1 in 4 Saturdays off for reserves....

[P13]

Get the reserves list in seniority order.
They pick duties in seniority order weekly.
A note is made of the days off.
If a lower seniority reserve is falling behind on having a Saturday off he jumps the queue and picks 1st if there is a Saturday off duty available.

Too many reservers are being had over,you need to get together and get something sorted.

The above is unofficial,but it's in the interest of fairness,and it's not fecking hard to do.

That is the simplest solution but most managers are too lazy and thick to even bother with the simplest of solutions

[chrisj]

Our revision has just gone in.

If the revision has been signed off, did you see how the duty structure worked, if not, why was it signed off?

When you use duty builder and build in rotas it doesn't use reserves. Merely duty holder and day off cover dudes.

It's lazy management that refuse to honour 1 in 4, not the maligned reps

I am confused as to how you can blame management Why would a manager not honour 1 in 4 if it is possible and easy to implement as you put it.

Below is a reply I posted to a similar post

"How can 1 in 4 saturdays work in reality...

* We have a 6-day working week yet when we have 5 days holiday; we take 6 days - including the saturday.

* Posties are allowed to buy extra holidays which means more saturdays to be covered

* Long-term sickness saturdays has to be covered by (Reserves or volunteers on OT)

* Posties on long-term sick can still take the holidays - and if the postie has 5/6 weeks hols plus bought extra; then more saturdays has to be covered"

Regardless of Duty builder (I don't know much about it), some or all of the above factors will throw the best laid plans out of the window. And where there is an issue, the only alternative for a manager is to use Reserves and or rely on volunteer walkholders to cover Saturdays: and we know that not many volunteer esp given it is paid the same rate.

I am sorry this should have been foreseen and can you blame the RESERVES for kicking off when others not only have their own walks and cannot be moved, they know their days off and are comfortable doing the same round week in week out. And what do they get for this 1 in 4 issue; an issue which is very minor compared to all the other things that matter in 'delivery'.

[vigilante]

Managers could organise it with a bit of thought, but it is an easier option for them to treat reserves like little slaves.
Unfortunately they are too lazy and don't want to put the effort in.

Reps have brought this to the attention of planners and they have said it's down to local debate--and that is where it ends.
No matter how much the rep challenges it just get's ignored, even when you face two bosses above DSM! That's RM at present.

[Sidley]

Being a reserve and only getting a Saturday when the walk I'm covering is due one, I find time after time my rare Saturdays are changed without my knowledge as management can't resource enough manpower to cover. Hardly fair when I am supposed to have 1 in 6 like everyone else and even more unfair as I am unable to plan anything ahead of time. No-one with their own walk ever misses a Saturday due to resourcing issues.
In Work Time Lying this week I asked about the likelihood of 1 in 4 for reserves only to be told by our rep that it'd cost jobs and so was unlikely.
I can only hope I get a 3 day week come the revision, I bet even then the s**t heels will screw me out of Saturdays.

[vigilante]

Being a reserve and only getting a Saturday when the walk I'm covering is due one, I find time after time my rare Saturdays are changed without my knowledge as management can't resource enough manpower to cover. Hardly fair when I am supposed to have 1 in 6 like everyone else and even more unfair as I am unable to plan anything ahead of time. No-one with their own walk ever misses a Saturday due to resourcing issues.
In Work Time Lying this week I asked about the likelihood of 1 in 4 for reserves only to be told by our rep that it'd cost jobs and so was unlikely.
I can only hope I get a 3 day week come the revision, I bet even then the s**t heels will screw me out of Saturdays.

It wont cost jobs it's lazy management--it can be arranged locally by management---but they want the easy life.

[Acca Dacca]

I recently was covering a walk for a week and was told on the saturday before that my day off would be Tuesday.
I then found out by accident on the wed after a colleague jokingly said in surprise and assuming I knew and had authorised this ''what ye doing swapping yer saturday so XXXXX can get a day off?!?'' that the duties day off was actually Saturday and the manager had 'changed it' so a more senior member could get the saturday off without asking me.

I went apeshit and promised myself I wouldn't leave the office till I had a Saturday off confirmed. Ended up getting the next Saturday and Monday.

Just shows you the sneakiness that goes on. I'd have been none the wise.

[chrisj]

The things managers do for senior staffs and/or their favourites...

The same people tend to be off on Saturdays in my office. Somehow, they get a Saturday off before their holiday and not so long after the holiday they might be off again on a Saturday.

This more obvious when we all had a resign and most of the Saturday days-offs all changed but the same people still get a Saturday before their holiday and some even had Saturdays off within 2 or 3 weeks of the change. Whilst muggings like me had to wait another 5 weeks making it 14 weeks before a Saturday off.

And it was the same before that. So 2 Saturdays off in 6 months.

[chrisj]

Why do some managers allow walkholders to get extra saturdays off instead of asking them to swap their future saturdays???

The not-so-funny thing is that some managers are quick to demand such an a swap or arrangement from reserves, part-times and newer member of staff. This is from experience!

[DGP1]

Some people book Saturdays off for various reasons, I don't see why they shouldn't be allowed to

[chrisj]

Yes people can book saturdays off for whatever reasons but it is at the manager's discretion. The issue here is that managers should not easily grant a saturday off at the disadvantage of others such as Reserves.

We should all be treated fairly. Walkholders already have a lot of advantages over Reserves.