LTB 279/11 - B T 2010 HR Issues:Attendance

[POSTMAN]

TO ALL POSTAL BRANCHES



Dear Colleague



RE: Business Transformation 2010 HR Issues: Attendance



BT 2010 committed Royal Mail and the CWU to a joint review with the objective of agreeing a standard set of HR procedures.



It was agreed that first to be reviewed would be the attendance procedure as it was seen by both parties to be the process which causes the most friction and greatest cost, especially in relation to long term absence.



CWU and RM have met on a number of occasions. In these discussions we have explored how BT 2010 has changed the way employee relations needs to be looked at and in particular the fact that the attendance procedure is seen by our members as a way of management penalising or disciplining them for being ill.



It is felt by both parties that the adversarial way the procedure is often applied needs to change. We have jointly looked at benchmarking a number of other organisations – however whilst some of the information from these organisations is useful, there certainly is no agreement that could be just taken off the shelf and delivered in Royal Mail.



There are pressures on both sides to come to agreement, apart from the fact that BT 2010 requires it. For Royal Mail cost saving is always an imperative, but this is not exclusive; in our early discussions Royal Mail has been clear that it wishes to come away from the adversarial model. The company drew up a number of HR principles it wishes to use in the procedure which would be founded on a fair, more supportive, and encouraging approach, and to provide more clarity on the standards and expectations of employees. For the CWU, there are pressures too, again not least because of our commitment to the BT 2010 agreement.



CWU has established a consultative body consisting of Senior Field Officials to advise the national negotiators. The following reasons for change and objectives have been the subject of consultation with this body and are endorsed by the PEC. They have been put to Royal Mail management and will be pursued in negotiation.. A further meeting with Royal Mail is scheduled early in April.



Reasons for Change

Perceived unsympathetic/mechanistic application of the procedure is a source of

grievance – members are made to feel undervalued.

Far too many members are on the procedure..

It is difficult to get off the procedure once on.

Royal Mail has a comparatively very high rate of long term absence. Evidence shows it becomes progressively harder for employees to return to work of any kind. Early intervention is key, not to harass people back to work, but encourage them through a fair and supportive rehabilitation process.

High level of ill health retirement cases.



Objectives
There is a significant body of conference policy relating to attendance issues in recent years:

Accident and DDA absences being dealt with in line with ACAS guidelines/disability absences being discounted.

Absences due to epidemic and pandemic not counting towards stage warnings.

Right to representation at RTW interview.

Right to appeal at all stages.

Independent appeals managers to deal with dismissal appeals.

Time limits between the absence that triggers the dismissal stage and the interview.

Conclude cases within 28 days/cases to be concluded within notice period or notice period to be extended.



Most of these policies arise from the perception amongst our reps that absence is dealt with unfairly and mechanistically. General objectives can be defined as follows:

Support development of less adversarial approach to employee relations, which properly values employee contribution. Clear emphasis on support to achieve reasonable standards in future – not “punishment” for failure to achieve standards in the past.

Comprehensive agreement covering all aspects of absence management

Managing attendance, covering rights and obligations on issues such as absence reporting/certification, contact during absence, return to work interviews, role of OHS.

Short term absence procedure: emphasis on assistance to meet standards in the future providing appropriate support; mitigation/commonsense approach; informal counselling “stage”. Right to appeal at formal stages.

Long term absence procedure: through early structured support aimed at facilitating early return to work, with clearly defined union involvement.

Review of triggers to cover number of absences and patterns of absence – potentially taking a longer view?

Clearly defined period to demonstrate ability to meet standards going forward. When achieved, removal from procedure.

Long term sick absence policy including:

“Fit for Work” plans for LTS cases that identify return to work dates and any modifications required. Modifications usually for a defined period and monitored.

A period of seeking redeployment options will be identified where appropriate with the input of the employee and their rep. Redeployment will be actively sought and documented.

Consideration of dismissal will be a last resort only where return to work on existing or alternative duties is not possible and only where the employee is eligible for ill health retirement.

[post_bitch]

After resigning from Bombardier at the end of 2004 following Tellier's departure, she was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Canada Post on May 12th, 2005.[3] During her period of tenure, she placed emphasis on cost cutting through cutting absenteeism, increasing automation and improved labour relations. The result was a trebling of Canada Post's profits to C$281 million (£183 million), despite a 5.1 per cent drop in revenues,[4] resulting in a two year extension to her original five year contract.[7] However, in her last year of tenure, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers marked her fourth anniversary with a report card, with the CUPW's President Denis Lemelin commenting: "If you compare the four years before Greene with the four years under Greene's management, the numbers show that injuries have gone up 15.4% and grievances have gone up 59.3%


i guess its started

[fishtank]

Tue Mar 22, 2011 5:30,pm

One year later...

[dvbuk55]

Tue Mar 22, 2011 5:30,pm

One year later...

Aye time flies when you're enjoying yourself. Wonder how you manage to get on one of them there committees

[Superfly]

Tue Mar 22, 2011 5:30,pm

One year later...

Plenty of time for them to manage our colleagues out of the business.

