Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Fife firm recruits 400 new members of staff in matter of months

Managing director of VeriCall Andy Taylor.
Managing director of VeriCall Andy Taylor.

A Fife contact centre has increased its workforce by 400 staff this year after securing a number of new contracts.

VeriCall set up in Kirkcaldy just over a year ago and have far exceeded their recruitment target of creating 200 jobs in two years.

Recruitment drives in March and May saw the firm’s headcount increase by 800% from 50 to 450 after the company moved into “an exceptionally busy period” in March.

Managing director Adam Taylor said 55% of the staff were working from home, with the remainder operating from the contact centre.

He said: “When Covid-19 restrictions were introduced we were able to move to home working within 24 hours.

“Staff could finish their shift, take kit away with them and start their next shift from home.”

However, with some clients operating in heavily regulated industries such as health, finance and the public sector some staff, observing social distancing, continue to operate from the contact centre.

Mr Taylor said forward planning had been key to the company’s ability to react quickly to the changing working environment.

He said: “At the start, we looked at how the industry might look five years down the line and we incorporated home-working solutions into our technology.”

VeriCall, which counts directory inquiry service 118 188 among its clients, is also exploring larger premises as it eyes a greater market share of contracts with public sector organisations including local authorities through framework agreements.

Mr Taylor said: “What we offer can add significantly to the quality of engagement the public can experience.

“We are also in a position to complete sensitive transactions securely across all platforms.”

Mr Taylor said VeriCall will continue to invest in new technology and sees the role of contact centres changing to become engagement hubs, adding the contact centres which survive will be the ones which adapt to new ways of communication.

The firm paid also paid tribute to the workforce.

“The team across the board have adapted exceptionally well to new working practices, and in particular those onsite adapting to the new requirements to be ‘Covid secure’. Their adaptability and commitment has been key to our recent success.

“We are proud to have been able to recruit locally, offer a living wage and support the local community.

“We have been able to absorb some of the job losses from other sectors, including hospitality, where we have found employees come with important soft skills such as empathy when dealing with customers.”