Standard of new starters

[Walter sobchak]

To be fair, the vast majority of our new entrants work to a pretty decent standard

Not wanting to tar everyone with the same brush but unfortunately that is not the experience where I work.

No shows on a regular occurrence without contacting the office and when they do turn up they are reluctant to do a HCT duty (l thought I'd have my own van!)

Manager can't let them go until a replacement is found which isn't that easy when the applicants aren't exactly knocking the door down to work for RM

Those that turn up at our office just want to drive around and do parcels and what little mail they take out they just bring it all back and dump it all on the frame bundled up for the full timers to throw back in the next day.

[twoloops]

We had a young lad in our communal/tea bar area waiting to be interviewed, he was already in shorts & obligatory headphones, he was sat on a chair almost horizontal.

[ted_e_bear]

We had a young lad in our communal/tea bar area waiting to be interviewed, he was already in shorts & obligatory headphones, he was sat on a chair almost horizontal.

If he turned up at our place and probably loads others he'd be starting Monday

[funkflex55]

We had a young lad in our communal/tea bar area waiting to be interviewed, he was already in shorts & obligatory headphones, he was sat on a chair almost horizontal.

It seems that headphones are now mandatory to do the job these days, was there a briefing saying to use them?

I'd rather hear things like dogs and cars. Also long exposure to earphones can damage your hearing.

[Mr Rush]

It seems that headphones are now mandatory to do the job these days, was there a briefing saying to use them?

There was a WTLL brief last year, if I recall correctly, about only having one ear covered/obstructed while on delivery. It was a very brief brief - just a 'don't do this' and then 'sign this sheet'.

[twoloops]

A lad who been with us for 6/7 week asked to leave early today, wanted bringing back to the office for 11am because he'd got to get his haircut.

He regularly comes in late because his phone is playing up

[NWpostie]

It seems we are seeing a generational shift in a more social media influencer youth culture, not all are lazy just that there's more of them than in the 80s.

It was impressed on me in school that you won't get anywhere unless you worked for it, I watched an 80s in school called "Do you want to get a job ?" done in a game show style, every mistake in presentation, spelling and CV was criticised by the presenter and the winner sailed through to a job, it made an impression on me as young teenager this being the Yuppie era where everybody wanted to get on and lots of money.

When I joined Royal Mail I had to go through a competence and sorting test to the final interview then signed the Official Secret Act before starting work.

I've noticed a lot of change since then and general drop in standards, now this new generation is a complete opposite of my generation, it's a different world now compared my analogue pen and paper era.

[qwerty2]

It seems we are seeing a generational shift in a more social media influencer youth culture, not all are lazy just that there's more of them than in the 80s.

It was impressed on me in school that you won't get anywhere unless you worked for it, I watched an 80s in school called "Do you want to get a job ?" done in a game show style, every mistake in presentation, spelling and CV was criticised by the presenter and the winner sailed through to a job, it made an impression on me as young teenager this being the Yuppie era where everybody wanted to get on and lots of money.

When I joined Royal Mail I had to go through a competence and sorting test to the final interview then signed the Official Secret Act before starting work.

I've noticed a lot of change since then and general drop in standards, now this new generation is a complete opposite of my generation, it's a different world now compared my analogue pen and paper era.

RM plans have backfired to replace us oldies with youngsters
There’s a few newbies thinking about leaving
3/4 of the office are 40+

[Walter sobchak]

Headphone boy left our office weeks ago after going missing in action.

Lasted longer than I expected.

[funkflex55]

Doesn't RM ever think that if they paid better they would increase the quality of people applying and improve staff retention?

[TopperGas]

We've a couple with headphones stuck to their heads, even whilst driving the vans, while can't they just use airpods or similar as at least they are less noticeable?

[SpacePhoenix]

We've a couple with headphones stuck to their heads, even whilst driving the vans, while can't they just use airpods or similar as at least they are less noticeable?

With either headphones or airpods you could in theory be done for driving without due care and attention if it stops you from hearing things like emergency sirens, etc.

[NWpostie]

We've a couple with headphones stuck to their heads, even whilst driving the vans, while can't they just use airpods or similar as at least they are less noticeable?

With either headphones or airpods you could in theory be done for driving without due care and attention if it stops you from hearing things like emergency sirens, etc.

Tough one when you already have deaf drivers in RM, they use their eyes to spot blue lights.

[Mr Rush]

Doesn't RM ever think that if they paid better they would increase the quality of people applying and improve staff retention?

You'll bankrupt the company with that attitude!

[postslippete]

Doesn't RM ever think that if they paid better they would increase the quality of people applying and improve staff retention?

100%

Some of the guys I've worked with have adopted the attitude of 'quiet quitting' or just doing the minimum required because they feel that they are on inferior contracts. Instead of the company rewarding them with more pay or better contracts the longer they have worked there, they appear to have no real motivation towards equalisation and I think RM are making a big mistake.

It's all well and good RM saying that they are competing with the "gig economy" but what they don't realise is that as a company we are very different. Training a new recruit as an Amazon driver isn't all that difficult as it's all parcels and GEO route PDA. Working as a postie across different areas involves a lot of walking as well as driving and delivering letters, leaflets, parcels, collections, specials. No matter how RM dress it up, it's not the same job.

And given the fact that it takes much longer for new entrants to get up to speed with everything, the 'churn'/staff leaving impacts RM much more than our gig economy competitors regardless of whether they are younger or middle aged when they start the job. A lot of people think being a postie is easy until they discover how many miles they have to walk and how many work they are expected to absorb every day. If RM wants to push towards a race to the bottom then they shouldn't be surprised when it gets the result that often come with it - high turnover, lower morale, weaker staff retention and employees less willing to go the extra mile when the business needs them.