It’s an oft-said phrase in public transport over the years, but I fear we may have reached a nadir. The sector can and must respond
It’s noticeable, in some cases, how despairing some staff are
When you trawl social media, there’s no shortage of folk masquerading as experts in mental health, spouting off in somewhat overly gushingly and patronising tones about ‘well being Wednesdays’ and telling us all how to better approach our working day. Some have good intentions but for others this is a commercial stunt to extract cash for advice. Much of the messaging, though, is for management, the kind that are present on LinkedIn and the like and not those bearing the brunt of it all right now, the bus drivers, supervisors, or depot allocators or other frontline employees. Granted, many depots have signs offering free counselling and these can be effective, though there’s more to it than that. The problem is that in many transport companies, support and pastoral care is outsourced to third party companies.
There was a period when I was climbing the greasy pole in management roles where staff kept telling me ‘morale has never been lower’. It may indeed have been an indictment on my own capability as the gaffer, but it’s a phrase I’ve heard on and off over the years across the sector. However, I genuinely believe that it has reached a nadir – the perfect storm in many cases, with a mix of the pent up, post pandemic frustration and the financial challenges facing transport, alongside societal changes that don’t exactly suggest the most positive trajectory for our sector.
I’ve spent quite a lot of time recently in bus companies and it’s noticeable, in some cases, how despairing drivers, supervisors and allocators are
I’ve spent quite a lot of time recently in bus companies and it’s noticeable, in some cases, how despairing drivers, supervisors and allocators are. Over the years, there’s always been shoulder shrugging about how it’s not great, but an acceptance that in the main it could be much worse in other jobs and we’d miss it if we didn’t work here anymore. This time, though, I’m noticing increasing vitriol.
For me, the real frustration is that the sudden spike in disquiet could be easily avoidable in some respects. Granted, the industry-wide shortage of drivers is chronic, and this clearly makes the role of a depot allocator and operations manager more stressful – because of the incessant challenge of trying to cover shifts and in doing so being at the behest of drivers who hold all the cards and need constant friendly persuasion to work additional duties. So too, it’s more challenging than ever to improve standards with no one in reserve to drive the buses if a brave allocator or supervisor sent a driver home for not being in full uniform or take them offline for a chat or additional training course to upskill them in customer service following a series of customer complaints. This is the time to turn a blind eye and drivers know it.
However, management don’t help themselves. Drivers are ground down, so too are their immediate supervisors. They take the brunt of frustrations when drivers sign on and have to bite their tongue, be diplomatic and supportive, knowing a word out of place might send the driver onto the bus in a foul mood, which they might then take out on customers. Of course, this has always been the case, but the stakes are higher than ever before, longer shifts and customers, like employees, have a shorter fuse.
In another role I have in football, we’re grappling with a shocking rise in incidences of spectator and player abuse and violence post Covid. In most walks of society, there’s a pent up feeling of intolerance and self-entitlement. Within this scenario, it’s more important than ever for senior managers to up their profile, like never before, be visible in the depot, engage and communicate – discuss the challenges facing the bus sector and explain how we’re all in it together at this crossroads for the industry. Drivers and their immediate supervisors just think that management are oblivious to the need to fill vacancies and deliberately not doing so to save money, which isn’t the truth.
You can’t manage a bus company from a desktop PC at home and now, more than ever, visibility in the depots, not just the subsidiary HQ depot, is of paramount importance
You can’t manage a bus company from a desktop PC at home and now, more than ever, visibility in the depots, not just the subsidiary HQ depot, is of paramount importance. This is the time to show true leadership and it’s more than the occasional visit or ‘long service award’ photo of the MD with some long serving old timer on LinkedIn – the kind of post that purports to celebrate the achievement of the frontline employee but is really done to draw attention to the manager next to them instead.
Of course being visible in the depot isn’t enough. (We are talking the very basics of management but, trust me, that’s eluding many senior managers out there.) It’s about having proper, meaningful discussions and in particular with the ‘meat in the sandwich’, those folk that are the first contact with drivers when they book on in the morning and who can make or break their day with the initial interaction they have with them and the decisions they take regarding their schedule for the day and rest of the week. They are the ones who hear the moans and groans from drivers and the valuable insight into what the customers are saying or their observations of competitors, as they drive their bus back and forth all day long. The problem is quite often, senior managers chat either with their own or with frontline employees. Meanwhile, supervisors and junior managers are traditionally the least communicated with or consulted upon and are always the last to benefit from training, development and career support.
