RMCtv : Extending our network window is one of our key priorities this year.

[SpacePhoenix]

Has any managers mentioned about family friendly hours in our office we have at least 4 who have to pick there kids up from school.

There wont be any of that ,they have all been turned down in our office.

Yip all told in our office it aint happening.

If I'm lucky enough to be in an office with a 15 mins later start, I'll miss school pick up by 10 mins at a cost of £70 a week for after school club, ludicrous situation.

I can't see how any office can be just 15 mins later when you think about the slower speed or lorries and trains. I think 1hr is more realistic for the minimum time

The offices closest to mail centres will be 15 minutes, Preston was mentioned.

Whoever thinks it'll be just 15 mins is deluded. It's going to be at the VERY MINIMUM 30-45mins, even for the MCs nearest to the RDCs. It's physically impossible to get the work to the MCs, get the mail processed and out to the DOs just 15 mins later than the current times as the new arrival times are likely to be at least 30mins later at any MC.

There won't be another wave added just for this mail, the existing wave departure times will be made later by however much later the mail arrives into the MC

[claretandblue]

Has any managers mentioned about family friendly hours in our office we have at least 4 who have to pick there kids up from school.

There wont be any of that ,they have all been turned down in our office.

Yip all told in our office it aint happening.

If I'm lucky enough to be in an office with a 15 mins later start, I'll miss school pick up by 10 mins at a cost of £70 a week for after school club, ludicrous situation.

I can't see how any office can be just 15 mins later when you think about the slower speed or lorries and trains. I think 1hr is more realistic for the minimum time

The offices closest to mail centres will be 15 minutes, Preston was mentioned.

Whoever thinks it'll be just 15 mins is deluded. It's going to be at the VERY MINIMUM 30-45mins, even for the MCs nearest to the RDCs. It's physically impossible to get the work to the MCs, get the mail processed and out to the DOs just 15 mins later than the current times as the new arrival times are likely to be at least 30mins later at any MC.

There won't be another wave added just for this mail, the existing wave departure times will be made later by however much later the mail arrives into the MC

Some offices like mine, don't start at the earliest possible time compared to mail arrival times. When we start, our last wagon is already here.

[norris9]

After the last agreement was signed we lost a lot of senior workers, that has slowed down now, the ones that are leaving are the guys on new contracts, they see the job as a stepping stone to other jobs rather than any longevity with RM, as soon as they hear how poorer their T&C’s are they look to get out, with what it costs us to recruit and train these workers it can’t be sustained surely..

Interestingly, I have noticed job advertisements at our place for new starts offering £1,500 joining bonuses after 3 months....

It doesn't make sense. They reduced new employees pay, but are giving them £1,500 after just 3 months.... I would say at least 40% of staff leave within a year of starting. They'll probably get people signing up and once that joining bonus is paid they'll be out the door.


I don't know why Royal Mail don't do what they can to keep staff who would stay on long term in the business, but leave because of certain circumstances that could be fixed or changed. Surely keeping staff long term saves them a lot of money, rather than recruiting, wasting time doing interviews, CRB checks, paperwork, training, waiting months for the new start to get up to speed, van driving test, uniform....

Having more flexibility with staff and being able to amend contracts to suit the needs of certain people would surely benefit the company and obviously employees.

[norris9]

I read an interesting article explaining why high staff turnover was a key principle in Amazon's business strategy ie deliberate in nature. Cannot remember all the reasons behind it but i bet RM are factoring high staff turnover as part of their medium/long term business plan.

I looked it up and all I found was something about Jeff Bezos not wanting a 'stagnant workforce', whatever that means....

In Royal Mail it's better to have people that have knowledge of sorting, roads, postcodes etc. It's not good to keep bringing in new people who don't have this knowledge and have to build up their speed over several months.

I also read that Amazon doesn't do face to face interviews, it's done by a bot online. A lot of Amazon's workforce works in warehouses and don't do deliveries. The vast majority of people at Royal Mail are out on delivery.


I don't know if Royal Mail's interviews have changed in recent years, but mine felt way too long. I think it was maybe 30 minutes long with many questions that were needless. For a job like this you just need to ask the potential employee 3 questions and just have a normal conversation to make sure they are switched on and not insane.

I wouldn't even bother with an interview, I'd ask them to come in for 1 or 2 weeks to be trained right away and see how they get on. A paid 1-2 week trial.

