We believe that our people differentiate us from other companies. Our strapline is “Rail People, Real Expertise”, and in order to deliver for our stakeholders we have always aimed to create an environment where we can make work better and allow people to deliver to the best of their abilities. Our internal people metrics (engagement, Net Promoter Score, turnover, sickness absence etc.) continually suggest that Angel Trains is a great place to work.
Then nearly ten years ago we started our journey with IiP. Our initial accreditation was Silver, our next Gold, and then three years ago we received Platinum accreditation.
We entered the Awards to benchmark ourselves against the best of the best. This journey has never been about “getting a badge,” but continuously improving and learning from best practice.
We wanted to put that to the test by outlining the journey we’ve been on in the last ten years and seeing what the judges thought of our journey to make work better for all of our colleagues which, in turn, should help deliver our vision of “being the people the rail industry most wants to work with”.
We were absolutely thrilled to hear that we have been shortlisted for all three categories that we entered this year.
We’ve been on a journey since we first gained Silver accreditation in 2015. With steady progress and implementation of best practice across the organisation we secured Gold at our next accreditation and then Platinum in 2021, which we are hoping to maintain in our imminent reaccreditation.
Having been accredited at the top level three years ago we haven’t rested on our laurels and have continued to strive to make Angel Trains a better place to work. Being shortlisted in three categories (Best Culture, Best People Team, and Social Responsibility) is recognition that our efforts have not been in vain, and that we are amongst the best out there in these areas. It is a testament to the hard work of the HR&OD team, but also the contribution of colleagues across the business, in our Wellbeing Group, our ED&I Committee, our Mental Health First Aiders and every other one of our employees who live out our “People People” value on a daily basis.
However, whilst the recognition of shortlisting is nice, it is the fact that IiP recognise the impact that our efforts in these areas will have on the working lives of our colleagues and communities that really brings a warm glow inside.
Having attended the Awards before, we know that it is a great evening out, celebrating the success of a wide variety of organisations . Being able to celebrate being shortlisted in three categories with colleagues from across the company is special enough, but winning against tough and deserving competition in all the categories would be astounding.
If it were to happen then it would be a source of intense pride for the HR&OD team (past and present), the culmination of many years of hard work across the company to make work better, and culmination of the incremental improvements we’ve made during our IiP journey of nearly ten years since our initial accreditation. It would also be an external validation of what our colleagues already know – that we have a great culture and consistently live our “People People” value.
Before becoming part of the IiP community, we were pretty pleased with our internal metrics – employee survey response rates typically over 95%, NPS around 70%, with low turnover and sickness absence rates.
However, we wanted to make work better for our colleagues, so started on a journey with Investors in People to measure ourselves against the framework. After our initial Silver accreditation we sought to improve through acting on feedback from our practitioner, Matthew Filbee. Since our initial assessment nearly ten years ago he has provided us with really helpful insights and suggestions across a range of people practices, which we have been able to implement to make Angel Trains an even better place to work, to the extent that Investors in People accreditation is recognised by our shareholders and board as a key people metric.
Not only is the input from our practitioner invaluable, but more recently being part of the IiP community has provided access to their Conferences – hearing the stories of how other companies make work better for their employees allows us to leverage best practice (or is that “steal with pride” their great ideas?).
We hear increasingly from candidates that it isn’t just about the money anymore. People want to work for organisations that have a great culture, provide meaningful work, offer development opportunities, listens to their feedback, and invests in their people. Investors in People is an externally validated shorthand for all of these things and more, and candidates can trust that accredited organisations will meet or exceed their expectations.
This isn’t our first attendance at the Awards event, but every year we are excited to hear great success stories and celebrate with other organisations leading the way in Investing in People.
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Ready to make work better? Complete the form below and one of our team will be in touch to discuss your accreditation enquiry.
