Surplus staff

[PO1]

I work in an office with 10 staff (4 full timers, 4 part timers, 1 full time leave reserve and 1 part time leave reserve).

There's no one on leave so we have 2 spare members of staff. A nearby office is short staffed and have requested one of ours. Who goes?

[kitkat]

In our office we are asked if anyone wants to go. Sometimes its nice to have a change because every office is slightly different. If no one will go the manager can send someone as long as its within an hours journey. They tend not to send product specialists or meeter greeters.

[the old girl]

The manager should ask for a volunteer, if no one volunteers then the manager can pick someone, however personal situations etc should be taken into account.

[bigjames]

It should be done by asking for a volunteer in the first instance. If no volunteer is forthcoming then the leave reserve should go, which one of your 2 reserves would depend on whether the vacant duty in the other office is full or part time.
Some staff may complain, and say that they have 'done their time on reserve', but the system has changed, and people are employed by The Post Office, not an individual specific Post Office.
Your BM is within their rights to send the reserve, and they can't refuse, unless the journey is deemed 'unreasonable', which means it should not be more than an hour and a half each way for a full timer, and 45 minutes each way for a part timer (I think, my timings might be a bit off, but you get the idea). However, the 'unreasonable' journey thing only comes in to play if someone is being instructed to go to another office, if they volunteer the journey can be pretty much any length. However, the member of staff should be reimbursed for any excess travel costs over and above their normal commuting costs, as well as being paid travelling time for any extra time spent travelling over and above their normal commute.

[PO1]

You see that's what I love about the Post Office bigjames, you always get different answers off different people. Nothing's black and white anymore.

It's always been the case that you are employed by the Post Office to work anywhere but you've always been left to fester in one particular office on the whole.

In our area they're now trying to dress up COSA 6.9 (redeployment of surplus colleagues on a PERMANENT basis) as a new COSA 6.9a (redeployment of surplus colleagues on a TEMPORARY basis) . The answer from the CWU rep is that it's "not fair" that the leave reserves are sent out all the time so, if there is no volunteer, the BM and CAM will make a decision based on the best mix of personal and cost factors.

We're now instigating a rota to decide who goes on a daily basis (COSA 6.9b) as we feel that it's going to be a big issue going forward as more and more people go off with stress.

[The BFO]

In all my 131 years service I don’t think there has ever been a ‘National Rule’ on this. Normally there is a volunteer. However, I think the ultimate position is this:

Managers can require any of us to work anywhere. But, we would have to be paid for our excess travelling time and travel costs, and we cannot be forced to use our own vehicle, or do overtime. So for example managers would be within their rights to require me to work at an office 200 miles away, but I would travel in my normal duty hours, and use public transport.