The following is adapted from a post I did last year on trainorders.com-
Having retired from Amtrak after 19 years as a frontline employee, I think that the most basic problem in all areas is the total lack of a consistent management message/philosophy since the Graham Claytor era.
Things have been pretty much revolving-door since Mr. Claytor, and various customer-focus programs have popped up then disappeared without a trace. Amtrak has spent millions over the years on a variety of nationwide customer service training classes wherein the frontline troops were promised all sorts of improvements and top-level support in delivery of service. Sad to say, it pretty much all came to nothing.
The worst of these "promises not kept" I experienced was during George Warrington's tenure, when "passengers" became "guests" and OBS employees systemwide attended "Guest Services" training classes. Fellow OBS employees (including me) were recruited to be the instructors and told by management to pass on the assurance of all manner of good things to come. A key tool in coping with unhappy passengers (oops, I mean "guests") aboard the trains was the empowerment of every employee to take prompt action to turn the situation around. This included the ability to comp food/beverage items from the lounge car or meals in the dining car. A "Guest Services Handbook", published at no small expense, had page after page of all the service enhancements that would "soon" be rolling out.
This program started falling apart even as it was being taught, as it had been rolled out from Corporate without consultation with local managers. At my crew base, it was a bone of contention with the local Human Resources staff who normally handled employee training and resented being bypassed. The program did work in some aspects for awhile but was never fully implemented. I was able to use the problem-resolution setup on a number of occasions and it was a great tool. My most satisfying moment was being able to comp breakfast or lunch in the dining car on the westbound Sunset Limited for about 20 coach passengers who had been shabbily treated in San Antonio. After receiving many words of appreciation from those folks, a few hours later I was being reprimanded by a San Antonio-based manager who had never heard of the program and couldn't believe his bosses would approve.
The "Guest Services" program faded from sight after a relatively short time, those at Corporate who had set it up went on to other things, and those of us who had agreed to be instructors were left looking (and feeling) like the jerks we were.
Employee morale was very low during the Downs and Warrington administrations, only to take a sharp spike upward when David Gunn came in. We thought that at last there was someone running the company who might actually care about his trains and his employees. "Proud to be Under the Gunn" T-shirts appeared, and there were management shakeups that amounted to more than rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Mr. Gunn wasn't perfect, of course, and had his fair share of detractors. But things did seem to be looking up and employees finally had reason to be somewhat optimistic. "Guests" became "passengers" once again. Strategic Business Units that wasted money and management titles, not to mention creating three separate and unequal Amtraks, disappeared. So did "Product Lines" and calling Road Foremen of Engines and Trainmasters, "Service Managers". It began to look like it might be a real railroad again.
We started to think that perhaps a lot of mid- and lower-level managers, who were more interested in maintaining the status quo and covering their backsides, might actually have to MANAGE and, heaven forbid, problem-solve. There were, of course, many good Amtrak management people. But for too many of them, the operative phrase was "Do the best you can", which basically meant just get thru your trip this time the best you can and don't expect things to be any different next time.
I had retired before David Gunn's firing but am sure that most employees were very disappointed with his departure. I recall Art McMahon (Downs' VP-Pax Services, then CEO Intercity SBU) saying that it takes five years at minimum to change the corporate culture at a company as large as Amtrak. If there's no consistency, the culture will never change. And the door keeps revolving........
Having retired from Amtrak after 19 years as a frontline employee, I think that the most basic problem in all areas is the total lack of a consistent management message/philosophy since the Graham Claytor era.
Things have been pretty much revolving-door since Mr. Claytor, and various customer-focus programs have popped up then disappeared without a trace. Amtrak has spent millions over the years on a variety of nationwide customer service training classes wherein the frontline troops were promised all sorts of improvements and top-level support in delivery of service. Sad to say, it pretty much all came to nothing.
The worst of these "promises not kept" I experienced was during George Warrington's tenure, when "passengers" became "guests" and OBS employees systemwide attended "Guest Services" training classes. Fellow OBS employees (including me) were recruited to be the instructors and told by management to pass on the assurance of all manner of good things to come. A key tool in coping with unhappy passengers (oops, I mean "guests") aboard the trains was the empowerment of every employee to take prompt action to turn the situation around. This included the ability to comp food/beverage items from the lounge car or meals in the dining car. A "Guest Services Handbook", published at no small expense, had page after page of all the service enhancements that would "soon" be rolling out.
This program started falling apart even as it was being taught, as it had been rolled out from Corporate without consultation with local managers. At my crew base, it was a bone of contention with the local Human Resources staff who normally handled employee training and resented being bypassed. The program did work in some aspects for awhile but was never fully implemented. I was able to use the problem-resolution setup on a number of occasions and it was a great tool. My most satisfying moment was being able to comp breakfast or lunch in the dining car on the westbound Sunset Limited for about 20 coach passengers who had been shabbily treated in San Antonio. After receiving many words of appreciation from those folks, a few hours later I was being reprimanded by a San Antonio-based manager who had never heard of the program and couldn't believe his bosses would approve.
The "Guest Services" program faded from sight after a relatively short time, those at Corporate who had set it up went on to other things, and those of us who had agreed to be instructors were left looking (and feeling) like the jerks we were.
Employee morale was very low during the Downs and Warrington administrations, only to take a sharp spike upward when David Gunn came in. We thought that at last there was someone running the company who might actually care about his trains and his employees. "Proud to be Under the Gunn" T-shirts appeared, and there were management shakeups that amounted to more than rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Mr. Gunn wasn't perfect, of course, and had his fair share of detractors. But things did seem to be looking up and employees finally had reason to be somewhat optimistic. "Guests" became "passengers" once again. Strategic Business Units that wasted money and management titles, not to mention creating three separate and unequal Amtraks, disappeared. So did "Product Lines" and calling Road Foremen of Engines and Trainmasters, "Service Managers". It began to look like it might be a real railroad again.
We started to think that perhaps a lot of mid- and lower-level managers, who were more interested in maintaining the status quo and covering their backsides, might actually have to MANAGE and, heaven forbid, problem-solve. There were, of course, many good Amtrak management people. But for too many of them, the operative phrase was "Do the best you can", which basically meant just get thru your trip this time the best you can and don't expect things to be any different next time.
I had retired before David Gunn's firing but am sure that most employees were very disappointed with his departure. I recall Art McMahon (Downs' VP-Pax Services, then CEO Intercity SBU) saying that it takes five years at minimum to change the corporate culture at a company as large as Amtrak. If there's no consistency, the culture will never change. And the door keeps revolving........
