I think I'm done.

[thefemalepostie]

I have been with the wonderful Royal Mail for six weeks now and to be honest I have never known such a life draining, depressing and unprofessional place to work.

The posties on the whole have been wonderful and helpful whenever I have asked a question no matter how stupid it was. But management take things to a whole new level that I never thought I would see in this day and age. I am treated appallingly by them and if I dare to ask a question on how to do something (that I have never been told how to do) I am treated like a leper!

I slipped yesterday when out on delivery, muddled through the rest of the walk, with a jarred back and hip and saw the emergency dr late afternoon (drop in centre) who asked how it happened. I explained what had happened (slipped on someone's marble front door step whilst delivering), and he said I hope you have put it in the accident book at work. I had to admit that no I hadn't as no one has told me any procedures about this and I assumed it was my own fault for not being more careful when it was raining. This was my first time on this walk so didn't have a clue about this step before hand. I have been diagnosed with pulled muscles, so deep heat and ibuprofen will get me through it within the next few days hopefully. Surely for a new starter things like reporting accidents in the accident book should be pointed out on your first day.

I dread going into work most days as the hostile atmosphere makes it an unbearable place to work. I do not sleep well unless it is my day off the next day. What price is my life worth? The money is good-ish compared to other part time jobs, but what good is the money when you have no life other than the constant dread of going into this place.

New starters are treated like 4th class workers, we are thrown in at the deep end and it really is sink or swim with equal amounts of bullying thrown in for good measure.

My family have this weekend told me that since I started at RM I am a different person (and not in a good way). They want me to leave as soon as possible as they do not like the person I am becoming. My kids mean the world to me, and even they have said your not the fun bubbly mum you were before. All you do is sleep and work now. This broke my heart this weekend.

I feel a failure that I couldn't make it work, but the managers have drained the good out of me and left me a shell of what I used to be. I have been offered another job by a neighbour. It's less hours and less money, but is school hours and won't be pressured to work over, or told that I am slow (give me a break I have only been there 6 weeks!!). What price is a quality of life eh? Things will be tight, but at least I will do right by my family and you can't get their childhoods back!

Sorry to ramble on, but needed to share how I felt with people who understand what RM does to people. My resignation will be going in tomorrow morning.

[Hitcher]

And they wonder why the turnover rate is so high!

Good luck with your future.

[spoodoo]

Magnificent moya are you listening?

[dvbuk55]

Well it is a sad tale sure enough but it is equally true that people have a romantic notion of what being a postperson involves and that sometimes the actuality doesn't live up to the expectation of the new employee and that this is a fast paced workplace with pressure and that just doesn't do for everyone. Oddly enough though the last three new people to leave our office have all been women and the last 5 employed have all been men - make of that what you will.

[DirtyHarry]

It truly is a terrible company to have to work for.
Employees on the factory floor are given zero respect by bosses, and even that is given grudgingly.
Every effort is made by bosses to make the job as unbearable, and unpleasent, and in the case of Saturday working, needlessly long and laborious, as is inhumanly possible.
I wish you more luck in future with regard to employment, femalepostie.

[thefemalepostie]

Well it is a sad tale sure enough but it is equally true that people have a romantic notion of what being a postperson involves and that sometimes the actualite doesn't live up to the expectation of the new employee and that this is a fast paced workplace with pressure and that just doesn't do for everyone. Oddly enough though the last three new people to leave our office have all been women and the last 5 employed have all been men - make of that what you will.

It wasn't the actual job (I actually enjoyed being out and about) and the pressure is nothing compared to previous jobs. It's all the superfluous crap that came with it from managers. There is no need for the way they treat people. If the training was actually done properly and you were shown how to do things in and out of the office properly it would be better. Managers only tell you what they want you to know and do. If it hadn't been for this site I would of been shafted so many times!

As for women leaving and men staying. My theory (and its only a theory) would be that most women take the part time hours to fit in with kids for extra household money (hubby being main earner). They don't want to put up with the daily shafting and bullying for anything so leave. Men who take on the job normally are the full time earner (so will do all the overtime to make up to full time hours). This is just my opinion so don't blast me for it, but it is certainly true of the postwoman at my DO.

