London North Eastern Railway (LNER) is hoping to cut anti-social behaviour experienced by rail workers by launching a new campaign.
Called ‘Be Kind’, the initiative started as an LNER initiative but now is being taken on board by the train operator’s partners from across the industry. The campaign sees station and onboard staff wearing badges to encourage good behaviour whilst using the trains.
The badges have phrases that help show staff are more than the uniform they wear – making statements like “I am someone’s mum” or “I am someone’s brother”.
In addition to the badge designs that focus on the wearer’s family relationships, there is also a range that features illustrated animals such as a lion alongside the words ‘please don’t roar at me’ to help the campaign test a number of different approaches.
Staff have already started wearing them over the Christmas break and are wearing them into the new year to see what impact they have.
Claire Ansley, customer experience director at LNER, said: “Having seen the impact that anti-social and rude behaviour can have on our customers and colleagues, it was important that we took action and formed LNER’s Be Kind campaign. As a first step, our new range of badges are a simple way for us to support our station and onboard teams whilst out and about and we’re already seeing that they are generating a lot of positive conversations with customers.”
In addition to the trial of Be Kind badges, LNER is continuing to work with other train companies to explore further ways to encourage more kindness on the railway.
