new starter, what happens next

[stevenm20]

first time on this forum, and reading the comments, i amnot surprised. this is my first week working in the sorting office, and it took me months on end, phone call after phone call. sending documents here there and everywhere

got a call on monday offering me shifts for this week. on friday when my shift ends, what happens after that, do i speak to my angard manager at the sorting office and ask him for more shifts, or will angard call me. in the sorting office, i have also seen time sheets for the next couple of weeks with various shift patterns e.g. 2hr shifts, 3 hr shifts, 8hr shifts, and people put names on it if they are interested, do i put my name on that list or is it only for royal mail staff

i also spoke to a royal mail worker there who mentioned to me that there will be shifts available every week up to and past christmas, and it is very likely you will be kept on after. another angard person who i work with (she has been working the shifts 6-8 weeks before i started), got a text message asking her to call angard as there are other shifts next week available. will that happen to me as well

i just want to know from other people how this angard christmas thing works in terms of shifts offered etc

thanks alot

[POSTMAN]

Get in 1st,put your name down for whatever you can.

[stevenm20]

thanks for that postman. i will add my name to any times that i am interested in. i was just curious as i only saw royal mail people put their names on it, but now i know i can as well. my angard manager pulled me to the side yesterday and told me not to tell anyone else, but said if angard call, come in at 2. if they donot call, come in at 5 all of next week. but he did also mention that they arenot the best at calling people (that has been verified by other people i have spoken to at the sorting office). so i must have impressed him then

[markadam1962]

thanks for that postman. i will add my name to any times that i am interested in. i was just curious as i only saw royal mail people put their names on it, but now i know i can as well. my angard manager pulled me to the side yesterday and told me not to tell anyone else, but said if angard call, come in at 2. if they donot call, come in at 5 all of next week. but he did also mention that they arenot the best at calling people (that has been verified by other people i have spoken to at the sorting office). so i must have impressed him then

So the best bet of getting work is to turn up at the gates look hopeful, doff cap etc. Either be let in or go home disapointed. YEP work in 2011....has a familiar ring to it.

[stevenm20]

my first week went very well. i enjoyed it alot. hope that they keep me on. well i must have done ok as they want me in again this week (despite the manager saying that he shouldnot offer me work next week, he will do anyway, as i did very well)

just a small thing nagging away at me. the contract that i signed and sent back to northampton on 21st october. i have yet to have a copy sent back to me and signed. is this usual, a delay of so long. its just that i would like to have a contract in front of me for my records, so i can check that everything is above board etc (just to check they arenot going to do anything funny with my hours, pay etc)

my offer letter states that i should be going on a training course before i start my position, but i havenot been on a training course, i have just been thrown in straight away and told if there are any problems, ask someone for help. its not exactly rocket science (sorry if anybody is offended), but its just a case of picking up letters, putting them into a mail sack, tying up the mail sack and then loading it onto a trolley which you then push out to the laoding bay and someone collects it from you and loads it onto a lorry

[andy2007]

So long as everything goes smoothly, you're right. The problems start if there's a problem, and no-one has bothered to explain what to do. Of course you can go and ask someone for help, but that's not the point. You should have had some training. It doesn't take all day to do. It takes from 1 hour up, depending on what duty you have. Because some people feel nervous about asking for help (I know it seems odd, but it happens), and if they just guess at what to do, they invariably cause a lot of problems later on.

[stevenm20]

i gave angard an email yesterday about the contract (email seems to the best thing with me regarding them. screw the phonecalls). today, i get a copy of my contract through the post

i am in week 2 like i say, and not once has a manager sat me down and explained what to do. all he says is "take that trolley to the loading bay", "give the sorting area a quick tidy and then you can go". i have just been following what my colleagues do, and if i have a problem, ask 1 of them, and thats it

but the manager does have a big area to cover. he checks my area once or twice, asks if everything is ok, and are any more tags/bags needed, then you donot see him for another few hours. i thought the training would be on the lifting of the sacks, health and safety etc

[andy2007]

I'm glad to hear that you're one of the ones who does ask. But there are some, (and this is not a dig here) particularly the younger ones, who feel nervous about asking someone for help. Particularly if it's busy, and just guess. If the Managers just spent an hour or so, going over possible problems, and what to do about it, you wouldn't need help much, if any. So it would eliminate the problem. An out of course York for example, could potentially delay the mail by a day or more. Particularly if it gets put with the 3rd class Mail, or MOR. Because both have a 1 week turnaround. So if that (worst case scenario) happened, it could potentially delay the Mail by 3-4 days, before it's spotted. All it would take, would be for someone to put the York in the wrong place, or put the wrong card on the York. Obviously, not all mistakes cause such major delays. But it's the kind of thing that can happen, because people aren't trained in what to do, if they spot a mistake. Or worse, HOW to spot a mistake.