Harriet Sergent

Said the following about Reading Delivery Unit:

“During a challenging year, including the hottest summer on record, a great deal of change on the infrastructure and substantial periods of staff shortage Reading Delivery Unit has performed brilliantly as a team, and provided a great service.

They have delivered significant achievements, such as being the only Delivery Unit to not impact services during summer heat waves. This is important to so many people, such as Great Western Railway who are able to provide an excellent service to passengers, to those millions of passengers who’s journeys were not interrupted and to the reputation of Network Rail and of train travel in the eyes of the public.

They have been pioneering visual management techniques and constantly evolving their weekly vis meetings to meet the needs of the business and reduced cases of staff long term sickness and stress. This is because as a team they are communicating more effectively than before and continuing to create a working environment in which people feel encouraged and supported. A big part of this has been the radical change in their safety briefs. They listened to the voice of the teams and changed a weekly process which was not working. The changes implemented mean that the teams are more engaged with safety, get more of a chance to give their opinion and can discuss issues that matter to them because they have facilitated sessions in smaller groups. This is also encouraging people from different teams to get to know each other, increasing the feeling of being one larger team.

They have also been getting involved with other areas of the business, with representatives from the DU taking part in the Western Inspire Leadership Team, becoming Diversity and Inclusion Champions, working with local schools and colleges promoting the Apprenticeship scheme and STEM subjects, a Community Engagement Steering Group and a higher number of Safety Reps than ever before.

The team at Reading have maintained the busiest delivery unit under budget with a huge amount of project work running alongside their work and I believe this should be celebrated!“