Simon Thompson video on workplace : Is it worth watching?

[POSTMAN]

POSTMAN EDIT : I have found it, I will put it up asap, please watch when I do!

Link here for those on Workplace...
https://royalmail.workplace.com/groups/ ... 817588885/



0-3:00 : The presentation to the market the last time.
3:00- 06:00 : Data how we're doing so far this year, he's showing you what HE sees.
06:00-06:30 : Talking about THAT letter.
06:30-08-10 : RMC montage, music by The Fall, words by disgruntled posties on some postie site.
8:10 -13:45 : Talking about most of what I posted below. (Worth a watch tbh)
13:45 yadda yadda exact as the 1st 3 mins.



It was around 15 mins long and as I was watching it I realised that I would be unable because of the content to split it like I usually do, the reason properly why, in a minute.

As I was thinking to set my stuff up to replay and then record it (Videos from there can't be downloaded) it froze, so I refreshed it ready to go but it's disappeared, and I can't find it anywhere, if you do find it let me know so I can record it for those not on Workplace.

Luckily I had taken some notes. Yeah, it's my thing.

Now the reason I couldn't, well wouldn't split it is because of the content.

It was more of the same regarding quality, pre covid, post covid, get it sorted etc. Graphs at the start, and then the same graphs at the end for good measure, before that the vid was 13:45 long.
He mentioned the site (He said thanks for letting him know what's really going on we can now help) the video then mentioned the posts quoted before....in a musical montage, not sure what the song was.
He mentioned that recruitment had gone through the roof, 400+ requests a day.( Genuine question, is that because there has not been any proper recruitment for years, and certain powers are now going...oops? Genuine answers please)
Processing will need about-ish 6,000 less temp workers, deliveries, 2000ish less temps.

He says, he's clear now that we need help, and he will...
Help with recruitment,
Help with revisions,
Help with reporting,
But you have to help me...market, market, market, here are the graphs again btw.

With regards to reporting, things need to be reported properly so he/them know what is going on, there are ways to do this, did he mention a helpline again? Kinda, he mentioned the whistleblowing line, or you could just speak up, have a conversation.

The reason I didn't /wouldn't split it was because I was going to beg you to watch the whole thing.

I genuinely can't believe what it was like, fingers are crossed the vid will pop up again. EDIT: It did, I somehow messed up.
I will now not be contacting him, what's the point.

Not looking for 100% negative comments, positive ones welcome please.

There is also now a 'revisions-your feedback' group on there, enjoy.

Have a good weekend.

EDIT: I found what the music was called in our montage, it was called 'In the cloud' by the fall, looking at that song and some of their others RM have a sense of humor...
https://app.soundstripe.com/artists/257 ... pproved_at

[ssdd]

Cheers POSTMAN. What was the whole "Clear your office, not just your frame" thing about then? Was it a deliberate provocation in order to gauge feedback?

[Stella102]

Revision feedback seems interesting could be the new place to get some interesting stories from!

[POSTMAN]

Cheers POSTMAN. What was the whole "Clear your office, not just your frame" thing about then? Was it a deliberate provocation in order to gauge feedback?

No, he still wants you to clear your frame and your office. Quality needs to go up, there are 8 weeks left.
Watch the vid.

[POSTMAN]

Non-Account Complaints Advisor and TP Team Leader
Come on Team let's all get behind Simon and the rest of the board regardless of where you are working in the business to get this company back to the top again. Most optimistic time at this company in many a year but its not going to get handed to us on a plate. We need to work for it

Advanced Customer Advisor at Royal Mail Group
I think having an honest and open communication with you Simon Thompson builds the trust and also opens the doors to truly see what is happening within each environment. I think the time is now where we share ideas on how to move forward. A big shout out to the frontline for all the hard work they do



Gal

Finally, how do we get the folks in Royal Mail Chat to watch this video? p.s. I got my new PDA today and I am sure this great upgrade will help everyone with QoS, thank you.

From the same gal who said this...

