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West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Discussion in 'Heritage Railways & Centres in the UK' started by gwr4090, Nov 15, 2007.

  1. Bayard

    Bayard Well-Known Member

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    I think the reply is more likely to be, to both, "you don't need to know that, that's our business, just give us the money"
     
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  2. Bayard

    Bayard Well-Known Member

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    Parkinson's Law in action.
     
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  3. MellishR

    MellishR Resident of Nat Pres Friend

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    That could delay the prospect of closure by the ORR and accelerate the prospect of insolvency.
     
  4. Steve

    Steve Resident of Nat Pres Friend

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    Does the threat of closure by the ORR still exist, any more than on any other railway?
     
  5. gwilialan

    gwilialan Well-Known Member

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    I was going to say "Compliance with what?" but instead of that I went and read the details (once I could find it on the WSR website!). I know it's a novel way of doing things on here but hey-ho why not? :)
    It is a role to "provide technical administrative support to the Infrastructure Manager and department" and to " support the planning, procurement and implementation of engineering projects." So, in general, from my lifetime of project management, property portfolio management and infrastructure management experience out in the real world I would see this as a clerical position with some slight technical knowledge to help with the form filling and recording/monitoring processes, but there again this is Somerset so who can tell what is really required - they don't say. What is a bit odd is the 24 hour week. Wonder how that will work out? 4 Days at 6 hours a day or 5 days at 5 hr 48 min a day? or what?

    Now, having read that I would normally have thought "Only in Somerset" and not bothered to comment - except that directly below that job description is this one:-

    VOLUNTEER ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF VACANCIES (FULL OR PART TIME)
    A number of volunteers are required at Minehead to undertake a variety of interesting and varied administrative duties. These include providing assistance to Directors and Managers within the Company.
    Some of the positions are for part-time staff and job holders may work days and hours which suit their availability.

    The positions will suit those with clerical experience in a busy environment. Applicants should be familiar with the use of PC's and spreadsheets.

    Isn't that exactly what the above role could be??? :Saywhat:
     
  6. 35B

    35B Nat Pres stalwart

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    Doesn't that take us into the vexed area between what a company can rely on a volunteer to do, and what it may need an employee relationship to obtain?
     
  7. Robin Moira White

    Robin Moira White Resident of Nat Pres

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    I never understand this. There is no role that cannot be performed by a suitably qualified volunteer. Virtually all heritage rail systems of any size strike a balance between employed staff and volunteers.

    it might have been that amongst ca. 500 volunteers and 4,000 plus supporters (including WSRA members) there were volunteers who would be enthused to keep the infrastructure and staff competency records up to date. But whether that was worth trying in this instance is a matter for senior management to judge and justify their position to share- and other stake-holders.
     
  8. Gladiator 5076

    Gladiator 5076 Part of the furniture

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    Yes that job description is not what I have known as compliance officer. Either the title is "ramped up" or they have more written procedures in place at the WSR than we had to follow at BA.
     
  9. Lineisclear

    Lineisclear Member

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    Very much agree Robin. It's essential to avoid the temptation to recruit paid staff as the preferred option. Nevertheless in an era of ever increasing regulation, with the need to be able to demonstrate compliance, dependability and continuity of resource are critical. It's the essence of volunteering that you don't have to turn up or stay at work which can undermine those requirements (although there are some notable exceptions). As a rule of thumb ( but again with some splendid exceptions) you may need between five and seven volunteers to get the same level of assured functionality as from one paid member of staff.
    As heritage railways evolve from their preservation society roots to become the highly regulated businesses that many now are the pressures to employ become ever greater. Later retirement ages and reduced pension expectations add to it.
    Volunteers are the essential underpinning of heritage railways. Recruiting them for the more glamorous enjoyable roles (driver, fireman, signalman. guard, station foreman etc.) should not be too much of a problem but ensuring that essential administrative and "back office" resource is in place is more of a challenge. My personal view is that the movement as a whole will have to adapt to much higher levels of employment cost than has been the case in the past.
     
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  10. MellishR

    MellishR Resident of Nat Pres Friend

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    My thinking is that, without the money to make good the backlog of track maintenance, the ORR will sooner or later decide that the track is no longer fit for purpose.
     
  11. 30854

    30854 Resident of Nat Pres

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    This is an area I feel the wider L&B family score highly. In the complex matter of land acquisitions and disposals, having the growing specialism of EA to lift that burden from the operating company and trust allows a vital, if to many, unglamorous function to be conducted efficiently, whilst making life easier for not just the railway, but for NDC and ENPA.

