Poll : Should Simon resign?

[Sundodger]

As some one who has only recently joined RM, but worked as agency for a year, (previously ran my own business for 20 Plus years before retiring, but took up the call to help out with Covid last year as agency and stayed when offered a part time role), in my opinion the most glaring issues that stand out to me are and in no particular order:

• Management structure; too many in middle management.

• Same management being dysfunctional and frightened to make any decision for fear of upsetting those above them. e.g. the van debacle, they tell Simon what he wants to see and hear, not what the real situation is. It permeates every level.

• Micromanagement from Simon down, of those below them - you pay managers to manage, trust them to do their job with budgets, vans, repairs and recruiting. This creates the situation noted above

• Same management spouting meaningless corporate phrases to create an illusion of knowledge and that we are in an all inclusive team

• Management who enthuse that everyone has to be part of the team and go forward and there is too much negativity from the team about change, so lets just move on - yet with no addressing the real issues

• Failure of senior management to appreciate that a team that stepped up for Covid over a year ago, that worked under unprecedented pressure with greater workloads and put in the overtime, to provide the best service possible, have reached a mental and physical exhaustion state and have a poor work/life balance as a result.

• It is ignored that the most valuable asset who face the public in all weathers are also susceptible to illness, like the rest of the public, only more so as they cannot isolate or work from home , so will have a higher sickness rate.

• Then management ignored the people who matter about revisions being implemented just before Christmas on top of the greater work loads.

OPG's and DOM's do not feel part of Team Simon, just exhausted pawns in the power chess game they have no say in, and an exhausted team cannot be pushed any further, but when it is pointed out it, it is declared negativity.

As the man at the top, Simon needs to do a revision of his management structure and practices and implement changes quickly, rather than continually tweak the working practices of those who to the public are the face of Royal Mail, the OPG's and always get the blame by public and management. Those changes are only in effect because they can be seen

If he cannot address the problems then he should step aside

As stated, this is only my opinion

[postieblueshirt]

Shouldn't have got the job in the first place zero people skills for a cumunications business he crap at cumunicating.

[Sir Henry]

Where's the option for 'Should he be fired into the centre of the sun in a rocket filled with his own fecal matter"?

[iHateD2Ds]

All the board should Resign and Re- Nationalise the industry.
Corporate Greed
Ruining the reputation of Royal Mail
Prioritising tracked over time sensitive letters ,Hospital appointments etc.
The nation deserves a better service

[Tinoblade]

I don't think he should

I think there a lot of flaws in RM and without flagging things nothing will change. I'm not just talking "my walks to big" we need to be challenging everything we see that is wrong, making sure people above DOM level are seeing the issues. That's where it all goes wrong for me, I think DOMs are trying to satisfy those above. Let things fail, lets let them see how bad we are failing. Ask to be shown what failures they've reported, are items being scanned incorrectly to cover issues. Only thing that's going to turn this around is us. I think that means working to time, OT bans, the most simple things we can do that we already know RM wouldn't run without. I want to work for a successful company, without bullying and harassment and for me, we don't take any of it far enough and we are also guilty of turning a blind eye to wrong doings

[Chelseablue]

Fantasy land

[Sir Henry]

In this instance, we are already privatised, so the next step is, remove any obstacles to maximising profits, ie the USO.

[Sir Henry]

Fantasy ISland

[POSTMAN]

Simon 'Feeling sorry for myself' Thompson

Team - we have a few that try to knock us - and often in public forums - their motivations at times are unclear - and we know that sometimes we are not perfect - and can do even better.

royalmailchat

Our aim here is to provide the latest postal news and the best forums for discussion of the day to day dealings within Royal Mail, the CWU, other postal organisations around the world including our competitors, our customers and much more.

[Sundodger]

Simon 'Feeling sorry for myself' Thompson

Team - we have a few that try to knock us - and often in public forums - their motivations at times are unclear - and we know that sometimes we are not perfect - and can do even better.

royalmailchat

Our aim here is to provide the latest postal news and the best forums for discussion of the day to day dealings within Royal Mail, the CWU, other postal organisations around the world including our competitors, our customers and much more.

I find Simons point of view interesting.

Perhaps Simon, if you had gained real long term man management experience from being at the sharp end, rather than being a graduate entry working their way up a corporate ladder obtaining a months managerial experience in a department before moving on, then gaining more paper qualifications rather than experience, you would have an understanding of what is happening.

However, you carried on climbing the ladder, passing on the latest learning of techniques as orders down to supervisors, with no inkling of their effect, so it is hardly surprising you would not appreciate why people use forums such as royalmailchat.