I left royalmailchat because of this negativity. It's a bubble where nothing is achieved. Furthermore no-one seems to suggest how to change anything, and if you do it just gets side swiped as a pipe dream. It's as if the active members on this anonymous site want to all stay feeling so depressed about their jobs. The total lack of ability to realise that they are part of the Team and as such can be part of the solution really got me down. The site oozes the mantra that it's always someone else's fault or problem

But then said this, in the same post...

That said, as a part-time postie some of the comments ring true. I personally believe that the exploitation of part-time contracts is Royal Mail's dark, dirty secret.

But then said this in the same post

*I* want to help action positive change but I need to know that my company is behind *me*.



From a bloke who does not do delivery...

As a newcomer to Royal Mail. I joined all the forums, facebooks groups etc to get as much information as I could. The negativity on both RMC and RMC Facebook was all a little depressing. So I stopped following them. I’m glad I did, as I can honestly say that in 27yrs of employment. RM is by far, the best company I have ever worked for. I feel like part of a machine and valued for the first time in my life. Long may it continue and hopefully I’ll be one of the 30+yr crowd

Trainee manager...

Royal Mail Chat has become a very negative forum over the years.

Then says this in the same sentence...

I can however understand the negative comments. We have struggled for months to cover our deliveries, some members working 50hrs + every week, some working 7 days. When you are starting your day with 5,6,7,8 + deliveries uncovered its frustrating to be told that frames and offices should be cleared....... that's what we've been trying to do but we haven't got the bodies to do it.

Then says this...

I fully support the way this business is going and I'm very positive about the future, to have a CEO that is engaging, listening and reacting to his team is great.


There is only so much I can drink from there!!

Ok, one more bit which I really like...

Gal...

Simon Thompson couldn’t we have a section on the people app to show an individuals performance as well as our office ie clearance of rounds, tracked scores, scanning performance etc Perhaps if we took more of a personal interest in our own scores it would help drive the whole offices performance forwards and upwards

Answer while getting his johnson out (sorry) : We're exploring this at the moment, and will be working as quickly as possible to get the right information to the frontline in a timely manner.

Guy jumping in, ready to cut his colleagues throat ...

that’s excellent to hear. Our DOM reads out the best and worst scan performance scores, duties with the best tracked scores etc - feels a bit like a stick rather than a motivational carrot at times. If we could access our own scores it may help motivate people to improve their scanning performance etc

Answer from RM with willy in hand (sorry again) : We're working on making such stats available, in (near) real-time, and in a way that can support localised (DO) decision making. Watch this space!

A bishop basher (genuine)...

In our office, the stats are put up on the notice board every week to show how each delivery is performing. Its to encourage everyone to maintain a high performance. What I find disheartening about it is, we work on the delivery 5 days out of 6. Too often I find that the stats for my delivery are high on weeks when I have worked my day off, but it plumets on weeks when I have had my day off. To see that, doesnt encourage me to work harder, due to the fact for just that 1 day, what you worked hard for is ruined. My manager tells me not to dwell on it, as he knows its not me. There is a few of us who feel that stats should be made available on the individual also, so you can see how well they are performing. If they are below standard, they should be taken aside and given extra support to improve.

Thanks

Workplace-The gift that keeps on giving

[ssdd]

Wow! Very eye-opening POSTMAN. The video AND the comments. Thanks for the work. I need some time to process all this..

[nutcracker]

Hahaha they all sound so pathetic….

I often subtly rip the piss out of managers to their faces about their performance and how the games up, I’d recommend it as standard practice for all opgs, it’s cathartic.

I’d like to ‘reach out’ and ‘amplify’ a ‘deliverable’ positive suggestion guys…team leaders they cost a fraction of a managers salary & require no bonus…they’re just as ill-educated, disheveled and incompetent?

[tomtallis]

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[Woody Guthrie]

I don't contribute to Workplace, these things in my mind give a false perspective of the business because..

a) You have to be very guarded about what you say because of the social media policy.

b) Although there are no stupid questions nobody wants to come across as stupid in front of their peers.

c) Nobody wants to be seen as too negative and there appears to be a pile on mentality if anyone does.

d) There are obviously a lot of people on there who are "networking" and clearly trying to use the platform to advance their careers.

