It seems like yesterday, summer 2021, as we prepared for a new school term. Our business was unusual because we operated our infrequent bus network throughout the pandemic at near-90% service levels. Cutting frequencies on hourly or two-hourly timetables would not help the key workers we were running for.
A surge in demand on routes serving large warehouses pushed up our operated mileage. We furloughed nobody and were recruiting continuously, with 15 new drivers joining our 60-strong team.
Many of our neighbours were half shut and we foresaw a shock when schools returned properly, lockdowns ended and business reopened, so we wanted to be prepared. We were then fully staffed in all teams, and our employee numbers were more than they had ever been.
Despite our preparations, the shock still came. Within weeks, holders of HGV licences received invitations to consider an alternative career. Health in the workforce deteriorated. Many saw a life of family and leisure as more important. Drivers drifted back into other professions as shortages struck there.
Yet demands on us to run buses surged. Our fleet is the largest it has been and we need more drivers than ever. A successful business with opportunity unfulfilled because of labour shortages.
Wage rages jumped by necessity, with costs increasing by 25% in three years, and an extensive recruitment campaign followed.
Many great people have joined us. But for an expanding business, good recruitment is never enough to resolve the challenge of staff turnover, and it is in successful retention that the answer lies. Keeping the excellent staff we have, rather than endlessly replacing them, is the solution needing a strategy.
Grant Palmer prides itself on being a local family firm. Our retention plan is to consolidate that feeling among our workforce; we want them to really see us as open, approachable, compassionate and considerate, for them to feel part of the family. Running buses is a people business. Focusing on our people is the right thing to do.
Our stable rotas have always meant that drivers can predict their days off years ahead, guaranteed. With four-day weeks across the business, we do our best to maintain work-life balance.
The cliché of an open-door policy is over-used. My door is often closed because I am meeting one of our team, discussing performance sometimes, of course, but just as likely talking through something personal that they want to share, or checking in to see how they are. Many have a regular appointment.
I run a monthly evening drop-in session. Sometimes it feels like a social, but usually someone pulls you aside to share something. At Christmas, gifts are shared, but the support is there all year around.
Our majority male workforce faces all sorts of health challenges, so we run a Driver CPC-approved course covering diet and stress. Our BUPA scheme gets everyone’s eyes and teeth checked regularly, and pays towards treatment. Our employee assistance phone lines provide 24-hour support for all sorts of crisis; health, bereavement, finance, relationships.
Our staff should fulfil their potential too. It is great to see colleagues take on new roles and succeed in them. This month, I am excited to be launching our Open University partnership, offering higher education courses for employees or a family level, to degree level, paid for by us.
My objective: I want everyone here to feel part of the Grant Palmer family. My advice: Never forget that this industry is all about people.
About the author
David Shelley is a Director of Bedfordshire SME bus operator Grant Palmer.
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