Our People

By 2026, KCS has a goal of increasing the employee engagement score from its current level of 56% up to 62% as measured through the annual employee survey. To reach this target, we will expand on recent successful programs, such as Fun Fridays, Rail Talk, and Network News, to strengthen connectivity between KCS leadership and frontline workers. We will expand our Career Pathing program through interviewing and relationship skill development that prepares staff for next level opportunities. The implementation of a new employee mentoring program will occur during 2025 to further support employee satisfaction and professional development.

In addition, we will take further steps in promoting employee health and well-being. By 2026, we will complete the Sleep Apnea program implementation for our train crews. Refreshed ADA, workplace harassment, workplace violence, and human trafficking training will be deployed over the next three years. KCS strives to provide a culture where employees feel safe to report unfair practices.

To enhance the strength of management practices around a consistent and core set of principles globally, the Keolis Group Leadership Framework program will be rolled out to KCS managers. The program provides a consistent framework to use throughout all management levels, promoting the continued development of management skills – especially where many managers have secured professional advancement through strong subject matter performance but without ever having received targeted management skills training. We strive to empower all managers to leverage the framework and support employees in reaching their full growth potential.

In this next business plan cycle, we will also roll out new training content to further develop our managers. Our Manager Learning Path program will be available to all KCS managers by 2025. We will also create a new learning platform, incorporating manager-specific content along with self-directed learning modules.

KCS will also enhance the absenteeism management system through the cascading of PowerBI dashboards and relevant data to managers. This enhanced system will empower managers with the data necessary to plan for appropriate staffing when employee absences occur and to support coworkers who experience life events resulting in a temporary departure from work. We care about the health and well-being of all employees and will continue to empower our managers to support our frontline workers.

An effective internal communication strategy is a critical component of increasing employee engagement. A thoughtful messaging strategy ensures employees are aware of important events, information, and trends while inviting dialogue on relevant topics. Through increased awareness and communication of the context of KCS business operations, our workforce will be in a better position to more fully appreciate the role each member plays in delivering excellence. To strengthen internal communications, the Internal Communications team will refresh its three-year strategic roadmap, layered with initiatives to effectively reach all audiences. The roadmap targets employee engagement, improving employee safety, and connecting through collaboration and knowledge sharing. We will support employee engagement programs by delivering communications that drive awareness and enhance connectivity, increasing the sense of belonging at KCS. Through cross-functional collaboration we will develop and communicate safety awareness initiatives that promote employee well-being. We will also enhance our team collaboration and knowledge sharing platforms.

KCS is committed to developing an inclusive workforce that is representative of the communities we serve. We are refreshing our 3-year DEI roadmap alongside plans to maximize its effectiveness. That will include actions to improve the gender balance, the minority ratios and the overall diversity and inclusion figures. KCS internal mentorship program will implement new approaches for matching mentors and mentees from diverse backgrounds to encourage broad perspectives in guiding professional advancement. We will also look to attract more diverse talent by expanding our relationships with local colleges, trade schools, and other educational institutions. The expansion of our community events programs and continued partnerships with non-traditional candidate pools will further accelerate our inclusion plans.

In 2024, we will assess our current benefits plans and identify opportunities to modernize their elements to support the attraction of new talent and maintaining the strong benefits packages our existing staff deserves. Based on the assessment, we will develop a roadmap and work on the implementation of these new opportunities in 2025 and 2026.

KCS’ success is linked to our relationships with our unionized leadership and workforce. To facilitate an open dialogue and free flow of information, we have added more leadership touchpoints with the fourteen different trade unions and field staff providing regular opportunities to raise key issues and increase transparency. We will continue to find ways to increase collaboration and provide more channels through which the workforce can be heard. As we engage in the latest round of collective bargaining, we will continue to negotiate in good faith in achieving a mutually beneficial outcome.