It never ceases to amaze me how negligent and lacking in self-awareness some managers can be. In the midst of our most testing of times for frontline teams, I’ve heard tales of free tea and coffee from machines being removed (self-defeating penny-pinching in the extreme) and canteens being closed down, or the numbers of on-street inspectors (those visible folk who can help engage with drivers, improve standards and talk to customers on the network) being deliberately allowed to dwindle and ultimately become obsolete. Or, of basic furniture in messrooms or supervisors’ offices (places where key staff literally spend an entire shift making pressurised decisions) cut back or less comfortable replacements introduced without any cognisance of their design and fitness for purpose. Elsewhere, running times are being squeezed back to the bone such that they are so unrealistic, causing undue stress for drivers and opprobrium from customers.
Meanwhile, in this fraught environment back in the depot, rational, customer-led decisions are incapable of being made, the kind that takes into account the negligence of cancelling the same bus each day on a particular route when there is a vehicle or driver shortage in terms of the impact on the same set of customers. Everyone agrees it’s an unabated hamster wheel of firefighting, but no-one does anything to intervene and break the cycle.
It’s interesting how many companies are either in denial that there’s a problem or believe the challenge of morale among bus drivers so incurable and long-standing that it’s not even worth addressing
It’s interesting how many companies are either in denial that there’s a problem or believe the challenge of morale among bus drivers so incurable and long-standing that it’s not even worth addressing. Quite often, when I’ve been asked, in a consultancy capacity, to speak to drivers and their supervisors and diagnose what’s going wrong, managers tend to shoot the messenger, however diplomatic I might be. Or, they will belittle the feedback provided, as though it must be wrong because it came from bus drivers and there are a few notorious ‘trouble-makers’ out there.
Officialdom berates drivers for not performing but they just expect them to know what to do. They don’t even bother producing guidelines or customer service standards. If management aren’t doing that, then how else are they spending their time? It’s incredible how the views of drivers and their immediate superiors can be rubbished by the same people who love nothing better than posing on social media with these ‘salt of the earth’ characters in a depot. When it suits.
Supervisors or depot allocators are those that I feel most for, expected to lead by example yet paid less than the drivers they manage and given very little, if any, of the training that is required for their roles. Drivers return all energised from their own training, only for the smile to be wiped off their face by a cynical supervisor who hasn’t even been briefed about the training and is resentful that they’ve not themselves been deemed worthy enough to benefit from such development.
Among this grade of staff, I also see a lot of cloned individuals, scared of speaking out about their own senior leaders, incapable or unwilling to challenge them and their ways of working
There are some exceptions – I’m currently in the midst of running a training programme for depot allocators in one of the more forward-thinking owning groups and it’s noticeable how appreciative attendees are at receiving such positive focus. It’s incredible, though, that so little thought is given to this key role across the industry. Supervisors or depot allocators, depending on the organisational set-up, are, in many cases, led by duty managers or depot operations managers who are almost as badly equipped, receiving very little in the way of leadership training and having been promoted because they were either the only applicants or they have the least blemished record in supervisory or team leader roles of ‘dropping service’, even if they demonstrate none of the other credentials required to lead and inspire a large team of frontline employees. Among this grade of staff, I also see a lot of cloned individuals, scared of speaking out about their own senior leaders, incapable or unwilling to challenge them and their ways of working or their approach to running the business or the culture of the company. The lack of chewing of the fat, or of garnering different ideas, is a real worry. During this period of adversity, I see a lot of clamming up and fear of the consequences from those lower down the chain.
For duty managers, a proper leadership development programme is the exception rather than the rule. Some of the owning groups have embarked on these, but quite often they fizzle out or simply vanish at the first sign of crisis or organisation change. They commence with good intentions and include an aspiration of everyone receiving a mentor but I’m yet to see any programme of this kind ever reach a great outcome for the recipients. Quite often not all duty managers benefit in any case, it tends to be the bright youngsters, with their career ahead of them, rather than the old timer who tends to be the person who actually holds it altogether but is sometimes dismissed as being beyond wanting development and investment.
I’ve lost count of the number of job interviews I’ve taken with senior managers who regale me their supposed great leadership skills. Most of the time it is a sham because the reality is that if you visited their depots and asked the opinion of frontline employees, the response would be the complete opposite. Okay, so, there will be an element which might not be credible, but I’ve spent enough time with bus drivers, for instance, to realise that, in the main, they are an even-handed bunch and pretty rational with their views and they do identify and give positive feedback where it’s deserved. I’m also a believer in ‘no smoke without fire’ and when I hear of an MD or director running the company from home during the pandemic, it tends not to be too far from the truth.
Leadership isn’t really that difficult and yet decade after decade in the transport sector it goes unmastered and in many cases gets worse with each passing year. Many senior leaders should hang their heads in shame and yet they just stand by and do nothing, except convincing themselves that a once in a while, ‘tea and toast drop-in session’ in the canteen constitutes inspirational leadership. Then, they wonder why morale genuinely has never been so low. It’s pathetic really. .
