Paul Wilkinson

Said the following about The Northern Crowd:

“The Northern Crowd is a voluntary group of colleagues set up from all across the business containing and not limited to Conductors, Drivers, Engineers, Station Managers, Customer Service and a wide range of support function colleagues. The fundamental aim is to help contribute to the progress and shaping of Northern Rail by providing a valuable feedback mechanism on business initiatives and idea’s, to include the development and delivery where needed.

Listening to its employees is never an easy task for any business but the Northern Crowd has established itself as a valuable resource used throughout the company to give open and honest feedback and become involved with developments and idea’s that have helped make Northern an even better place to work, which ultimately provides a greater customer experience.

Just in the last 2 months alone the Northern Crowd has helped with...

• Accommodation Strategy development and focus (Mess Rooms),

• Enhancing the Recruiting for the Conductor of Future

• Continuing on last year’s involvement with the annual engagement survey, they have built a network of engagement champions throughout the business

• Contributed to the development of Tone of Voice descriptions and wording

• Developed the Northern Behaviours, now rolled out across the business to understand “how we do things” for both colleagues and leaders.

• Value added input at customer focus groups and also in the development of innovative ways to improve customer information in printed timetable booklets and posters.

• Helped the development on the revised Train Delay Slips

• Contributed to the revamp of Unpaid Fares Notice Pads

• User testing for a e-Payslip system before going live

• Instigated and help create a fun calendar of events to maintain engagement levels whilst the business goes through a period of substantial change

• Become the “Eyes of Northern” for spotting out of date posters

The Northern Crowd should be considered for Rail Team of the year as the members have gone above and beyond in taking ownership of the projects they have been involved in and steered the direction of so many topics through collaboration, team work, creativity and sheer passion to do the right thing for Northern colleagues and customers alike. They really have become the “Employee voice” of Northern Rail!“