Recently, we had a new graduating class of Assistance Coordinators (ACs).
Congratulations to our newest ACs!
Here at On Call International, our Assistance Coordinators are on the front lines helping travelers around the world, every day. Through their caring and empathetic work, thousands of people are returned home safely, or helped so they can continue on their travels or assignments abroad, every year. Without our Assistance Coordinators, we wouldn’t have reached our 300,000th case earlier this year and we wouldn’t have all of our happy customers.
It takes a lot of work before ACs-in-training are ready to start assisting travelers. Their training consists of a combination of classroom and on-the-job training, with several written and one-on-one assessments throughout the program to ensure understanding and individual progress. We usually train new ACs in groups of three to eight new employees.
Under the direction of our Training Manager, Kristin Toth, approximately 40% of the time our ACs spend training is in instructor-led lectures and interactive group discussions, mock cases, and role playing – especially during the early days of the program. This classroom training includes modules on Customer Care, Geography, HIPAA compliance (healthcare privacy laws), and the overall case handling procedures for all the different types of assistance services we provide – from medical assistance and medical evacuation to political and natural disaster evacuation to security services and a wide array of travel assistance services.
In the later weeks of the training program, the group is reunited each day for refreshers on key concepts, review of written assessments and the introduction of client-specific procedures and protocols.
The remaining 60% of the Assistance Coordinator training program is spent monitoring assistance calls and cases, “shadowing” more senior staff, and working on tasks related to cases that continually grow in complexity, beginning with baggage delays and building up to major medical and security assistance cases.
Even after Assistance Coordinators graduate and become more seasoned, they receive ongoing training to refresh on existing procedures and to introduce new processes. All Assistance Coordinators are required to complete seven modules per year of Customer Care e-learning. They must also complete yearly refreshers on HIPAA compliance as well as a side-by-side coaching sessions We pride ourselves on providing comprehensive training and continual coaching to our ACs so our customers can receive the best assistance services possible.
Our new Assistance Coordinators are excited to be at your service! Safe Travels!