Sundays - why can’t aren’t they part of the working week?

[R5001]

The business wanted us all to work compulsory Sundays but fortunately it never made it in the deal with the Union because they absolutely knew that existing staff would not agree to it.

That meant that RM had to introduce new staff on contracts to work a Sunday. If you didn't want to work Sundays then why agree to work at Royal Mail in the first place?

Lack of belief might constitute part of it. I still get "I didn't know you worked Sundays" as a frequent response when doing Sunday stuff, so believing it won't actually happen much isn't too surprising.

The rest, perhaps belief that they can "level up" into a non-Sunday role, or more likely, they just take what they can get and hope to avoid Sundays somehow. It's hard to know the minds of others, but everyone make compromises, and often with the hope they can mitigate them later on.

tl;dr: Desperation, hope, and misbelief.

[mwalker88]

tl;dr: Desperation, hope, and misbelief.

You just quoted the full and complete Royal Mail management mantra for running a 100,000+ employee "business."

Utterly ridiculous, and a pure cash grab situation now.

[scotchy1962]

They have a Sunday delivery in the large office my small sub-office is based in, they have asked for volunteers to form a rota and it has been ongoing for a few years now. One of our small office is on said rota and they get 4hrs minimum depending on how much comes in. Now this postie is not renowned for his hard graft and i believe the most he is out for is 2hrs. Any new starts in the large office never last long enough for them to enforce the Sunday thing so the regulars are creaming it in.
I guess at some stage they might get some of them to stay long enough to kill off the o/t but who knows, they started 8 this week and as today was a little bit heavy ( A absolute hammering ) i could see a few fallers by the weekend. They started 6 about a month ago and they lasted 2 weeks before they all had left.
It's a problem of the RM's own making and at some stage they will have to address it.

[mwalker88]

They have a Sunday delivery in the large office my small sub-office is based in, they have asked for volunteers to form a rota and it has been ongoing for a few years now. One of our small office is on said rota and they get 4hrs minimum depending on how much comes in. Now this postie is not renowned for his hard graft and i believe the most he is out for is 2hrs. Any new starts in the large office never last long enough for them to enforce the Sunday thing so the regulars are creaming it in.
I guess at some stage they might get some of them to stay long enough to kill off the o/t but who knows, they started 8 this week and as today was a little bit heavy ( A absolute hammering ) i could see a few fallers by the weekend. They started 6 about a month ago and they lasted 2 weeks before they all had left.
It's a problem of the RM's own making and at some stage they will have to address it.

Crazy stuff Scotchy, who'd believe it eh?

RM is smelling of roses mind, don't rock the boat...

[postiewhite]

My girlfriend applied for RM 3yrs ago and was told in the interview she would work 'occasional sundays'. She got the job and when she started , her rota was permanent Mon/Tue off and had to work every Sunday.
She rightly told them to stick it after a few days
Why lie in an interview.

[Clappedoutpostie]

She rightly told them to stick it after a few days
Why lie in an interview.

Because that’s the level of disdain from the top of the company downwards.

[Diehard]

Thanks to all for the feedback so far.
Interesting responses but for clarity, to the posters suggesting I signed up to this, no I didn’t…
Have you seen the new contract ? 30 hours 5 days out of 7.
No more detail than that. Just a very ambiguous fluid contract, rather zero hours-esque

Yes, I knew Sundays were part of the requirement but not EVERY single one and without recourse to get one off…my office isn’t even open on a Sunday so why would I assume I’d always be needed somewhere in Group?
And if you assume that the recruiters told me about the extent of Sunday working then you be very much mistaken.

You got one thing spot on though, I will be leaving soon

[Valentina@1]

Hearing more & more stories like this.

Sad times 🥲

[koji878]

Thanks to all for the feedback so far.
Interesting responses but for clarity, to the posters suggesting I signed up to this, no I didn’t…
Have you seen the new contract ? 30 hours 5 days out of 7.
No more detail than that. Just a very ambiguous fluid contract, rather zero hours-esque

Yes, I knew Sundays were part of the requirement but not EVERY single one and without recourse to get one off…my office isn’t even open on a Sunday so why would I assume I’d always be needed somewhere in Group?
And if you assume that the recruiters told me about the extent of Sunday working then you be very much mistaken.

