Vocabulary
Put the following words into 3 or 4
categories – you decide the categories. Can you add more words to your categories?
staff
call-centre
night shift
day shift
temporary
permanent
relocate
hire
to be based in
employee
working-week
days off
clock off
sabbatical
vacation
Reading
Jess
Where is Jess working?
Is it
permanent or temporary?
Why is she there?
Moneypenny
Moneypenny
What problems did they face?
Why didn’t they want to have workers working
through the night?
What solution did they come up with?
Moneypenny 2
Why do they have staff based in Wales and New Zealand?
What problem does it solve?
How do the staff feel about it?
Reading
Group 1
Read about Jess Edwards?
Where is she working?
Is it
permanent or temporary?
Why is she there?
Jess Edwards is part of a team of 4 workers who have
relocated to New Zealand to take part in a trial scheme organized by her
employers in Wales.
Jess Edwards, 24, from Holt, near Wrexham, says she is
enjoying the experience so much in Takapuna on New Zealand's northern coast
that she hopes to be able to continue working there. "It is an absolutely
fantastic opportunity," she said.
"I am getting to see places I probably never
would have the chance to see otherwise.
The staff have been working four days on and four days
off so they can take in the sights while living abroad, it’s proving very
popular with Jess.
"It's very different to the working week I am
used to in the UK but this was deliberately planned so we can make the most of
being here.
"I have visited Australia and both the North and
South Islands [of New Zealand] and generally thrown myself into the
experience."
Speaking
Get together with someone from the other groups and
tell them about the text you read. Can you now answer all 9 questions.
Listening
In pairs think of some questions you would like to ask
the Managing Director of Moneypenny.
Now listen to the interview and see if your questions
are answered.
Speaking
Moneypenny are willing to invest money to ensure
quality service. Which of these
qualities do you think are most important in a company.
Low Prices
Happy and helpful Staff
Quality Service
User-friendly Website
Punctuality
Punctuality
Reliability
Consistency
Reading
Group 2
Read about Moneypenny
What problems did they face?
Why didn’t they want to have workers working
through the night?
What solution did they come up with?
Moneypenny provides a phone answering service,
handling over 8m calls a year for 6,000 clients from sole traders to
multinationals. It has been named in the Sunday Times Best Companies list 3
times. But recently Moneypenny has encountered a problem. More and more UK
customers had wanted calls handling through the night.
Initially the company resisted expanding the service
to work 24/7 especially as only a handful of the company's 280 staff said they
wanted to work nights.
Owner Rachel Clacher was also worried after seeing
research about detrimental effects on people working nights, affecting health
and attitude, which could also impact on customers.
Ms Clacher said: "We had looked at hiring staff
to work overnight but we weren't confident service levels could be maintained
so would have never taken that risk.
Speaking
Get together with someone from the other groups and
tell them about the text you read. Can you now answer all 9 questions.
Listening
In pairs think of some questions you would like to ask
the Managing Director of Moneypenny.
Now listen to the interview and see if your questions
are answered.
Speaking
Moneypenny are willing to invest money to ensure
quality service. Which of these
qualities do you think are most important in a company.
Low Prices
Happy and helpful Staff
Quality Service
User-friendly Website
Punctuality
Reliability
Consistency
Reading
Group 3
Read about Moneypenny
Why do they have staff based in Wales and New Zealand?
What problem does it solve?
How do the staff feel about it?
Call centre staff from Wrexham are taking turns to
live in New Zealand to cover night shifts back home in the UK.
Because New Zealand is 12 hours ahead it means no one
has to work night shifts. Moneypenny
staff normally based in Wrexham are still working day shifts but provide
late-night cover when colleagues in Wales clock off.
Now, when the Wrexham-based workers leave the office,
at the "flick of a switch" at 20:00 GMT their colleagues in Auckland
take over until 08:00 GMT and UK customers continue to receive the same service
through the night.
Jess Edwards, one of the New Zealand based staff said
‘It was a bit strange to start with but it actually works very well. We go to
work in the morning just as we do back home.’
"By working on the other side of the world we're
now able to offer a truly 24 hour first-rate service, with bright, chirpy and
wide-awake people." Said Rachel Clacher the owner of Moneypenny.
Speaking
Get together with someone from the other groups and
tell them about the text you read. Can you now answer all 9 questions.
Listening
In pairs think of some questions you would like to ask
the Managing Director of Moneypenny.
Now listen to the interview and see if your questions
are answered.
Speaking
Moneypenny are willing to invest money to ensure
quality service. Which of these
qualities do you think are most important in a company.
Low Prices
Happy and helpful Staff
Quality Service
User-friendly Website
Punctuality
Punctuality
Reliability
Consistency
