Message from Sue Whalley Effective management of overtime

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Message from Sue Whalley - Effective management of overtime

Dear colleague

We need to get better at the way we manage overtime and associated cost. This means ensuring what overtime we can afford to have we use at the right times and in the most effective areas to deliver the business.

The information below sets out everything you need to know to ensure the effective control of overtime hours. We do a good job in most units most of the time. But we need to get it right every time in every unit. You are responsible for ensuring accurate controls on overtime hours. This is fundamental to ensuring people are fairly paid and we only pay for the hours worked.

There is also an additional paragraph at the end about the Working Hours Policy. Adherence to the policy is key to ensure we comply with the Working Time Regulations and to monitor the health of our people.


Compliance
It is critical that the documentation detailed below is completed fully each week and retained for two years.
• Completion of daily signing on sheets by employees.
• Overtime / scheduled attendance authorisation (P552).
• RCS v PSP verification checker.

This documentation must be reviewed periodically by line managers to confirm compliance.

Activity pre authorisation
• Managers must explore suitable ‘nil cost’ alternative arrangements, in line with national agreements on flexibility, to avoid unnecessary cost to the business.

• Where overtime is necessary it should be planned for the following week, agreed up front at local resourcing meetings and documented by the unit manager. Where daily workload differs from plan, unit managers must pro-actively engage their people to ensure that overtime hours are flexed to maintain the planned levels of productivity.

• Any unplanned overtime claims must be pre-authorised verbally or in writing by the individual’s line manager. Additional hours worked must be agreed before they are performed.

• Pre-authorised unplanned overtime claims must be documented by line managers to ensure there is a clear auditable record of planned/unplanned authorised overtime.


Compliance with collective agreements
• Attendance sheets must be completed by all employees.

• Overtime will be paid for the hours worked. Overtime must NOT be paid when an employee is still in AWD time.

• All overtime hours claimed must be worked in accordance with national agreements. Where overtime (or scheduled attendance) is being worked by local agreement outside of approved national arrangements then the manager needs to work with the CWU to bring it back in line.

• Standard overtime cannot be paid at SA rate.

• Overtime should only be recorded by the office where it is worked (i.e. loaning office must not record the hours of staff working at another office). However, the borrowing office must notify the parent office of any employee carrying out overtime.

Recording and processing overtime claims
On a daily basis, each employee completes agreed overtime hours on a paper timesheet (known as ‘the 552’).

All fields on the 552 are to be fully completed:
o Employee name / payroll number
o Date, start/finish time, duration hh:mm
o Cause
o Authorising name and signature.

• Each individual entry on the 552s must be authorised by either the delivery line/office manager or work area manager. In so doing, the manager is confirming that the pre-authorisation process has been followed and the overtime is agreed, has been performed and has been correctly recorded.

• Managers must ensure that daily attendance sheets and 552s are fully completed and accurate.

• On a daily basis, when the 552 is fully complete and signed off by the line manager, electronic timesheets are then manually completed via VPay Worksheet within the PSP system.

• Entries to VPay must be sourced from and match the completed 552.

• Incomplete, unauthorised or incorrect entries on the 552 must not be entered on VPay.

• The VPay report is reviewed by the cost centre manager for accuracy and completeness, and authorised prior to the ‘submission’ deadline.

• PSP systematically uploads the VPay worksheet weekly to the central server (Monday am), without requirement for the user to formally ‘submit’. Therefore, authorisation must be undertaken in a timely manner.

• Signing on sheets, 552s and SA listings are to be retained, securely, on-site for six years.

Delegation
• The line manager must have a robust system in place to maintain compliance to the overtime policy when absent from the unit.

• A deputy manager carries the authority and responsibility of the role they are covering. The line manager is responsible for ensuring that all deputies are fully conversant with the policy and adhere to it.

• The line manager always has overall absolute responsibility and accountability for the policy, whether they have delegated individual elements of the above or not.

Standard templates
In the absence of standard templates, you can access the recommended template for the overtime timesheet (552) here.*



Impact of non-compliance
Inaccurate recording of hours can lead to people being paid incorrectly, inaccurate costs being attributed to our products and therefore inaccurate prices, and a difference between the hours recorded in RCS and the hours paid via PSP.

Internal audit requires that the documentation required for an audit trail enables the auditor to reconstruct the sequences of events of overtime transactions such as overtime pre-authorisation, and accuracy and compliance with collective agreements. Failure to do so will lead to audit issues.

Working Hours Policy
The Working Hours Policy states that the maximum permitted hours that an individual may work in any single week is 70 hours (gross). We must adhere to this policy.