[Smoothbackground]

I also read that Amazon doesn't do face to face interviews, it's done by a bot online. A lot of Amazon's workforce works in warehouses and don't do deliveries. The vast majority of people at Royal Mail are out on delivery.

I don't know if Royal Mail's interviews have changed in recent years, but mine felt way too long. I think it was maybe 30 minutes long with many questions that were needless. For a job like this you just need to ask the potential employee 3 questions and just have a normal conversation to make sure they are switched on and not insane.

I wouldn't even bother with an interview, I'd ask them to come in for 1 or 2 weeks to be trained right away and see how they get on. A paid 1-2 week trial.

Agreed re a paid trial period - would definitely help sort the wheat from the chaff.

The RM interview is now a very brief phone call, no more than five minutes long, with someone up North, who immediately congratulates you at the end of the call on getting the job!

As for Amazon, Amazon doesn’t have any staff whatsoever employed to do delivery (ie drive the vans). Amazon’s delivery function is contracted out to Delivery Service Partners (DSPs), who in turn contract with self-employed drivers. Even a lot of the warehouse staff aren’t employed by Amazon, instead working for PMP, Adecco, etc, though some do end up employed directly by Amazon with a snazzy “associate” or “hero” job title.

[postslippete]

Interestingly, I have noticed job advertisements at our place for new starts offering £1,500 joining bonuses after 3 months....

It doesn't make sense. They reduced new employees pay, but are giving them £1,500 after just 3 months.... I would say at least 40% of staff leave within a year of starting. They'll probably get people signing up and once that joining bonus is paid they'll be out the door.


I don't know why Royal Mail don't do what they can to keep staff who would stay on long term in the business, but leave because of certain circumstances that could be fixed or changed. Surely keeping staff long term saves them a lot of money, rather than recruiting, wasting time doing interviews, CRB checks, paperwork, training, waiting months for the new start to get up to speed, van driving test, uniform....

Having more flexibility with staff and being able to amend contracts to suit the needs of certain people would surely benefit the company and obviously employees.

According to this advert, it says that they may be eligible for a welcome bonus of £1,500 on three months in the role and then a further £1,500 on six months in the role

https://uk.linkedin.com/jobs/view/postp ... 3820638906


Maybe it's Royal Mail way of trying to address the fact that newer entrants are leaving because they are on inferior contracts for doing the same work as long term staff. However, like you said once the bonuses have been paid, what is to stop these posties from leaving after their first year? The company seems to be throwing good money after bad instead of trying to retain staff in the long term by making sure their initial contracts are better in the first place. Either that or they are just are trying to antagonise the current workforce. The last incentive bonus that we failed to achieve has had a very negative effect on the morale in our office because we all knew that the bonuses were unachievable after they ripped out too many duties.

[Nickvilla20]

I think it just shows how bad the problems the company have getting and retaining staff. My wife was giving that kind of Payment for taking a leadership role where she works now. It just shows how desperate Royal Mail are for staff.

Ironically when I started at the mail centre 21 years ago people were fighting over 20 hour contracts.

[datasaint]

15 minutes later start in April seems like RM are just softening the water for the eventual later start.

June seems to be the real event where the network timings are altered. Then when they need to push back the timings for the "15 minute" offices they'll do it after Xmas.

[funkflex55]

Interestingly, I have noticed job advertisements at our place for new starts offering £1,500 joining bonuses after 3 months....

It doesn't make sense. They reduced new employees pay, but are giving them £1,500 after just 3 months.... I would say at least 40% of staff leave within a year of starting. They'll probably get people signing up and once that joining bonus is paid they'll be out the door.


I don't know why Royal Mail don't do what they can to keep staff who would stay on long term in the business, but leave because of certain circumstances that could be fixed or changed. Surely keeping staff long term saves them a lot of money, rather than recruiting, wasting time doing interviews, CRB checks, paperwork, training, waiting months for the new start to get up to speed, van driving test, uniform....

Having more flexibility with staff and being able to amend contracts to suit the needs of certain people would surely benefit the company and obviously employees.