Yes this site can be a little negative at times but Simon is missing the point by focusing on the negativity over the content, it's the commonality of the problems highlighted on here that's important not individual comments.

It's the big picture of a mostly unhappy workforce undergoing more change and being told we must change and completely ignoring the fact that the business has been in a constant state of change for 20 years since the second daily delivery went and mechanisation first started having an impact.

We are always facing change, we have never shied away from that but forcing change through never works, especially against the clock to pacify shareholders.

If you want to find what's gumming up these revisions Simon, look a little deeper into the management culture, that command and control throwback to the seventies, do any managers actually train in people management skills because some of the ways I've been spoken to over the years and as recently as two days ago would not be acceptable in a 19th century workhouse.

[tomtallis]

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[Woody Guthrie]

Yes this site can be a little negative at times but Simon is missing the point by focusing on the negativity over the content.

But its a quick and easy way to dismiss us which I can see as a plus to some elements. Another confected culture war anyone?

I think that's exactly his strategy to be honest but for it to work you also have to change the perception of the business on the shop floor and that's going to be far more difficult with the overall quality of management he has at his disposal.

They have shed a lot of managers in the last 12 months but they used a blunt tool to do it, in my opinion they should have been far more proactive and selective and used the opportunity to improve the overall quality. Instead they've lost good managers with masses of experience who could have helped break the revision blockage and they've been left with a mixed bag of the good, the bad and the ugly.

I don't know any other business that hangs on to poor managers the way Royal Mail does and it's been like that for as long as I can remember. They are practically unsackable and the worst problem that creates is that they know it.

[Stella102]

Yes very true, when do you ever see a poor performing manager sacked? They get left alone or moved to an easier unit. Royal mail rewards poor performance and they know it.

[fb1969]

In summary, the revisions will make all the workloads fair and even - and that will mean no temps will be needed at Christmas.

Keep it coming Simon. You say you want hear from people, but you continue to ignore what is being said by the people that actually do the job.

[par4mrl]

I’m sorry but after 33 years in this job, not once has any top brass ever taken any notice of the humble delivery postmen and women and before you jump on me and say..:well this guy seems different….I’ve heard that a dozen times over and over again. This in my humble honest opinion is going to end in tears because as postman give away their trust unconditionally this company and it’s henchmen will once they feel they’ve got their troops where they want them will just poo poo all over them leaving the hard working postie more exposed than ever. The company is run like it’s in slow motion whilst every other company zooms past at a million miles an hour and that is 70% poor management and 30% terrible union action just playing against one another. I live in hope and would love to be proved wrong but I feel it won’t ever happen.

[Ad_bee]

It was interesting.

I guess they've volt-faced on the reporting issues since, as he said (which is quite a positive move), he only gets the data thats reported so quantitive, qualitive or misreported failures really banjax his spreadsheet.

Our gang had the audacity to highlight the importance of status-reporting in WTLL as though its the poor humble postie who's been failing in this regard for years and has thus brought the entire operation to its knees.

Never mind that management has been for years, implementing nationwide campaigns of B&H, intimidation, lies and fraud (refusing to pay overtime worked) just in order to avoid reporting the true status.

Anyway, as someone who enjoys stats & surveys & stuff I can report that the revision for my round has been well and truly fluffed, just as I knew it would be fluffed 6 months ago when it was clear that they would use flawed raw data. They only had to ask and I'd tell 'em but they don't want to know.

It wouldn't be so bad if they were scratching about on the back of fag-packets in a pub after closing time with this but they actually have excellent raw data capture....if they'd only use it! (maybe they don't know how to?)

There can only be one reason why they don't do this properly and thats because they don't want to, its all just stuff' 'n' nonsense bluster.

I do feel very sorry for Simons Spreadsheet and also for the Posties who'll nodoubt sonn get the balem as the proverbial rolls downhill.