Bullying and harassment in delivery offices

[tommyrep]

Ossie from Preston.

Yes new to forum by the way, but find many of the topics raised occur far too often for them to be simply seen as isolated cases. Better support from the CWU at area level would go a long way to addressing this problem, that is if it was approached at area, the staff at DO's would not feel so defenceless and open to this form of intimidation by DOM's.

The scenario you describe is EXACTLY - stage by stage - the same as I have experienced !
Is this happening by direction from above DOM level ? it may be a far wider tactic being adopted by RM, which only re-inforces the need for the Union nationally to take up this problem face on, with RM senior management and the HR department.
They appear to be acting upon exploiting their various loop-hole interpretations of cutting off and question the individuals failure to comply with proper "procedure". This approach can/does install an intimidating attitude towards those concerned by raising the threat of performance issues, thus creating an "inferiority complex" in them, all in an effort to shift excessive work loads within duty time back onto the people who only wish to work their contracted hours.

[fishtank]

There are in my experience 3 things driving this intimidation.

The conference call of failure.
Managers are now beaten on a daily basis through the DSM conference call system which is by it's very nature a humiliating experience for a manager in a failing office.It's probable the most childish version of peer group bullying i have ever come across,why it is accepted practice baffles me.
I have been told by several Doms that they would rather lie than face the kind of abuse that gets handed out on these calls to the only failing office in the sector.
It's not a great leap of imagination to understand how this fear and pressure can be transferred directly to staff.

Dazed and confused line managers.
The difference between the old and new delivery methods is like night and day,managers have struggled to get their heads around this,it is a difficult concept.
When we first changed methods i used to look at my frame and wonder how it could take so long to deliver so little,it's an inherently inefficient system but those inefficiencies have been massively underestimated in the planning tools and they aren't our inefficiencies...they belong to the system.
Since most line managers have no experience of working with these methods and will not question the planning tools they blame the staff for being slow.

Bending the rules to suit
Deliberate misinterpretation of the local flexibility agreement,the 30 minutes flex guidelines,swings and roundabouts,lapsing/absorption and the "flexibility" clause in your contract is unfortunately common on delivery.
I've heard all of them quoted in an attempt to make staff work over against their will,even as recently as the last couple of weeks where a DSM tried to tell me that if an OPG finished his delivery 15 minutes early he was obliged to pay this back later in the week,when i asked where this came from he said that's what swings and roundabouts means....in his eyes.

We needed a complete change in management thinking from top to bottom if we were ever to move industrial relations on from the 1970's us and them mentality,it doesn't look like happening,if anything it's getting worse.
I believe it's being driven from the top or very near the top,it certainly isn't a few rogue managers at local or area level.
If you are experiencing problems with Bullying,Harassment or Intimidation please email the outdoor department. outdoorsecretary@cwu.org
If the union does nothing i will be the first to criticise them but they deserve the chance to try.

[goldy]

Without any question of doubt, this is THE single most important issue going on at the moment, that effects delivery staff on a daily basis and appears to be rife throughout most of the DO's in the UK.
The intimidation directed towards individuals, who only wish to work their contracted hours, has been allowed to go on unaddressed by the Union at national level for far too long. The fact that the duty spans are often unachievable within normal time, results in pressure being put onto OPG's to complete delivery - with poor performance accusations directed towards these individuals who only wish to work contracted hours. This needs to be resolved nationally with the union and senior RM management urgently, that is the only solution. MANAGERS need to be instructed to stop this ongoing intimidation towards staff who wish to cut off at their finishing time and have suitable contingency plans in place!
Some areas seem to be worse than others but a national approach is required to stop the maverick managers out there, from imposing their own interpretation of "procedure" onto staff. Call it bullying or harassment, but I prefer to describe it as "intimidation" towards individuals who are only trying to "do the job properly". That is starting on time, having meal breaks and using the tools provided by RM to do the job safely! These people often find themselves under the most pressure and this cannot be allowed to continue without the CWU doing something at the very highest level within the HR establishment on behalf of those bullied staff !!!!

I totally agree with this i dont know if the managment are actually told to not pay extended deliveries or there is some sort of target a bit like sales people on commission if they reach certain targets they get paid bonuses this is disgusting if true i woud liketo hear from any guilty feeling line managers who know what really is going on.

[TeeferTiger]

I went to b and h on this very subject they said it was a grievance case not bullying harassment.

Yep, said the same to me.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

I totally agree with this i dont know if the managment are actually told to not pay extended deliveries or there is some sort of target a bit like sales people on commission if they reach certain targets they get paid bonuses this is disgusting if true i woud liketo hear from any guilty feeling line managers who know what really is going on.