It also states that employees should have a 24-hour uninterrupted break from work each week or one 48-hour break each fortnight, in addition to the 11-hour minimum daily rest from work.

Legal requirements state that employees must not work more than an average of 48 hours net per week, unless they sign an individual opt-out form.



Sue Whalley
Chief operations officer



*Please note that you will not be able to access the template on your BlackBerry. Please use your work PC.

[BoltonPostie]

Activity pre authorisation
• Managers must explore suitable ‘nil cost’ alternative arrangements, in line with national agreements on flexibility, to avoid unnecessary cost to the business.

Yay !!!! More bullying and harassing!!

[Sidley]

Where daily workload differs from plan, unit managers must pro-actively engage their people to ensure that overtime hours are flexed to maintain the planned levels of productivity

Eh? Is this bullshit speak for 'try to turn potential paid overtime into flexed time' or what?

Also, was the assertion from some top brass bellend that flexed time could be repaid the following week agreed?

[steve1873]

• Any unplanned overtime claims must be pre-authorised verbally or in writing by the individual’s line manager. Additional hours worked must be agreed before they are performed.

How is that even possible in the real world? You feel you are going to be over, but are unsure by how much - you then estimate. Say you underestimate, does that mean any additional overtime will be unpaid? They are aware that this illegal eh!?!?

[steve1873]

Also as far as "flexing" goes - I have plans every day after work (in reality I don't, but that is none of their business). I am unwilling to make alterations to those plans at such a short notice. If you pay me the overtime however...

SIMPLE AS THAT. Don't like it Mr. Manager or Mr. Managers Manager? Well I am very apologetic, but you are going to have to find someone else to do it or do it yourself.

[NewPostieUK]

• Any unplanned overtime claims must be pre-authorised verbally or in writing by the individual’s line manager. Additional hours worked must be agreed before they are performed.

How is that even possible in the real world? You feel you are going to be over, but are unsure by how much - you then estimate. Say you underestimate, does that mean any additional overtime will be unpaid? They are aware that this illegal eh!?!?

Or what about when you have no idea if overtime will be needed or not? My duty is prepped for me, and even the stuff I bag up, I only deliver half of it. I have no idea what will be in the bags that my van share partner has bagged up.

[Whysoslowyehcfc]

Does this apply to managers?
In my office 2 managers have now started coming in on Saturday, claiming 8 hours each and clearing off home after 5 hours

[wannabeek]

Pre-authorisation of all overtime? Totally unworkable in the real world of deliveries, I think. It can only have been dreamt up by bods who have zero experience of deliveries and very little idea of what it actually entails.

I book every minute I work and work every minute i'm paid (except for the rare occasions when the office is cleared already). If it starts getting complicated to book it when i go over, then i just won't bother working over. It's just a few quid anyway at the end of the day, only really do it for the sake of the locals getting their junk and ebay toot when they're supposed to.

[spen]

Overtime will be paid for the hours worked. Overtime must NOT be paid when an employee is still in AWD time.


What's AWD time ?

[k979aaa]

P552 went years ago in our office guess what overtime never got paid right this directive by Sue Whalley is akin to the wannsse conference it is not how many Jews you can kill but hours!

[jack]

Overtime will be paid for the hours worked. Overtime must NOT be paid when an employee is still in AWD time.


What's AWD time ?

More than likely another word for no ghost docket, mind you though that still exists in our office on some saturdays when managers are desperate to cover walks and cannot get no cover..

[Jamesethefirst]

Overtime will be paid for the hours worked. Overtime must NOT be paid when an employee is still in AWD time.


What's AWD time ?

More than likely another word for no ghost docket, mind you though that still exists in our office on some saturdays when managers are desperate to cover walks and cannot get no cover..

Authorised work duty.
This is even more irritating, when senior executives will receive 98% of their salary as bonus that's on TOP of their already over inflated "renumeration package".

[Toby Tyke]

At last we agree on something .
You don't want me to work overtime and I don't want me to work overtime.
Only taken 3 years for the message to get thru
Who takes what I can't and will they get paid for it

[steve1873]

Implement all that in every DO up and down the land - I can understand why it would make sense from a business perspective...

BUT and it is a big but, don't be surprised if staff who previously done extra and were willing recipients of overtime, turn round and say "no thanks, not today". Then what will happen? Failures up and down the country. Well more failures.

The bottom line is, that there has to be an incentive for staff to want to work the OT. Take away the incentives and make it difficult or complicated and many will just say nah can't be bothered with the hassle and the extra fatigue.

[freelunch]

Stop delivery staff having to work over their duty time. Stop ghost overtime. All good.

So we need more temporary workers. Oh wait..