In a bid to build its customer relations capacity, The Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing launched its Customer Training Course on Monday, December 9, 2013 at a ceremony at the Jamaica Co-operative Credit Union League’s Head Office on Manhattan Road.

Speaking at the ceremony, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mrs Audrey Sewell said the need for the training initiative was born out of a system-wide Strategic Retreat which was held earlier in the year. She noted that more and more the Government was being placed under the microscope and persons were becoming more educated about their rights; as a result they were making increased demands. Against this background, she said the Public Sector including the Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing owed it to them to provide exemplary customer service.

“We have to listen and respond to customer complaints; after all, it is their tax dollars that are paying us,” she added.

Continuing, she said, “the Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing is viewed as a ‘super Ministry’ which covers just about every sphere of public life; in that context, a lot more is required from us – let us therefore be excellent purveyors of service, bearing in mind that every person with whom we interact is either a customer or a potential one.”

Some of the areas to be covered by the Programme include, Customer Relations and Hospitality; Office Etiquette and Professionalism; Effective Communication Skills and Etiquette.

Most of the participants in the inaugural Course have been drawn from the Island Traffic Authority with the others coming from the Housing sector.

The Customer Service initiative is expected to cover all areas of the Ministry’s operations and is intended to be an ongoing one. The first staging covered a two day period.