[fishtank]

Plenty of time for them to manage our colleagues out of the business.

It's a good point.
How many have been sacked through the attendance procedure in the 12 months that the waffling has been going on?
Why are they stalling?
Why are they being allowed to stall?
See you back here in 12 months....if we haven't been stage 3'd.

[Martin Walsh]

The simple fact of the matter is that the CWU cannot get Royal Mail to agree the things we want to see in a new procedure and Until the union can there will not be a new agreement.

[dvbuk55]

The simple fact of the matter is that the CWU cannot get Royal Mail to agree the things we want to see in a new procedure and Until the union can there will not be a new agreement.

Although some of us take a pop at you, we realise it's not your fault but surely you can see the frustration. The chattering goes on and on and the results - well more chattering. When it comes to agreeing WCM, BSI, Model week and anything else that benefits RM resolutions are quickly found but when the union put forward their "vision of the future" the negotiation is dragged out forever.

Royal Mail are leading the union by the nose, colleague share, pensions all gone forward without any real fight................I mean is there any will to fight for the nitty gritty. I have seen on here time after time "we are the union" and "think of all the things won in the past"...........and that is the crux - it is history and there is no comparison to yesteryear.

[Martin Walsh]

Dvbuk I can understand the frustration , but let's be clear on this Royal Mail have had one eye on whether state aid would be granted and on what terms. Remember the Business Transformation plan was meant to have introduced the majority of revisons and it was only meant to be the third year of the plan when they stated to make any money. Clearly the plan was well behind.

This weeks decision on state aid has mean Royal Mail have now a very sound financial position and now will probably want to secure agreements as they cannot afford either bad publicly or conflict at this time given the fact the government has taken on the pension issues and wiped the loan clean and privatisation has been ruled out for 2012.

In terms of the attendance procedure it's an ago old problem we want appeals at each stage and they don't and they want accidents to be blameworthy and we don't and a number of other issues.

[POSTMAN]

To be fair,it's seriously showing how low this firm can get.

[fishtank]

Something like this really shows the credibility of the new relationship.
There is nothing in the union objectives that a reasonable employer would have any real problems with in principle.

[BELIAL]

This weeks decision on state aid has mean Royal Mail have now a very sound financial position and now will probably want to secure agreements as they cannot afford either bad publicly or conflict at this time given the fact the government has taken on the pension issues and wiped the loan clean and privatisation has been ruled out for 2012.

Given this bumper harvest I guess we might receive the £5600 colleague share payout that RM originally forecast ? Who could have anticipated such a healthy trading position ,lucky us,our boats come in

[dvbuk55]

This weeks decision on state aid has mean Royal Mail have now a very sound financial position and now will probably want to secure agreements as they cannot afford either bad publicly or conflict at this time given the fact the government has taken on the pension issues and wiped the loan clean and privatisation has been ruled out for 2012.

Given this bumper harvest I guess we might receive the £5600 colleague share payout that RM originally forecast ? Who could have anticipated such a healthy trading position ,lucky us,our boats come in

It certainly has, it could be a small lightly battered fish it certainly won't be 5k+............that is one cast iron guarantee RM will stick to.

[BELIAL]

This weeks decision on state aid has mean Royal Mail have now a very sound financial position and now will probably want to secure agreements as they cannot afford either bad publicly or conflict at this time given the fact the government has taken on the pension issues and wiped the loan clean and privatisation has been ruled out for 2012.

Given this bumper harvest I guess we might receive the £5600 colleague share payout that RM originally forecast ? Who could have anticipated such a healthy trading position ,lucky us,our boats come in

It certainly has, it could be a small lightly battered fish it certainly won't be 5k+............that is one cast iron guarantee RM will stick to.

Surely you are not implying that the workforce have been misled by their employer
I was looking forward to building a bright new future based on trust ;mutual dependancy ;transparency ;open communication and a willingness to cooperate for our mutual benefit as detailed in BS2010. I must say that the RM response of "f**k off and do what you are told" is beginning to undermine my new found optimism.Should I give it longer before I form a conclusion?

[dvbuk55]

This weeks decision on state aid has mean Royal Mail have now a very sound financial position and now will probably want to secure agreements as they cannot afford either bad publicly or conflict at this time given the fact the government has taken on the pension issues and wiped the loan clean and privatisation has been ruled out for 2012.

Given this bumper harvest I guess we might receive the £5600 colleague share payout that RM originally forecast ? Who could have anticipated such a healthy trading position ,lucky us,our boats come in

It certainly has, it could be a small lightly battered fish it certainly won't be 5k+............that is one cast iron guarantee RM will stick to.

Surely you are not implying that the workforce have been misled by their employer
I was looking forward to building a bright new future based on trust ;mutual dependancy ;transparency ;open communication and a willingness to cooperate for our mutual benefit as detailed in BS2010. I must say that the RM response of "f**k off and do what you are told" is beginning to undermine my new found optimism.Should I give it longer before I form a conclusion?

Oh absolutely B, christ I mean they haven't stopped talking about finalising BT2010 yet, it's only 2012, the pies haven't run out and there's loads of gravy left - conservatively I'd give it another 2 years or so.