Published on: Monday, 21 October 2013
Last updated: Wednesday, 5 October 2016
Abellio train operator, Greater Anglia, has completed a company-wide training programme, delivering on its franchise commitment to provide customer service training and development for every member of frontline customer service staff and their line managers.
The ‘Inspire’ programme has been designed to put customer service at the heart of the business, with all frontline staff receiving training in how to provide excellent service that regularly meets and exceed customers’ expectations.
As a result, mystery shopper surveys have revealed that the number of employees receiving the maximum score for delivering excellent customer service has increased by 6% since the training programme began and the customer experience at stations has improved by 5%.
The eighteen month long programme, delivered in partnership with Train4Change, who assisted and supported Greater Anglia in setting up, planning and delivering the initiative, has seen over 2,100 employees gain the skills to put customer service at the heart of everything they do.
‘Inspire’ has delivered 174 training events since the franchise began and has identified 80 ‘Inspire Champions’ – employees who will continue to take the programme forward, acting as role models within their departments and supporting other team members to further enhance customer service delivery.
Andrew Goodrum, Greater Anglia’s Customer Services Director, commented, “The ‘Inspire’ programme has been instrumental in enabling our staff to provide the best service possible to over two million passengers a week using our services in London and East Anglia. I would like to thank Train4Change for helping us to deliver the programme, which is helping to embed the skills and behaviours required to progress as a truly customer-focussed organisation.”
The last ‘Inspire’ training event took place at Greater Anglia’s Stratford based Training Academy on 23rd and 24th September 2013 but due to the success of the initiative, Greater Anglia plans to continue employee development training with an in-house programme that will be led by Greater Anglia managers.
A further 20 training events, encompassing a further 800 employees, will take place between October and November, with a further programme being rolled out to staff across the business from January 2014.