    It occurs that, in having a distinct identity and arms-length distance from the business of putting bums on seats may well make EA a more attractive proposition to those with the requisite skillset, whose interests lie in areas such as contract law or planning compliance (and may even be allergic to coal and unfamiliar with the language of railway operations), who might otherwise not be involved.

    Our collective obsession has developed further during my lifetime than ever I'd have thought possible. For better or for worse, we live in an increasingly regulated world and it seems unavoidable that the structures which allow our lines to operate successfully meed to adapt and evolve to meet the challenges of survival. Recognising not everyone who might have the skills to play an important part is a dyed in the wool railway fanatic might allow such structures to develop.

    Food for thought?
     
  12. Bayard

    Bayard Well-Known Member

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    Hasn't COVID shown that the whole idea of "turning up and staying at work" is now a bit outdated in some areas? The "more glamorous enjoyable roles" obviously still require that, but the "essential administrative and "back office" resource" can now be done working from home. All the relevant documentation is digital, or if it isn't, it should be, and can easily be emailed across to a volunteer who finds travel difficult and lives far from the railway, but still would like to get involved.
     
  13. Bayard

    Bayard Well-Known Member

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    I expect the successful applicant will be working Tuesdays, Wednesdays And Thursdays.
     
  14. 35B

    35B Nat Pres stalwart

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    I tend to agree, thinking of the organisation I am a member of where the person in charge of safeguarding (a key concern) is a volunteer. But as we know from debates on here passim ad nauseam, the relationship of a company to a volunteer are not those of employer and employee, and it may be felt necessary in that light to have them on that footing. I also think @Lineisclear may have a point about the ability to recruit a volunteer to do that role at the level being recruited.

    Now, if you were to suggest that this begs an issue over the personnel policies on the WSR, and that fixing those might be the key to fixing the situation as a whole, I would not be able to disagree.
     
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  15. 35B

    35B Nat Pres stalwart

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    Tut, tut.
     
  16. 35B

    35B Nat Pres stalwart

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    I think you're focusing overmuch on physical presence - the issue is about the continuity of provision, not so much where the worker is. I would also be pleasantly surprised to find that the documentation had been that heavily digitised in a small company like WSR.
     
  17. Bayard

    Bayard Well-Known Member

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    Not really continuity of provision, but performance. Whereas a driver or guard has to be doing their duties between fixed times, all the WFH volunteer needs is a deadline. When they do the work to meet that deadline is up to them. An underperforming volunteer is a damn sight easier to replace than an underperforming employee, as well. I'm not sure that size has got anything to do with the level of digitisation, more the inclination over the past twenty years to make things digital and keep them digital. Quite possibly the WSR is a bastion of Luddism in that respect, but in that case, they should really be doing something about it other than taking on staff simply to avoid the need for change.
     
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  18. Jamessquared

    Jamessquared Nat Pres stalwart

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    I guess what you mean is that you need 5 - 7 volunteers to get the time equivalent of an FTE, which is probably right. Not all jobs require an FTE, of course.

    The flip side of requiring a paid staff member to get assured functionality is that doing a job with one or more volunteers may give a broader range of skills. For example, suppose you run a membership organisation, for which you need a membership secretary. You might get two volunteers, one of whom is a really persuasive salesman to get people to join, and another who is well versed in database design and querying etc. So a job share between two volunteers may well give you access to a better overall solution than recruiting a full-time member of staff who may be good at one or the other, but not both. (*)

    I think sometimes recruiting a permanent member of staff is seen as easier than trying to metaphorically herd volunteer cats. But in organisations that are perennially cash poor and frequently appealing for donations, it is an assumption that should at least be robustly challenged.

    (*) If the role is part of the formal governance, in that instance you might have to have one who is the titular Mem. Sec and the other is an assistant - but the general point is that what you lose in service assurance with volunteers you may get back by being able to access a broader range of experience.

    Tom
     
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  19. 35B

    35B Nat Pres stalwart

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    That rather depends on whether the work is routine, or more project like - it may not have the rigidity of a timetable, but may still require a level of consistency. As for replacing underperformers, I'm not sure whether how true that is - or where the trade off is given that a volunteer doesn't have to give notice.
    I've no idea how digitised the WSR's records are, but I hesitate to assume that because that is now best practice, they are in practice digitised.
     
  20. RailWest

    RailWest Part of the furniture

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    A cynic might suggest that in West Somerset 'compliance' = 'enforcement' as in "'You will comply...(resistance is futile)..."'. Shades of the Borg ????? :)
     

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