West Midlands Trains has been hailed for its commitment to inclusion and diversity at a prestigious national awards ceremony.
The rail operator, which runs services under the West Midlands Railway and London Northwestern Railway brands, was named “Most Improved Organisation” at the 2021 FREDIE Awards.
The FREDIEs – standing for Fairness, Respect, Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Engagement – are run by the National Centre for Diversity. As well as picking up the most improved organisation award, WMT was also nominated in a further seven categories for both individual and collective achievements.
Jo MacPhail, HR director at WMT, said: “It is our priority at West Midlands Trains for our employees to feel safe, respected and welcome and this award is important recognition that equality, diversity and inclusion are at the heart of our business.
“At our company, everyone is involved in making our business a great place to work. We are continuously striving to nurture a culture of belonging, where everyone feels valued, supported, heard and enabled to achieve their full potential.”
Among the achievements WMT has made in the areas of inclusivity and diversity are:
- Achieving “Investors in Diversity Status” at Level 2 and ongoing work towards embedding the FREDIE principles across the business, retaining the accreditation and being a “Disability Confident” employer
- The forthcoming expansion of WMT’s Stakeholder Equality Group, which gives disabled passengers a say on how services are run
- The creation of inclusive groups for colleagues, focused on gender equality (Engender), the LGBT+ agenda (Aspect), race and culture (Embrace) as well as bespoke inclusion webinars to raise awareness and foster culture change
- A pledge to deliver disability equality and inclusion training to all colleagues
Solat Chaudhry, chief executive at the National Centre for Diversity, said: “This award is testament to the enthusiasm, staying power and hard work of everyone at West Midlands Trains.
“The competition for our awards is very tough and WMT deserves the right to savour this success and to keep moving forward, patiently and progressively.”
For more information about careers at West Midlands Trains, visit https://apply.abellio.com/about/wmtrains