About East Midlands Railway
East Midlands Railway’s vision is to drive the East Midlands towards a brighter future. Working in partnership to connect cities and support communities, they strive to put customers at the heart of a sustainable railway and work together as one team.
They are investors in people, and their company values guide how they treat passengers and colleagues. These values underpin their commitment to delivering an inclusive, customer-focused service.
We spoke to Liam Buswell, On Train Depot Manager (South), responsible for managing depot operations, train crews, customer hosts and new staff recruitment. He explained how Victoria supported the organisation when they encountered a new and important opportunity around inclusion.
During a recruitment drive for new customer hosts, one of the successful candidates, Sarah, disclosed that she was profoundly deaf and would need a British Sign Language interpreter to take part in the assessment day.
Sarah excelled during assessment and scored highly in her interview. The team recognised her talent and wanted to offer her the position, but they had never employed a deaf team member before. This meant navigating a range of unknowns, including health and safety, communication, environmental noise and operational procedures.
As Liam described:
“We knew that although it might be challenging. We didn’t have any other deaf employees, so it was unchartered territory for us, but we wanted to offer her a position and do all we could to support her success.”
The team needed experienced guidance to ensure they could support Sarah effectively and safely. Victoria was brought in to assess the situation, liaise directly with Sarah and identify the adjustments needed.
Victoria worked closely with Sarah and the East Midlands Railway team to understand her needs and identify the adjustments required.
This included:
- Observing Sarah’s induction
- Monitoring how she interacted with EMR’s systems and procedures
- Assessing the suitability of two environments: onboard hosting and the gate-line role
- Identifying the specific touchpoints that needed modifications
- Advising on safety, communication and environmental considerations
- Liaising directly with Sarah about her experience and needs
Liam described the role Victoria played:
“During Sarah’s induction, with Victoria’s help, we monitored how she interacted with our current systems and procedures and identified each touch point that needed modifications.”
The assessment showed that the gate-line role was not suitable due to noise and pace, while the train environment provided Sarah with more control and safety.
Bringing Sarah into the team has had an overwhelmingly positive impact on both East Midlands Railway and the colleagues she works alongside.
As Liam shared:
“Seeing how adaptable she is and watching how she works with customers is an inspiration.”
He also highlighted the wider cultural value:
“Sarah and Victoria have certainly opened our eyes to the possibility of employing other deaf people. It’s set a lot of wheels in motion for our diversity and inclusion team to get some projects to the forefront.”
“I can’t think of a single negative about working with Victoria. She has been wonderful, engaging, and positive and have helped us a lot. It’s a journey we hadn’t considered going on before, but I’m so glad we did, and she was part of it. She gives you the confidence that you can do something. I like that she don’t necessarily give you all the answers, as each situation is different … but points you in the right direction and gives you the tools to make an informed decision. It’s been true teamwork, and I’m so glad we’ve worked together towards the common goal of getting Sarah into work.”
— Liam Buswell
“At the start of the year, we began a recruitment drive for additional customer hosts to join our team (to serve refreshments to passengers in first class). We have a ‘blind screening’ policy using a scoring system. When the successful candidates were informed they had progressed to the assessment day, one (Sarah) told us she was profoundly deaf and would need the support of an interpreter on that day.”
— Liam Buswell
“It quickly became apparent that the gate line role wouldn’t suit Sarah because it’s a more pressured environment with people in a hurry and a lot of background noise from the station … which can’t be controlled.”
— Liam Buswell
“Now we’ve made this connection with Victoria, I know it will continue, and they will be there for advice whenever we need it.”
— Liam Buswell
“With so many unknowns and challenges, like health and safety, environment and communication, etc., we needed support, and Victoria was the obvious choice to assess the situation and liaise with Sarah about her specific needs and how we could facilitate them.”
— Liam Buswell
“I’ll be the first to admit I was skeptical about this at first. As much as I knew Sarah would be a great addition to our team, I could also see that challenges lay ahead, and we would have pushback from those who didn’t believe it could all work out.”
— Liam Buswell
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