Re: Benchmarking Rostering and Manpower Planning

["Roger White" <rl_white@hotmail.com>]

The combination of two posts on the DENlist today gives me pause for 
thought.

First, Bill Latzko’s comment on the earlier post that said:

I am the Quality Manager for Virgin Trains in the UK. We are one of the 25 
train operating companies in the UK. I am facilitating some work regarding 
manpower planning for our frontline teams, e.g. train drivers, train 
managers and catering teams. The group is looking to fundamentally change 
the system of work as it stands at the moment and is looking for some ideas 
on organisations that are world class in this area. The focus of the group 
is World Class Resourcing which encompasses rostering, resourcing and 
manpower planning. Our Chief Executive's vision is based on the reliability 
of Japanese Railways. Does anyone have any ideas or connections that could 
help this group in benchmarking our manpower delivery to an organisation 
that is perceived to do it well?

Bill replied:

If the Chief Executive wants to get the reliability of Japanese trains, he 
needs to consider the System of Profound Knowledge and the 14 points. I 
strongly suspect that his Japanese counterpart has understood these concepts 
and knows what to do to stop getting into the way of achieving quality...

I had my answer all ready mentally when I then read from “a lurker” via Jim:

As I have observed the DEN discussions the last few months I have noticed 
that you use much more anecdotal evidence than facts...

Unfortunately, my post was to have been 100% anecdote.  The implied rebuke 
of that last contribution made me pause, but I decided to go ahead anyhow.

Virgin Rail, with all respect to their Quality Manager, has a mountain to 
climb.  My experience (I know, I know, anecdote) on one of their lines in 
Scotland – Edinburgh to Aberdeen – is, I am afraid, an object lesson in how 
not to provide a rail service.  The problem begins not with the Quality 
Manager’s problem of “rostering, resourcing and manpower planning” but with 
the more fundamental issue of customer service.  By the time their trains 
reach Edinburgh from the south west of England they are dirty, the buffet 
bar is ill-stocked, the staff are dis-affected, the passenger announcements 
are perfunctory.  The “moment of truth” for me came one day as I waited on a 
crowded Edinburgh platform as the train drew in half an hour late and a 
Virgin member of staff standing next to me volunteered – “You’ll be lucky to 
get a seat on this train, pal”.  I live in a sort of fear that they will win 
the franchise for the other long distance route from Aberdeen (about to be 
re-awarded by our UK train regulator) from their competitor GNER who are 
exemplary in the level of customer service they provide.  So I think their 
chief executive’s attention should be on dealing with the customer 
perceptions of poor service first.  Let the manpower planning follow.  
(Incidentally, this is ironic, because their CE used to run the Scottish 
region of the old nationalised British Rail and much improved the service)

So, sorry to be anecdotal, but personal experience is also a sort of truth.  
And if my reference to “franchises”, “regulator” and “re-awarding” is too 
parochial for DENizens from other nations my apologies also.  It’s the crazy 
way our UK government runs our railways.

All the best.

Roger White

Aberdeen
Scotland