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/1 ... 2.pdf.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The average bonus paid to managers was £1,674 in the 2010-11 financial year. Royal Mail Group’s approach to management remuneration is
to avoid any situation where managers are rewarded irrespective of performance. Instead, bonuses have to be earned.

[krussel]

The conference call of failure.Managers are now beaten on a daily basis through the DSM conference call system which is by it's very nature a humiliating experience for a manager in a failing office.It's probable the most childish version of peer group bullying i have ever come across,why it is accepted practice baffles me.I have been told by several Doms that they would rather lie than face the kind of abuse that gets handed out on these calls to the only failing office in the sector.It's not a great leap of imagination to understand how this fear and pressure can be transferred directly to staff.

I have been in the office when the speaker phone is on whilst in a conference call and the failing office often gets scorned upon quite badly and is normally told to stay on the line after.

I can see why managers would lie with "no issues" and then try to push staff to get the work covered just to avoid the problem.

Not saying its right of course.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

I went to b and h on this very subject they said it was a grievance case not bullying harassment.

Yep, said the same to me.

This is what I don't get.

Yes - If he has given you an instruction you disagree with then its grievance case.

But if he gives you a more than forthright instruction which make you feel bullied and harassed then its a case for B&H complaint.

Situation 1.

Manager says: I am instructing you to work over your hours and I won't accept you not doing so - Grievance.
Manager says essentially the same, but standing over you and using expletives or not allowing you to speak to someone else, not just unwilling to listen to your explanations or reasons for not being able to comply but being dismissive of them- B&H complaint surely.

I really can't see how the B&H people decide on what is and what isn't a case for bullying/grievance unless people are underestimating the impact of the bullying,or are fearful/embarrassed of reporting exactly what happened.

[ashadd]

To be fair, some posties do put grievances in and then they do not see them through to the end.I know it can be a long drawn out proceedure , being dragged out by RM, but you should always see it through. I have won no end of cases against doms, theirbosses and line managers.Even now , i am again being harrassed and challenged every minute, while i am at work, just because i " do the job properly" BUT, i am now challenging the line managers and dom and they hate it I get great satisfaction by throwing there incompetance back in there faces ie, when i have my day off and the d2d are not done, even after i have told lino what has to go , i keep asking if the frame check has been done because the days d2d have not been delivered, what shall i do? You know its a conduct code issue if they are not deliverd and its all your fault. Ive had managers from other offices taking my cut offs out and pulling out all the d2d for that loop, again , its lino not doing his job right.Even now he wants to test me using IWT, does the thick twat know he cant use it it against an individual . He can use ISP, but i dont think he knows that , i hope It does make me angry when i see posties thinking they have to run around to finish all there loops when they dont have to, but they just dont want the grief i get, but i do seem to revel in it....

[jeanie]

If you are subjected too by either manager or a member of staff behaviour that makes you feel uncomfortable then its bullying. Area managers are bullying dom and dom are bullying staff, if I was a dom and my manager was telling me that all mail had to be delivered regardless of it taking a postie over there time and that postie didnt want to work over there time I would certainly put in a complaint against my manager. There is no way on this earth I would allow anyone to bully me or intimidate me. The only way to deal with bullies is to standup to them. Our manager is trying to force posities over there time, arques when you want to book if you go over etc etc and yes ive complained. Even area manager has had a pop at me and yes I stood up to them, and will contintue to do so until they back off. The trouble with these managers is they pray on your vunerability but only if you let them, I know we all have bills to pay but they are just people like us they are no better than us they are here for the same reason as we are....to earn a living, donot allow them to bully you.

[spoodoo]

My line managers knew I was having probs with a bully over the years as was the staff,yet my line manager was forcing me to work alone with this guy, which made me feel sick etc. I then got hauled into the office when a colleague of mines volunteered to swap roles with me so I wasnt in that position,the Lino went mental in the office pointing in my face shouting and losing it.

[tommyrep]

There are in my experience 3 things driving this intimidation.

The conference call of failure.
Managers are now beaten on a daily basis through the DSM conference call system which is by it's very nature a humiliating experience for a manager in a failing office.It's probable the most childish version of peer group bullying i have ever come across,why it is accepted practice baffles me.
I have been told by several Doms that they would rather lie than face the kind of abuse that gets handed out on these calls to the only failing office in the sector.
It's not a great leap of imagination to understand how this fear and pressure can be transferred directly to staff.

