VMA GROUP Support Network Rail with Restructuring of Operating Model, as Part of Advisory Services Offering.

VMA GROUP’s Advisory Services have been developed in response to the changing talent needs of organisations: Utilising our own in-house specialists and a network of industry experts, we can offer organisations a number of additional talent services, tailored to their individual requirements.

Whether it is conducting a review of current communications and marketing organisational structure, securing remuneration benchmarking, or supporting teams through professional coaching training and development; VMA GROUP is well placed to support the broad talent needs of communications, marketing, and HR leaders.

In 2020 VMA GROUP carried out a review and benchmarking project for Network Railto inform a restructure of their operating model. VMA GROUP’s Advisory Services team interviewed the leadership team within the communications function as well as leaders of business units to gain a clear picture of the structure and delivery model that was in place at the time. In addition, a further part of this exercise involved a headcount benchmarking with comparable organisations. This benchmarking also provided a rationale for internal communications support vs number of employees.

In early 2024 VMA GROUP delivered an update to this original report, working closely with the communications leaders within Network Rail to provide up to date benchmarking data around size and structure against comparable organisations as well as some additional information and data around remuneration packages across the UK.

VMA GROUP’s Advisory Services team delivered a detailed report in 2020 which supported some major changes within the communications function within the organisation. The additional follow up report in 2024 has supported the work that was done as part of that restructure and gave the leadership team at Network Rail the data they needed to confirm that progression was being made in delivering a better long-term plan for the structure of the communications function.

Network Rail’s representative for the project, Helen Reynolds commented:

"The team at VMA GROUP took the time to understand our requirements and develop a project plan that would deliver what we needed, when we needed it. Our organisation is complex, and the team at VMA GROUP took the time to understand it’s nuances, asked the right questions and built in plenty of check-ins with us to ensure the project stayed on track. The team delivered the final report to us, taking us through each aspect in detail and providing clear data to demonstrate their findings.

We also enjoyed working with the team who strike the right balance of being truly professional and thoroughly nice people to work with. I wouldn’t hesitate in recommending the VMA GROUP Advisory Services team to other organisations looking for bespoke project support."