CrossCountry rewarded for listening to its people

CrossCountry, part of leading transport group Arriva, received a prestigious award for its approach to Employee Engagement at the British Quality Foundation UK Excellence Awards in London on 17 October.

The UK Excellence Awards recognise outstanding performance in key areas of business activity and best practice amongst businesses, and are open to all types of organisation in the public, private and voluntary sectors. Entries in the Employee Engagement category must demonstrate substantially increased levels of employee engagement throughout an organisation or in a part of it, and novel approaches to increasing employee engagement.

Over a two year period CrossCountry transformed its approach to employee engagement, with each change built on listening to the views and wishes of its people. Clearer and more open forms of communication were introduced, with a stronger focus on direct engagement to supplement printed material. The employee magazine was expanded to include more stories about people's activities outside work, the number of events where people could meet the company directors was doubled, and a new company intranet was launched offering a fully interactive experience for people from every part of the business. Annual surveys were undertaken as the changes were being delivered to ensure they were achieving what people wanted.

Speaking after the award ceremony, CrossCountry's Managing Director, Andy Cooper, said: "This is a fantastic achievement for CrossCountry. This award by the British Quality Foundation shows we are well on the way to achieving the goal of being an employer of choice, not just amongst our peers in the rail industry but among all areas of business in the public, private and voluntary sectors.

"Our people are our most valuable asset. With offices throughout Britain it was important to have the best possible means to engage with them, to show that we value their views and feedback and act on them. Our approach of listening to our people about how they wanted us to do this has allowed us to deliver a truly exceptional approach to employee engagement."

Congratulating CrossCountry on its award, Joe Goasdoué, Chief Executive of the BQF, said: "Winning an Achievement Award is a tremendous result for any organisation. CrossCountry impressed the judging panel with its commitment to engaging with its employees at every opportunity."

Notes to editors

The CrossCountry network is the most extensive passenger rail franchise in Britain. Stretching from Aberdeen to Penzance, and from Stansted to Cardiff, it calls at over 100 stations. Based in Birmingham, CrossCountry connects seven of the Britain's 10 largest cities and delivers 295 services every weekday, equating to some 32 million passenger journeys a year.

CrossCountry

CrossCountry started operating on 11 November 2007. The franchise, which is the most extensive in the UK, will run until 31 March 2016. For further information on CrossCountry services and future franchise plans log on to crosscountrytrains.co.uk.

CrossCountry is part of the Arriva group, which is owned by Deutsche Bahn. Arriva is a leading pan-European public transport operators with more than 42,000 employees and operations across 12 European countries. The link to Arriva is www.arriva.co.uk. The link to Deutsche Bahn is deutschebahn.com.

Like CrossCountry on Facebook at facebook.com/crosscountrytrains.

Follow CrossCountry on Twitter via twitter.com/crosscountryuk.

CrossCountry bookings

Passengers can buy tickets for any rail journey in Britain, with any train company and with no booking fee at crosscountrytrains.co.uk or via the free CrossCountry Train Tickets app.Download the app by visiting your app store or by texting TRAVEL to 87080.

CrossCountry facts and figures

STATIONS SERVED: 119
ROUTE MILES: 1,490
WEEKDAY SERVICES: 295
PASSENGERS CARRIED: Over 30 million passenger journeys a year anticipated
ANNUAL TRAIN MILEAGE: Approximately 16 million
EMPLOYEES: Approximately 1,600
LONGEST TRAIN SERVICE: 08.20 Aberdeen to Penzance (774 miles)

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Contact Information

CrossCountry Press Office: [email protected]

About CrossCountry

CrossCountry is a long-distance passenger train operator, with a network stretching from Aberdeen to Penzance and from Stansted to Cardiff and calling at over 100 stations. Based in Birmingham, CrossCountry connects seven of Britain’s 10 largest cities and delivers 240 services every weekday, equating to over 42 million passenger journeys each year.

For further information on CrossCountry services, visit crosscountrytrains.co.uk or visit one of our social media platforms via X @crosscountryuk or Facebook at facebook.com/crosscountrytrains