You got one thing spot on though, I will be leaving soon

Nothing wrong with working a few Sundays as I guess you thought that would happen but Every Sunday is a bit much , if anything the job advertised should state Wednesday to Sunday or Rotating shift patterns with every Sunday worked , can I ask though do you start at the same time everyday including weekends or isit all different start times ? so for example could you request a early start on a Saturday your Working and then a Late start on a Sunday might make it better for you ? I'm thinking of Applying but working every weekend particularly Sunday Mornings could be a issue .

[postslippete]

Thanks to all for the feedback so far.
Interesting responses but for clarity, to the posters suggesting I signed up to this, no I didn’t…
Have you seen the new contract ? 30 hours 5 days out of 7.
No more detail than that. Just a very ambiguous fluid contract, rather zero hours-esque

Yes, I knew Sundays were part of the requirement but not EVERY single one and without recourse to get one off…my office isn’t even open on a Sunday so why would I assume I’d always be needed somewhere in Group?
And if you assume that the recruiters told me about the extent of Sunday working then you be very much mistaken.

You got one thing spot on though, I will be leaving soon

I guess it's something that happens in the job interview. I've heard from part-timers that there was always a potential for them to get a full-time contract. Years later and they are still part-time having to do overtime as and when it suits the business to make their hours up to full-time.

[Smoothbackground]

Seems it is down to local preference and need. For some reason, it’s only full time (40-hour contract) staff who are required to work Sunday at my office. Those new-starters on 28-hour contracts, 32 hours, etc etc — basically anything under 40 hours — aren’t rostered to work any Sundays. But yet in two London offices I previously worked at through agency they were recruiting for people just to work Sundays (on a 10-hour contract).

[mwalker88]

Those new-starters on 28-hour contracts, 32 hours, etc etc...

Can you enlighten us on all these different new start contracts, what does etc etc mean when you are talking about contracted hours??

Other than:

28-hour contracts, 32 hours

Care to elaborate?

[Smoothbackground]

I can only repeat what I previously said. In our office we have people on different contractual hours. Among the new-starter cohort we have people on 28-hour contracts, 32hour contracts and 40-hour contracts. As I said, only those on 40-hour contracts are rostered to work Sundays at our office. I don’t know why it is like that. I suspect it is a local thing – I know earlier in the year London offices were recruiting for 10-hour contracts for Sundays only (though with a promise/guarantee of overtime up to full time hours available/expected during the week).

[Diehard]

Nothing wrong with working a few Sundays as I guess you thought that would happen but Every Sunday is a bit much , if anything the job advertised should state Wednesday to Sunday or Rotating shift patterns with every Sunday worked , can I ask though do you start at the same time everyday including weekends or isit all different start times ? so for example could you request a early start on a Saturday your Working and then a Late start on a Sunday might make it better for you ? I'm thinking of Applying but working every weekend particularly Sunday Mornings could be a issue .
[/quote]

I’m on a 30 hours contract. 8.30-14.30
Come in at 7.00 though and finish whenever shift officially finishes or stay out until objectives achieved.

No massive issue with Sunday working but not every single one. The point of this thread was to highlight the fact that there is currently no mechanism in place to allow me a Sunday off, unlike the other days of the week.

[postslippete]

I’m on a 30 hours contract. 8.30-14.30
Come in at 7.00 though and finish whenever shift officially finishes or stay out until objectives achieved.

No massive issue with Sunday working but not every single one. The point of this thread was to highlight the fact that there is currently no mechanism in place to allow me a Sunday off, unlike the other days of the week.

Have you not spoken to anyone to see if you could work say 1 in every 2 Sundays? That would be fairer all round but if that office is struggling to get people in on a Sunday obviously they are not going to let you do that.