According to this advert, it says that they may be eligible for a welcome bonus of £1,500 on three months in the role and then a further £1,500 on six months in the role

https://uk.linkedin.com/jobs/view/postp ... 3820638906


Maybe it's Royal Mail way of trying to address the fact that newer entrants are leaving because they are on inferior contracts for doing the same work as long term staff. However, like you said once the bonuses have been paid, what is to stop these posties from leaving after their first year? The company seems to be throwing good money after bad instead of trying to retain staff in the long term by making sure their initial contracts are better in the first place. Either that or they are just are trying to antagonise the current workforce. The last incentive bonus that we failed to achieve has had a very negative effect on the morale in our office because we all knew that the bonuses were unachievable after they ripped out too many duties.

https://jobs.royalmailgroup.com/job/Lea ... 001331301/

It seems offices vary probably depending on just how much the management have messed up the staffing. Some say one payment of 1500 and some say 2 payments. The above is 300. The 1500 at 40 hours only works out about a pound an hour more than the old rate of pay so not that great in reality and when you factor in breaks even worse.

The start time changes are sure to mean lots of current staff will leave the company making the so called recruitment problems even more. Who would have thought having a 2 tier workforce would cause issues!

[LouBarlow]

Either way £3000 is nothing if you are looking at doing the job for multiple years and having to commit to the lesser terms of the new contracts.

[norris9]

It seems offices vary probably depending on just how much the management have messed up the staffing. Some say one payment of 1500 and some say 2 payments. The above is 300. The 1500 at 40 hours only works out about a pound an hour more than the old rate of pay so not that great in reality and when you factor in breaks even worse.

The start time changes are sure to mean lots of current staff will leave the company making the so called recruitment problems even more. Who would have thought having a 2 tier workforce would cause issues!

I don't know what's going on mate....

I saw 3 adverts for postie jobs at our office at the same time and all had different welcome bonuses....

1 had £0 bonus.

1 had £1,500 after 3 months.

1 had £1,500 after 3 months and then also £1,500 after 6 months.


and I don't think that's intentional - it looks like an inconsistent, unorganised balls-up, as the job descriptions are virtually the same for all 3 jobs, there is not enough difference to warrant paying one job £0, one job £1,500 and one job £3,000.

[Navalron]

It seems offices vary probably depending on just how much the management have messed up the staffing. Some say one payment of 1500 and some say 2 payments. The above is 300. The 1500 at 40 hours only works out about a pound an hour more than the old rate of pay so not that great in reality and when you factor in breaks even worse.

The start time changes are sure to mean lots of current staff will leave the company making the so called recruitment problems even more. Who would have thought having a 2 tier workforce would cause issues!

I don't know what's going on mate....

I saw 3 adverts for postie jobs at our office at the same time and all had different welcome bonuses....

1 had £0 bonus.

1 had £1,500 after 3 months.

1 had £1,500 after 3 months and then also £1,500 after 6 months.


and I don't think that's intentional - it looks like an inconsistent, unorganised balls-up, as the job descriptions are virtually the same for all 3 jobs, there is not enough difference to warrant paying one job £0, one job £1,500 and one job £3,000.

It depends on how bad they need staff. Guilford for years paying £1500 at 3 months and another £1500 at 6 months in the job, pro rata of course. Some offices are not paying anything. It depends on how much the so called planners f****d up the walks and duties. Now they are bringing in super lead coms, who get an extra £6000 allowance and start at £49,000 per year. They haven't got a clue. I talk with RM reps quite a bit as I'm now a rep at DWP and I can't believe how bad things have got in a once great job and employer. Good luck with whatever happens.

[POSTMAN]

Network window - the changes we're making

WATCH THIS THREE-MINUTE ANIMATION FOR ALL THE DETAILS
Extending our network window is one of our key priorities this year. This short video gives more details on this important change.

[yellowbelly]

Network window - the changes we're making

Surely they're going to have to expand the exemption postcodes for 1pm SD's or be a bit radical and just guarantee them for next day (no time specified).

So inefficient breaking off the planned (and supposedly most efficient) route or sending someone specifically out to do one o'clockers for people who are not in half the time.

[TopperGas]

Network window - the changes we're making

Surely they're going to have to expand the exemption postcodes for 1pm SD's or be a bit radical and just guarantee them for next day (no time specified).

So inefficient breaking off the planned (and supposedly most efficient) route or sending someone specifically out to do one o'clockers for people who are not in half the time.

Moving them to 5pm for starters would make sense, so then most businesses would still get them by close of play?