Investment in staff training set to give Hertz UAE a competitive edge

The library contains books and DVDs looking at the kinds of customer service issues that staff face every day, with a focus on developing their skills and helping them to meet customer expectations and handle difficult situations.

This is just one of a raft of training measures that Hertz UAE has introduced in recent years to help build a motivated and effective workforce.

Hertz UAE General Manager Bob Farrow said: "We encourage our staff to borrow regularly from the library to help build their skills and increase their confidence, which in turn will increase the level of service that we can offer our customers.

"We believe that regular training is vital for all of our employees. Within our business all links of the chain are regarded as equally important, from the person who cleans the cars to the sales team and senior managers. Motivating and developing our staff will help to give us an edge in a region where customer service is notoriously patchy."

Hertz UAE has introduced a range of training courses targeted at all levels of the company to boost professionalism and develop productive team working. In addition all senior managers go through Six Sigma management training, which helps them to develop leadership and problem solving skills.

Hertz managers also regularly attend seminars to improve their customer service, teamworking and management skills including the recent workshop held in Dubai by international management training guru Ron Kaufman. Hertz UAE was also one of the corporate sponsors of the Fish Philosophy seminar led by world renowned business speaker Dr Stephen Lundin in November, which looked at ways of making the workplace fun and more productive.

Hertz is now one of the top car rental and leasing companies in the UAE and in 2006 saw revenue growth of 23% compared with the previous year. Hertz UAE operates from 13 branches in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Fujairah and Ras Al Khaimah.