[spoodoo]

Our new starts have no idea of putting in overtime,meal breaks etc it's shocking some are scared to put in any overtime ,and most come in hours before there time because of pressure they feel.

[thefemalepostie]

Our new starts have no idea of putting in overtime,meal breaks etc it's shocking some are scared to put in any overtime ,and most come in hours before there time because of pressure they feel.

I agree with this. If I hadn't found this site then I would probably be one of them. I also think this plays a part of why I have been treated appallingly as I am not playing ball with the doms and coming in early and I claim overtime on the rare (2) occasions I have done it.

An employee handbook is required that lists everything you are entitled to and how it is done properly, not all these local agreements, that confuses the heck out of new starters. If it was in a book in black and white (like 99% of other major national companies have) then it would be a lot easier to get on.

In my example not being told what to do with an accident is not acceptable. They should have it in writing what and when to report and to who etc.... I have just taken it as it was my fault, but since reading on this site today I should of reported it.

[cyberheater]

Worst company I have ever worked for. By a long long way. You are better off out of it. I'm working on leaving RM this year.

[Jono]

Been in the job 15 years and seen hundreds, if not thousands of staff come and go - all with their own reasons for quitting. But one thing that is a constant is that, in many cases its the "indoor" element of the job thats to blame for the many resignations...a majority of those can handle the *now* longer heavier deliveries but what they cant handle is the way they are treated and spoken to, often by uneducated, "untrained" management who have never performed a delivery themselves but feel compelled to criticise you when you fall short of their expectations.
I only work for "me" now (and its the same with all the long term staff in my office) and if it doesnt benefit me then I wont do it - simple...the days of going the extra mile for the business for a favour in return are dead. If manager wants me to take out a few late specials when I get back from finishing my duty then he pays or they stay. The job has made me into a different person but I still have my morales...

[fng]

I only work for "me" now (and its the same with all the long term staff in my office) and if it doesnt benefit me then I wont do it - simple...the days of going the extra mile for the business for a favour in return are dead. If manager wants me to take out a few late specials when I get back from finishing my duty then he pays or they stay.

[fishtank]

It's all the superfluous crap that came with it from managers. There is no need for the way they treat people..

Management are on the whole very poor in this business,i don't know why but it's always to a certain extent been this way although in the last 10 years their ineptitude seems to have risen exponentially.
Of course the inability to manage people properly can only be camouflaged in one way and that is to resort to the kind of bullying and harassment that has exploded in Royal Mail since around 2007.
It was and still is a time bomb.
The more Royal Mail increase the targets and pressure on these inadequate managers in an attempt to "modernise" the business the more they will panic and resort to intimidation.
Royal mail needs a clear out of poor management but i doubt it will happen.
It's too expensive and difficult to sack them,none of them will leave on their own because they know they haven't the skills to manage elsewhere and the old solution of moving them into a "non-ops" role isn't available anymore so sadly we're probably stuck with the useless clowns.
It doesn't say much for the future of Royal Mail.

[daveallum]

I couldn't agree more with all the replies that have been posted,I was a postie for 7.5 years and when I first started,I thought it was a really cool job but it started to go downhill when privatisation was first mentioned.I got really depressed with the job over the last two or three years and was really pleased when I got offered IHR 3 months ago.

My wife and kids reckoned I'm a far more relaxed and therefore happier person since I left,but to be fair I do miss most of the people I worked with but not the job.

Anyway I hope everything works out well for you in the future as I believe that the job will get worse as the company nears privatisation.

[Astrapuss]

Female Postie you have totally summed up Royal Mail.
In my office the old timers bully the boss and in turn the boss bullies the temps and the part timers. They don't understand why they are losing money when they are paying full timers 8 hours and they go home at 12.30, the rest of us struggle to complete because we have the hardest walks, every day I have a dispute with my boss who tells me I'm too slow, I've been here 5 years. It doesn't get better, good luck to you in the future.

[DirtyHarry]

As long as workloads remain top heavy, and the good aspects of the job are continuously eroded.
This job will stink to high heaven, and staff turnover will forever be high.
It will take much more than an insincere manager talking nicely, to change that.