By stating "their motivations at times are unclear - and we know that sometimes we are not perfect - and can do even better" clearly indicates you have either no empathy or very little understanding.

Your decisions where you state "sometimes we are not perfect" has no effect on you, you do not bear daily the brunt of the decision, with the chaos and stress it brings. All you hear is your underlings reporting back that yes there are a few issues, but they will get resolved.

Forums such as this exist because people need to feel secure that they could quote freely exactly how they feel, without feeling they will somehow be singled out, or castigated by the CYA mentality that exists.

Of course, in any forums, a few will have views in the extreme, but that can be said of workplace and those singing the highest praises of you and RM, but that does not mean any point you do not agree with should be dismissed as motivations unclear.

Remember, you want a team, and a team has to work together, and as captain it is your job to bring that team together, not favour a few players.

I would again state Simon should spend more than a week, preferably two, as a new OPG at a delivery depot where he is not known, to see the real situation and how the Royal Mail operates on a daily basis.

[zipmeister]

I don't think he should

I think there a lot of flaws in RM and without flagging things nothing will change. I'm not just talking "my walks to big" we need to be challenging everything we see that is wrong, making sure people above DOM level are seeing the issues. That's where it all goes wrong for me, I think DOMs are trying to satisfy those above. Let things fail, lets let them see how bad we are failing. Ask to be shown what failures they've reported, are items being scanned incorrectly to cover issues. Only thing that's going to turn this around is us. I think that means working to time, OT bans, the most simple things we can do that we already know RM wouldn't run without. I want to work for a successful company, without bullying and harassment and for me, we don't take any of it far enough and we are also guilty of turning a blind eye to wrong doings

OM's and SDL's know exactly what is going on but they have their own targets and bosses to satisfy.

[clashcityrocker]

People get too hung up on personalities. (I blame the modern world - Strictly etc)
If Simon left he would just be replace by another "Simon" type.
It wasn't so long ago Tel was crowing about having got rid of Rico. So what?

[Sir Henry]

Team - we have a few that try to knock us - and often in public forums - their motivations at times are unclear - and we know that sometimes we are not perfect - and can do even better.

Team - We have a few that try to knock us

More than a few, but why not downplay the numbers, make it sound like a couple of malcontents? And who are included in the 'Team' anyway? Workplace only or everyone including those damn 'malcontents'?

and often in public forums
Doing it in private forums is a bit like shouting into the void, fairly pointless.

their motivations at times are unclear
What percentage of times are they unclear? Sounds to me as if you're trying to imply a hidden agenda. Maybe your motivations aren't clear at times or you're being a weasel.

and we know that sometimes we are not perfect
And that other times you ARE perfect? Or are you understating the massive clusterfuck of Xmas pressure etc for some unclearly motivated reason?

[Marshamp11]

Simon 'Feeling sorry for myself' Thompson

Team - we have a few that try to knock us - and often in public forums - their motivations at times are unclear - and we know that sometimes we are not perfect - and can do even better.

royalmailchat

Our aim here is to provide the latest postal news and the best forums for discussion of the day to day dealings within Royal Mail, the CWU, other postal organisations around the world including our competitors, our customers and much more.


I would again state Simon should spend more than a week, preferably two, as a new OPG at a delivery depot where he is not known, to see the real situation and how the Royal Mail operates on a daily basis.

Lets face it he wouldn't have the boll@x for it.

[Kenfandango]

Doesn't matter who is at the top of the tree, RM has a lot of issues as a private company that will only ever cause friction between every level.

The main issue being the need to remain financially viable compared to other companies. The only realistic ways of doing so (as I see it,) will pretty much cause kickbacks at most levels of the company.

Invest in the infrastructure at great cost to be "more Amazon" and the shareholders get less bonus for a few years, various levels of management find themselves redundant as (let's face it,) a computer algorithm could do just as mediocre a job, and some postie's may find themselves no longer needed (how much of a postie's time is spent scanning things in and out of depots, sorting and arranging packets, resorting and rearranging those same packets and preparing their own walks?) If you could walk in, and a machine had sorted your walk out for you overnight with packets in loop order so you could throw it in a van and actually deliver from when you start to when you finish it would be great, but so many man hours would be saved that it would render a lot of people unviable.

The other option is to keep it running as is, and turn a blind eye to the massaging of figures from DOMs, keep the shareholders happy for a few years and move on.

I'm a firm believer in the old adage "look after your staff and they'll look after the customers for you," but RM seem to be "look after your middle management and hope the boots on the ground accept whatever they're told to do." As a result the customer suffers