Award-winning training keeps First Great Western on track

Citation

(2004), "Award-winning training keeps First Great Western on track", Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 36 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/ict.2004.03736cab.002

Award-winning training keeps First Great Western on track

Award-winning training keeps First Great Western on track

A leadership programme for front-line managers is helping a company to remain on track to be the best train operator in Britain.

The Leadership Horizons programme – developed by Swindon-based First Great Western, in partnership with Active Learning and Development Ltd (ALD), of Evesham, Worcestershire – has been adopted as best practice throughout bus and rail transport group First plc, and has won a south-west regional award in the latest UK National Training Awards.

First Great Western handles more than 20 million annual passenger journeys between London's Paddington station and south-west England, south Wales and the Cotswolds. Leadership Horizons has been designed for front- line managers who between them are responsible for 1,500 train and station staff who directly affect the quality of service that passengers receive.

The programme aims to:

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  improve levels of leadership competence among managers, many of whom were untrained;

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  improve employee commitment in the face of declining morale following network problems and negative publicity for the whole UK rail industry after a disaster involving a Great North Eastern Railway express train on defective track at Hatfield, Hertfordshire; and

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  increase public confidence in train travel.

Three modules, each run over 3 days, cover “leading a team to achieve”, appraising team and individual performance and improving performance. More than 90 per cent of participants, 131 so far, have gained the advanced BTEC award in leadership at level three.

The scheme was conceived and implemented by Clare Hannah, who was recently appointed regional head of human resources for First Great Western's sister bus operations in Wales and south-west England. She commented: “Delivering development that promotes change and commercial thinking at a time of extreme industry pressures requires an exceptional approach and commitment.”

“Leadership Horizons is exceptional because of the context in which the industry operates, with high regulation, poor brand image, poor-quality infrastructure, 30-year-old rolling stock, short-term franchises, frustrated and often angry customers, and low levels of investment in people development.”

Since the training began, First Great Western has experienced a 50 per cent fall in customer complaints about staff conduct and availability. The number of letters of praise has risen and the company is increasing the ratio of positive to negative publicity it receives. The number of passenger journeys has also increased.

Independent figures released by the Strategic Rail Authority show that satisfaction levels are above the national average, with 86 per cent of customers “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with their First Great Western journey.

First Great Western has won a second National Training Award – for the Greater London region – through a programme to train its 400 customer hosts to be more customer-friendly.

In 2001, morale among customer hosts – who include 70 travelling chefs – was at an unprecedented low. Staff turnover was 29 per cent, customer complaints were unacceptably high and there was no comprehensive training for customer hosts in technical, safety and customer skills.

“We needed a robust and comprehensive training programme for new entrants and existing staff that would be role-specific, based on all- encompassing service-specification standards and provide a basis for NVQ introduction,” said training and development manager, Chris Jefferies. “We needed to reduce customer-host turnover, cut staff accident levels and customer complaints, and reform our haphazard induction and ongoing training.”

A new induction programme was designed, comprising 15 off-job and five on-the-job days and covering a range of topics from the history of the company to food safety and hygiene. Of more than 100 new employees, only seven failed to complete the programme successfully. Existing staff were briefed by the service-quality team on board the trains.

In October 2002, First Great Western launched its NVQ programme, with a target enrolment figure of 80 per cent. In fact, 87 per cent of customer hosts signed up.

“We reduced customer-host turnover from 29 per cent at the beginning of 2002 to 16 per cent just over a year later,” said Chris Jefferies. “This is “Mission Impossible” and means an annual saving of £60,000 and a more stable and positive workforce. Customer complaints have fallen by 57 per cent and revenue has increased by 7 per cent.”

“A strategic approach to induction, training, coaching, assessment and NVQs is in place, linked to clearly defined business needs, and the successful customer-host approach is now being implemented for other grades, as defined by the business need. We have a foundation for Investors in People assessment, and an employee- recognition scheme has been initiated – for customers.”

Chris Humphries, Chairman of UK Skills, which manages the national awards, said: “The high quality of finalists proves that an increasing number of organizations are realizing that investment in development and lifelong learning for their employees is crucial to business success.”