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Alex Warner has over 28 years’ experience in the transport sector, having held senior roles on a multi-modal basis across the sector
This article appears in the latest issue of Passenger Transport.
Has morale finally hit rock bottom?
by Passenger Transport on Feb 28, 2022 • 8:06 pm No CommentsIt’s an oft-said phrase in public transport over the years, but I fear we may have reached a nadir. The sector can and must respond
When you trawl social media, there’s no shortage of folk masquerading as experts in mental health, spouting off in somewhat overly gushingly and patronising tones about ‘well being Wednesdays’ and telling us all how to better approach our working day. Some have good intentions but for others this is a commercial stunt to extract cash for advice. Much of the messaging, though, is for management, the kind that are present on LinkedIn and the like and not those bearing the brunt of it all right now, the bus drivers, supervisors, or depot allocators or other frontline employees. Granted, many depots have signs offering free counselling and these can be effective, though there’s more to it than that. The problem is that in many transport companies, support and pastoral care is outsourced to third party companies.
There was a period when I was climbing the greasy pole in management roles where staff kept telling me ‘morale has never been lower’. It may indeed have been an indictment on my own capability as the gaffer, but it’s a phrase I’ve heard on and off over the years across the sector. However, I genuinely believe that it has reached a nadir – the perfect storm in many cases, with a mix of the pent up, post pandemic frustration and the financial challenges facing transport, alongside societal changes that don’t exactly suggest the most positive trajectory for our sector.
I’ve spent quite a lot of time recently in bus companies and it’s noticeable, in some cases, how despairing drivers, supervisors and allocators are. Over the years, there’s always been shoulder shrugging about how it’s not great, but an acceptance that in the main it could be much worse in other jobs and we’d miss it if we didn’t work here anymore. This time, though, I’m noticing increasing vitriol.
For me, the real frustration is that the sudden spike in disquiet could be easily avoidable in some respects. Granted, the industry-wide shortage of drivers is chronic, and this clearly makes the role of a depot allocator and operations manager more stressful – because of the incessant challenge of trying to cover shifts and in doing so being at the behest of drivers who hold all the cards and need constant friendly persuasion to work additional duties. So too, it’s more challenging than ever to improve standards with no one in reserve to drive the buses if a brave allocator or supervisor sent a driver home for not being in full uniform or take them offline for a chat or additional training course to upskill them in customer service following a series of customer complaints. This is the time to turn a blind eye and drivers know it.
However, management don’t help themselves. Drivers are ground down, so too are their immediate supervisors. They take the brunt of frustrations when drivers sign on and have to bite their tongue, be diplomatic and supportive, knowing a word out of place might send the driver onto the bus in a foul mood, which they might then take out on customers. Of course, this has always been the case, but the stakes are higher than ever before, longer shifts and customers, like employees, have a shorter fuse.
In another role I have in football, we’re grappling with a shocking rise in incidences of spectator and player abuse and violence post Covid. In most walks of society, there’s a pent up feeling of intolerance and self-entitlement. Within this scenario, it’s more important than ever for senior managers to up their profile, like never before, be visible in the depot, engage and communicate – discuss the challenges facing the bus sector and explain how we’re all in it together at this crossroads for the industry. Drivers and their immediate supervisors just think that management are oblivious to the need to fill vacancies and deliberately not doing so to save money, which isn’t the truth.
You can’t manage a bus company from a desktop PC at home and now, more than ever, visibility in the depots, not just the subsidiary HQ depot, is of paramount importance. This is the time to show true leadership and it’s more than the occasional visit or ‘long service award’ photo of the MD with some long serving old timer on LinkedIn – the kind of post that purports to celebrate the achievement of the frontline employee but is really done to draw attention to the manager next to them instead.
Of course being visible in the depot isn’t enough. (We are talking the very basics of management but, trust me, that’s eluding many senior managers out there.) It’s about having proper, meaningful discussions and in particular with the ‘meat in the sandwich’, those folk that are the first contact with drivers when they book on in the morning and who can make or break their day with the initial interaction they have with them and the decisions they take regarding their schedule for the day and rest of the week. They are the ones who hear the moans and groans from drivers and the valuable insight into what the customers are saying or their observations of competitors, as they drive their bus back and forth all day long. The problem is quite often, senior managers chat either with their own or with frontline employees. Meanwhile, supervisors and junior managers are traditionally the least communicated with or consulted upon and are always the last to benefit from training, development and career support.