Dazed and confused line managers.
The difference between the old and new delivery methods is like night and day,managers have struggled to get their heads around this,it is a difficult concept.
When we first changed methods i used to look at my frame and wonder how it could take so long to deliver so little,it's an inherently inefficient system but those inefficiencies have been massively underestimated in the planning tools and they aren't our inefficiencies...they belong to the system.
Since most line managers have no experience of working with these methods and will not question the planning tools they blame the staff for being slow.

Bending the rules to suit
Deliberate misinterpretation of the local flexibility agreement,the 30 minutes flex guidelines,swings and roundabouts,lapsing/absorption and the "flexibility" clause in your contract is unfortunately common on delivery.
I've heard all of them quoted in an attempt to make staff work over against their will,even as recently as the last couple of weeks where a DSM tried to tell me that if an OPG finished his delivery 15 minutes early he was obliged to pay this back later in the week,when i asked where this came from he said that's what swings and roundabouts means....in his eyes.

We needed a complete change in management thinking from top to bottom if we were ever to move industrial relations on from the 1970's us and them mentality,it doesn't look like happening,if anything it's getting worse.
I believe it's being driven from the top or very near the top,it certainly isn't a few rogue managers at local or area level.
If you are experiencing problems with Bullying,Harassment or Intimidation please email the outdoor department. outdoorsecretary@cwu.org
If the union does nothing i will be the first to criticise them but they deserve the chance to try.

I agree with your 3 points 100%, and they sum up the main problems we are being forced to deal with on a daily basis.

The system of conference call management is being used by RM senior managers to direct and humiliate over an open phone link. That is to expose to all other DOM's in that sector the apparent failings of any one particular DOM !! This is intimidation in the worst possible form - and this is the system that Moya obviously endorses or she would change it.
The managers must give a huge sigh of relief when the flak is being directed at some other poor soul and not them.

Dazed and confused managers ! They - most of them - do not have a clue about delivering mail and these DOM's managers know even less. They are only traffic figure, EP and standard driven and do not appreciate the problems and practicalities that they are trying to enforce upon over stretched OPG's.

As for bending the rules ! They will do almost anything to see all mail cleared, to return a pleasant conference call session. They will enforce and threaten all the conduct code matters that could impact on failing mail delivery, yet turn a blind eye to many other issues eg, staff starting early ! NO meal breaks taken ! a dodgy van to be used regardless and other safety matters - they do not want to approach and deal with any matters that would impact on failed delivery ! ever !!!!

Your comments about swing and roundabouts etc is also spot on. The pendulum has swung too far in the management direction, where they appear to take te view that all staff are now to treated like slaves ! The days of job and finish have gone - although some members just cannot accept this - but, this should not allow management even more scope to impose added work onto a duty and expect the OPG to just complete that work regardless of how long it takes, "that is when they only wish to work their contracted hours and NO more ".
These cutting off problems need resolved by our union! This intimidation has got to stop NOW. The attitude of RM treating us as slaves needs to stop !

[dvbuk55]

The problem lies with the fact that the CWU wholeheartedly endorse BT2010 and readily agree via Joint Statements any and all issues that RM have a problem with. The CWU are assuming that the management of the agreement is to the letter of that agreement and seem to disregard the fact that BT2010 has been an open ticket for RM to enable any system of management necessary to make savings - even though it was clearly stated by Higson to Dave Ward that revisions were not savings motivated - absolute b*llshit of course - but seemingly the leadership have acquired a taste for it over the years.

[Budfrog]

The conference call of failure.Managers are now beaten on a daily basis through the DSM conference call system which is by it's very nature a humiliating experience for a manager in a failing office.It's probable the most childish version of peer group bullying i have ever come across,why it is accepted practice baffles me.I have been told by several Doms that they would rather lie than face the kind of abuse that gets handed out on these calls to the only failing office in the sector.It's not a great leap of imagination to understand how this fear and pressure can be transferred directly to staff.

I have been in the office when the speaker phone is on whilst in a conference call and the failing office often gets scorned upon quite badly and is normally told to stay on the line after.

I can see why managers would lie with "no issues" and then try to push staff to get the work covered just to avoid the problem.

Not saying its right of course.

Ah the wonders of the speaker phone ... witnessed a DSM tell a DOM, with every other DOM online, that if he didn't improve the office at zero cost then he (the DSM) would find someone who could. This kind of thing happens every day and I agree that this type of behaviour is known and accepted as good practise by managers at a very senior level. Business needs a radical drains up but it won't happen ....

[Silly Sarah]

Although not overtly bullying there is that element of part timers being coerced into working overtime which many don't want to do but feel obliged to do so in the off chance that they will receive a full time permanent contract.

.....and then they steal from our o/t pay!

[superports]

Is there a template letter for starting a grievance available?