Staff training
In 2019, Greater Anglia implemented accessibility and inclusion training to meet the rail regulator’s new standards, to help improve customer service. The course is mandatory for anyone who starts work for the company.
Greater Anglia commissioned a team of Accessibility and Inclusion trainers to deliver regular sessions to encourage all staff to feel empowered to help improve the journeys of people with accessibility needs.
The course covers meeting and greeting, how to talk to customers about their access needs, language and terminology, communication, body language, etiquette, and practical examples of assisting customers, as well as the business and legal case for why it’s important to understand the issues.
At the end of the course, delegates are invited to make an ‘Inclusion Promise’, naming one thing they plan to do differently to improve accessibility and inclusion for customers.
When the pandemic arrived in 2020, rather than pause the training, the team worked quickly to move it online so that all new starters continued to be trained.
Greater Anglia’s Accessibility Manager, Rebecca Richardson, said, “At Greater Anglia, we are really serious about doing better in this area. We want everyone to have a good journey with us, so giving our staff the skills and knowledge to always have accessibility in the forefront of their minds will help us achieve that step-change in customer service that we are seeking to provide.”
“This training is making a real difference for staff as it will give them more confidence when assisting disabled customers.
“And it will really help disabled customers with their journey experience as staff are better able to understand what they need to do in order to support somebody through their journey and to provide a good passenger experience.”
Visit ‘it’s everyone’s journey’ to find out more about the campaign and the support services available.