It never ceases to amaze me how negligent and lacking in self-awareness some managers can be. In the midst of our most testing of times for frontline teams, I’ve heard tales of free tea and coffee from machines being removed (self-defeating penny-pinching in the extreme) and canteens being closed down, or the numbers of on-street inspectors (those visible folk who can help engage with drivers, improve standards and talk to customers on the network) being deliberately allowed to dwindle and ultimately become obsolete. Or, of basic furniture in messrooms or supervisors’ offices (places where key staff literally spend an entire shift making pressurised decisions) cut back or less comfortable replacements introduced without any cognisance of their design and fitness for purpose. Elsewhere, running times are being squeezed back to the bone such that they are so unrealistic, causing undue stress for drivers and opprobrium from customers.
Meanwhile, in this fraught environment back in the depot, rational, customer-led decisions are incapable of being made, the kind that takes into account the negligence of cancelling the same bus each day on a particular route when there is a vehicle or driver shortage in terms of the impact on the same set of customers. Everyone agrees it’s an unabated hamster wheel of firefighting, but no-one does anything to intervene and break the cycle.
It’s interesting how many companies are either in denial that there’s a problem or believe the challenge of morale among bus drivers so incurable and long-standing that it’s not even worth addressing. Quite often, when I’ve been asked, in a consultancy capacity, to speak to drivers and their supervisors and diagnose what’s going wrong, managers tend to shoot the messenger, however diplomatic I might be. Or, they will belittle the feedback provided, as though it must be wrong because it came from bus drivers and there are a few notorious ‘trouble-makers’ out there.
Officialdom berates drivers for not performing but they just expect them to know what to do. They don’t even bother producing guidelines or customer service standards. If management aren’t doing that, then how else are they spending their time? It’s incredible how the views of drivers and their immediate superiors can be rubbished by the same people who love nothing better than posing on social media with these ‘salt of the earth’ characters in a depot. When it suits.
Supervisors or depot allocators are those that I feel most for, expected to lead by example yet paid less than the drivers they manage and given very little, if any, of the training that is required for their roles. Drivers return all energised from their own training, only for the smile to be wiped off their face by a cynical supervisor who hasn’t even been briefed about the training and is resentful that they’ve not themselves been deemed worthy enough to benefit from such development.
There are some exceptions – I’m currently in the midst of running a training programme for depot allocators in one of the more forward-thinking owning groups and it’s noticeable how appreciative attendees are at receiving such positive focus. It’s incredible, though, that so little thought is given to this key role across the industry. Supervisors or depot allocators, depending on the organisational set-up, are, in many cases, led by duty managers or depot operations managers who are almost as badly equipped, receiving very little in the way of leadership training and having been promoted because they were either the only applicants or they have the least blemished record in supervisory or team leader roles of ‘dropping service’, even if they demonstrate none of the other credentials required to lead and inspire a large team of frontline employees. Among this grade of staff, I also see a lot of cloned individuals, scared of speaking out about their own senior leaders, incapable or unwilling to challenge them and their ways of working or their approach to running the business or the culture of the company. The lack of chewing of the fat, or of garnering different ideas, is a real worry. During this period of adversity, I see a lot of clamming up and fear of the consequences from those lower down the chain.
For duty managers, a proper leadership development programme is the exception rather than the rule. Some of the owning groups have embarked on these, but quite often they fizzle out or simply vanish at the first sign of crisis or organisation change. They commence with good intentions and include an aspiration of everyone receiving a mentor but I’m yet to see any programme of this kind ever reach a great outcome for the recipients. Quite often not all duty managers benefit in any case, it tends to be the bright youngsters, with their career ahead of them, rather than the old timer who tends to be the person who actually holds it altogether but is sometimes dismissed as being beyond wanting development and investment.
I’ve lost count of the number of job interviews I’ve taken with senior managers who regale me their supposed great leadership skills. Most of the time it is a sham because the reality is that if you visited their depots and asked the opinion of frontline employees, the response would be the complete opposite. Okay, so, there will be an element which might not be credible, but I’ve spent enough time with bus drivers, for instance, to realise that, in the main, they are an even-handed bunch and pretty rational with their views and they do identify and give positive feedback where it’s deserved. I’m also a believer in ‘no smoke without fire’ and when I hear of an MD or director running the company from home during the pandemic, it tends not to be too far from the truth.
Leadership isn’t really that difficult and yet decade after decade in the transport sector it goes unmastered and in many cases gets worse with each passing year. Many senior leaders should hang their heads in shame and yet they just stand by and do nothing, except convincing themselves that a once in a while, ‘tea and toast drop-in session’ in the canteen constitutes inspirational leadership. Then, they wonder why morale genuinely has never been so low. It’s pathetic really. .
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Alex Warner has over 28 years’ experience in the transport sector, having held senior roles on a multi-modal basis across the sector
This article appears in the latest issue of Passenger Transport.
DON’T MISS OUT – GET YOUR COPY! – click here to subscribe!