Bus operators look for culture change in management and staff relationships

Achieving customer focus requires a new approach to the way employees are involved in their company and empowered to act

Creating a culture of trust and empowerment has led to frontline staff at Reading Buses delivering higher standards of customer service.

Creating a culture of trust and empowerment has led to frontline staff at Reading Buses delivering higher standards of customer service.

Roger French: suggests new ways of measuring staff performance and encouraging personalised customer care

Roger French: suggests new ways of measuring staff performance and encouraging personalised customer care

When Reading Buses chief executive James Freeman began his career  on the bottom rung of the industry in the late 1970s, in the then National Bus Company the most interaction he recalls having with his depot superintendent was being barked at for a minor breach of rules. In many ways, working in the UK bus industry at that time was akin to joining the military, with the culture dominated by discipline, regimented procedure and remote command and control management. 

Three decades on...