We entered because the Investors in People framework has been central to our journey of building a high-performing, people-first culture that drives business success. For Angel Trains, accreditation is not a badge, it’s a benchmark and a catalyst for continuous improvement. The 2025 Awards provide an opportunity to showcase how we’ve turned insight into action, and to celebrate the colleagues whose commitment makes this possible.
Since achieving Platinum in 2021, we’ve worked tirelessly to raise the bar. In 2024, we retained Platinum for “We invest in people” and, for the first time, achieved Platinum for “We invest in wellbeing.” These outcomes reflect a deliberate strategy: aligning our Strategy on a Page with a new Management Competency Framework, embedding inclusive leadership through an ILM-accredited programme, and evolving our wellbeing approach into a fully integrated, data-driven system.
We’ve also demonstrated resilience and innovation in a challenging rail environment. Engagement scores have risen against a national backdrop of decline; eNPS has climbed from 62 to 74; and health screening participation has surged from 41% to 69%. Externally, our Stakeholder Feedback Programme shows record highs in customer and supplier satisfaction, proving that a strong people culture translates into stronger partnerships and business performance.
Entering these awards is about more than recognition. It’s about sharing what works, learning from others, and reinforcing our belief that great organisations are built by great people. By telling our story, we hope to inspire and be inspired, because when people thrive, organisations succeed.
Being shortlisted is an incredible moment of pride for everyone at Angel Trains. It validates years of hard work to create a culture where people feel valued, supported, and inspired to deliver their best. For our HR & Organisational Development team, it’s a powerful endorsement of the strategy we’ve championed, aligning leadership capability, wellbeing, and engagement with business performance. It shows that the bold decisions we made, from introducing a Management Competency Framework to embedding wellbeing into every stage of the employee experience, are making a real difference.
For our leaders and managers, this recognition reinforces the importance of the role they play in shaping culture. It highlights that their commitment to inclusive leadership, coaching, and open communication is not only noticed internally but celebrated externally. For our colleagues across the business, it’s a moment to feel proud of the organisation they help to shape every day—a workplace where 100% of people say it’s a great place to work, and where wellbeing and development are more than words on a page.
Organisationally, being shortlisted signals to our customers, suppliers, and stakeholders that Angel Trains is serious about being a people-first business. It strengthens our employer brand in a competitive market and demonstrates that our values (People People, Always Accountable, Together Better, Future Forward and Problem Solvers) are lived, not laminated. Most importantly, it energises us to keep improving. This recognition is not the destination; it’s a milestone on our journey to create an even more inclusive, innovative, and sustainable culture.
Winning an Investors in People Award would be a wonderful milestone for Angel Trains. It would represent more than recognition—it would be a powerful validation of our belief that when people thrive, organisations succeed.
For our colleagues, it would be a moment of pride and celebration, reinforcing that their voice, effort, and ideas have shaped a workplace where 100% say it’s a great place to work. It would show that our values are not just words on a wall but lived behaviours that drive real impact.
For our leaders and managers, it would confirm that their commitment to inclusive leadership, coaching, and wellbeing has created a culture where people feel supported and inspired. For our HR & OD team, it would be the ultimate endorsement of a strategy that has delivered measurable results: Platinum accreditation for People and Wellbeing, engagement scores rising against national trends, and external stakeholder satisfaction at record highs.
Organisationally, winning would strengthen our reputation as an employer of choice and a trusted partner in the rail industry. It would demonstrate to customers, suppliers, and our wider stakeholders that Angel Trains truly is future-focussed, investing in leadership capability, wellbeing, and sustainability to deliver long-term value.
Most importantly, it would energise us to go further. This award would not mark the end of our journey but would be a springboard to our next ambitious goals: embedding predictive people analytics, integrating culture governance into ESG, and shaping a workforce equipped for the future of rail. Winning would reassure us that Angel Trains is not just keeping pace with change, we’re leading it, through our people.
Being part of the Investors in People community is hugely important to Angel Trains because it connects us to a global network of organisations that share our belief that people are the foundation of sustainable success. The framework has been a cornerstone of our journey for over a decade, guiding us from Gold to Platinum and now to Platinum Wellbeing. It provides a trusted benchmark, a common language for improvement, and an external lens that keeps us honest about where we excel and where we need to do more.
Engaging in awards and events like this one matters because it creates opportunities to learn, share, and celebrate. We learn from other organisations that are innovating in leadership, engagement, and wellbeing. We share our own experience of building an integrated people strategy, linking culture, capability, and sustainability, so others can benefit from what has worked for us. And we celebrate the incredible commitment of our colleagues, whose ideas and energy have made Angel Trains a place where 100% of people say it’s a great place to work.
Recognition through the IIP community also strengthens our employer brand in a competitive market and signals to customers, suppliers, and stakeholders that we are serious about being a people-first business. It reinforces our values and demonstrates that they are lived every day.
Most importantly, being part of this community keeps us future-focused. It challenges us to keep raising the bar, to embrace new thinking, and to ensure that as the rail industry evolves, our people practices evolve with it. For Angel Trains, IIP is not just an accreditation, it’s a partnership for continuous improvement.
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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.
