How does Northern support a flexible work-life balance for its employees?

Northern champions agile working, enabling colleagues to choose their work location, whether in the office, at home, or within their network. This approach ensures work integrates seamlessly with life, fostering a productive, motivated, and supported workforce.

What initiatives does Northern have to promote diversity and inclusion within its workforce?

Northern fosters an inclusive environment through a variety of colleague networks, including groups for Women, Armed Forces, Neurodiversity, LGBTQIA+, disability, ethnicity, and mental health. These communities provide guidance, peer support, and actively influence company policies and culture.

What travel perks are available to employees at Northern?

Employees at Northern receive free travel on Northern trains and discounted travel on other operators across the UK and Europe. This benefit provides significant value for commuting and leisure travel.

Highlights

Age inclusive

Alternative working patterns

Benefits

Northern

Connecting people and places across the North 🚉

Here at Northern, we connect tens of thousands of people in the North of England to work, leisure, education and more every day.

Northern Trains Limited (as we're more formally known) is publicly owned, and our parent company is DfTO. We've got headquarters in York, Manchester and Leeds but our network spans over 500 stations and we provide more than 2,500 services each day.

Right now, we’re building a new kind of workplace. One where people feel included, where they thrive, and where everyone contributes to a culture that embraces diversity. We’re looking for talented people from all backgrounds to help us create a service for our customers that we can all be proud of.

It means that whoever you are, as part of our team, you’ll get to enjoy a career that could really take you places. And with over 7,000 people here at Northern in hundreds of different roles, the number of career paths and development opportunities that are open to you is endless.

Are you ready to find your platform?

8.6

/10

8.6

/10

This score reflects how open and clear a company is about its working environment. The higher the score, the more insight they've shared into their ways of working.

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What Northern offers their employees

Age inclusive

We're waiting for Northern's employees to verify how age inclusive they are, particularly for those over 50.

Alternative working patterns

We're waiting for Northern's employees to verify their alternative working patterns.

Open to part-time employees

Benefits

Northern's benefits offering is currently pending verification by employees.

Career progression

Northern's career progression is currently pending verification by employees

Diversity

We're waiting for Northern's employees to verify there is good representation of diverse employees.

LGBTQ+ representation amongst employees

Working groups to support female and non-binary employees

Working groups to support ethnically diverse employees

Working groups to support employees with disabilities

Working groups to support neurodiverse employees

Working groups to support LGBTQ+ employees

Early career friendly

We're waiting for Northern's employees to verify whether they're a good fit for people early in their careers.

Graduate programmes

Apprenticeship programmes

Work experience programmes

Faith friendly

We're waiting for Northern's employees to verify their faith friendliness.

Faith rooms

Family friendly

We're waiting for Northern's employees to verify their family friendliness.

Enhanced maternity leave

Enhanced paternity leave

Adoption leave

Shared parental leave

Fertility treatment leave

Pregnancy loss leave

Carer’s leave

Pregnancy support

Neo-natal leave

Flexibility

We're waiting for Northern's employees to verify how flexible they are.

Hybrid working (with some weekly office time)

A little flexibility in start and finish times

1 office day / week

Inclusivity

We're waiting for Northern's employees to verify it is an inclusive place to work.

Female/non-binary founder/s

Gender diversity in the senior leadership team

Mission

We're waiting for Northern's employees to verify how mission led they are.

Protect or restore the planet

Expand access to work & opportunity

Non-salary compensation

We're waiting for Northern's employees to verify the non-salary compensation.

Employee discounts

Cycle to work scheme

Electric Car Salary Sacrifice

Enhanced pension match/contribution

Reward & recognition

We're waiting for Northern's employees to verify how well they recognise and reward good work.

Awards

Vouchers

Promotions

Increased responsibility

Mentions in company comms

Increased autonomy

Clear progression pathway

Salary increases

Social mobility committed

We're waiting for Northern's employees to verify how proactive they are to improving social mobility.

Mentorship schemes

Community or school outreach

Relaxed degree requirements

Work-life balance

Northern's work-life balance is currently pending verification by employees.

Flexible working at Northern

At Northern, we believe work should fit around life, not the other way around. Agile working gives colleagues the flexibility to choose where they work, so you can focus on what you do, not just where you do it.

It’s about finding the right balance – staying connected, collaborating with your team, and being visible to colleagues and customers alike. Whether you’re in the office, at home, or out on our network, agile working helps us all be more productive, motivated, and supported.

By embracing this flexibility, we make Northern a more inclusive, progressive, and enjoyable place to work – one where your work-life balance is valued as much as the work you do.

Inclusion & Belonging at Northern

The best journeys happen when everyone feels welcome on board.

At Northern, we don’t just move people from A to B - we’re building a team where everyone feels they belong. Diversity and inclusion aren’t just words to us – they’re at the heart of how we recruit, support, and develop our colleagues.

We’re committed to creating opportunities for people from all backgrounds and experiences, and we champion equality across every part of our business. From supporting flexible and agile working to providing mentoring and development programmes, we strive to make sure every colleague can thrive.

Our colleague networks play a vital role in this. From Women at Northern to our Armed Forces community, and Neurodiversity to our LGBTQIA+ network - we've got groups supporting disability, ethnicity, and mental health. They are a place to find guidance, peer support, and a platform for voices to be heard. Not only do these communities help shape our policies, but they influence our culture every single day and help make sure that Northern is a place where everyone belongs.

No matter your background, experience, or whether you call it a bap, barm, or cob… there’s a place for you here in the railway.

Accreditations

Armed Forces Covenant - Employer Recognition Scheme - Gold

2025

Awards & Achievements

Investors In People - Gold Award

2022

Forces Transition Group - Bronze Partner

2025

Anything else you want to know?

Ask Northern a question about their ways of working, benefits, or anything else on their profile, and we'll pass it on for them to answer. (Just a heads up, we can't respond to questions about specific roles or applications)