Lydia Fairman

Said the following about Capability and Development Team Organisational Capability:

“I'd like to nominate my team for recognition for the work they have done, going above and beyond, throughout the pandemic. The team rallied quickly recognising the pressure parents within the business would be under. They developed a network on Yammer for colleagues to support each other, virtual coffee and tea breaks, and a pack of activities, advice and resources to support them and also get their children interested in STEM. They also developed resources for teachers who were struggling to deliver virtually. All of our STEM programmes were quickly adapted to be accessed and delivered virtually and schools engagement continued. We also joined groups to support other employees, manning help lines and joining taskforces to support employee wellbeing, making welfare calls too. We developed and delivered webinars to help managers spot the signs of abuse, to help colleagues who may be in abusive relationships and trapped in their homes. We worked for and achieved our white ribbon accreditation. The team also worked hard to support cohorts of graduates, just finding their feet in the workplace, and finding they could no longer come in.

The legacy from some of this work has been the creation of a 7th employee network, Family focus, to support colleagues, which already has over 500 members and is chaired by Amit, who drove all of our schools activities and parental support packs and network throughout lockdown. I'm so proud of the way the team has come together with the aim of helping their colleagues, and used this as a way to cope themselves, with the challenges lockdown has brought. I'd love to see their energy, kindness and determination recognised.“

Ben Sutcliffe

Said the following about Capability and Development Team Organisational Capability:

“I'd like to nominate this team for the work they did throughout covid, to support young people at school, parents, teachers and their colleagues. Throughout the pandemic the team quickly created virtual resources that would support schools to deliver science, technology, engineering and maths activities and company engagement - this was available before the first lockdown officially started. The team created an internal network for colleagues who had caring responsibilities for children.

They ran tea breaks, produced resources and provided support to parents, who were juggling working from home and children. That informal network has since been recognised as a formal employee network in the company called Family focus and has over 500 members. The team formed part of a welfare taskforce, making calls to employees who were isolated at home to check they were ok. They produced guides for people who may be lonely, for to support people who are neurodivergent and those who may be trapped at home with an abusive partner.

They delivered webinars in partnership with other teams, and formed a steering group to lead Network Rail to become White Ribbon accredited. They have since sought funding and delivered training for HR professionals and champions and ambassadors around the company, to help them spot and support those who may be trapped with abusive partners, escaping or recovering. The team went above and beyond and positively impacted the lives of thousands of people, they showed true compassion, care and determination, as they went through an equally difficult period of time.“