skegwell and he described his experience: “The course was great, and I really like that I was given the opportunity to have done this. I am keen to do similar courses to help my career progression.”
Matthew Hannigan-Train, Regional Manager at Seetec Outsource in Devon, added: “The Open Up to Skills initiative is a vital resource for the businesses in Devon affected by Covid. It’s great to see the opportunity to support and upskill staff being taken on so enthusiastically and with such great results.
“With the cost-of-living crisis and surging interest rates, businesses need this support now more than ever to retain staff and support their operations in these tough times.”
If you are a business in Devon facing the same challenges and are interested in upskilling your workforce, click this link.
If you’re an individual looking to progress in your current role or reskill for a new role you can find out more about funded training opportunities by clicking this link.
