Chief Executive Officer Martijn Gilbert says he has had the ‘honour’ of being editor of the 500th issue of the bulletin having taken over from his predecessor James Freeman at the end of 2014.
James produced the first edition of the popular weekly employee digital bulletin on October 3 2007 as a simple bullet pointed list of activities to keep staff regularly informed.
Said Martijn: “The bulletin has since gone on to become an integral part of team communications and is highly regarded as best practice by many across the UK public transport industry.”
He said that after various makeovers the bulletin had now become a ‘colourful and easy to read’ publication popular with its readership.
“It has become the ‘go to’ place for a summary of all company news,” said Martijn. “The bulletin includes our latest initiatives and achievements, route, fare and vehicle changes, future plans, customer feedback, social activity notices, employees personal news such as births and marriages and, of course, the all-important canteen menu.”
And Martijn was keen to mention that staff communication doesn’t just stop at the bulletin.
“We have really worked hard to ensure that we have maintained traditional lines of communication whilst introducing new ways to alert our employees to information. So as well as the usual notices that appear on notice boards around the depot, we now have our computer log-on for drivers that shows recent events such as road closures or traffic.”
The company has also introduced staff forums over the last couple of years where employees can attend a set of presentations from management to understand more about the direction the company is going in and have the opportunity to raise any matters – or even put forward suggestions.
Added Martijn: “All of this supplements our work to build a great team culture with openness, trust and strong communications. We are constantly taking on board feedback from all our workforce to drive the ongoing evolution of our company.
“The effort that goes into producing such a comprehensive weekly update is an important part of this and is seen by the team as a very worthwhile investment.”
The company’s work on engaging its workforce has been recognised at a national level in the past year, firstly with the ‘Development of People’ award at the annual Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport Excellence Awards and, more recently, at the Venus Awards, which particularly noted the work of the company with female employees.