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Advice for new starter

Forum for info, hints and tips about working for us through Royal Mail not Angard.This is an open forum.
Scottspa76
Posts: 14
Joined: 27 Jun 2022, 09:55
Gender: Female

Advice for new starter

Post by Scottspa76 »

:wave I've received a permanent 30hr job offer from RM as a postie. Always wanted to be one since I was a kid (I'm 45 now). A few things are worrying me though and thought this was the best place to ask. I've read reviews from employees and previous employees and they all seem to complain about management being bad. Are they really that bad? Do they pressurise you to do more all the time? Do new starters get treated like dogs bodies being sent here there and everywhere? How are you supposed to learn the job properly if you're constantly getting sent to a different village? I'm leaving a permanent job of 5 years so it's a risk for me but I really want to be a postie but it seems its a changes alot since its been privatised, maybe not for the good?

Numberone63
EX ROYAL MAIL
Posts: 621
Joined: 05 Sep 2017, 18:38
Gender: Male

Re: Advice for new starter

Post by Numberone63 »

Yes!
Yes!
Yes!
They don’t care!
It hasn’t changed for the better at all!
HairyHobbit
Posts: 114
Joined: 29 Aug 2021, 10:26
Gender: Male

Re: Advice for new starter

Post by HairyHobbit »

Feel it out for yourself. There are a lot of strong opinions on here which are mostly negative. You might come to different conclusions to them based on your experience so I'd take everything on here with a grain of salt.
Scottspa76
Posts: 14
Joined: 27 Jun 2022, 09:55
Gender: Female

Re: Advice for new starter

Post by Scottspa76 »

Thanks I was hoping someone would come along with some positives to help me decide 🤣
Scottspa76
Posts: 14
Joined: 27 Jun 2022, 09:55
Gender: Female

Re: Advice for new starter

Post by Scottspa76 »

Numberone63 wrote:
27 Jun 2022, 12:46
Yes!
Yes!
Yes!
They don’t care!
It hasn’t changed for the better at all!
Could you explain why?
Rekoons
Posts: 9
Joined: 11 Feb 2018, 23:29
Gender: Male

Re: Advice for new starter

Post by Rekoons »

I’ve just left after six years and in my experience the majority of the negatives you read on here are unfortunately true.
Numberone63
EX ROYAL MAIL
Posts: 621
Joined: 05 Sep 2017, 18:38
Gender: Male

Re: Advice for new starter

Post by Numberone63 »

Scottspa76 wrote:
27 Jun 2022, 14:36
Numberone63 wrote:
27 Jun 2022, 12:46
Yes!
Yes!
Yes!
They don’t care!
It hasn’t changed for the better at all!
Could you explain why?
I’ve been posting for 13yrs and 3months. It’s was a good job. But in general the managers are only interested in their own bonuses and their own well being. They apply pressure to you to do more and more. Sometimes you feel obliged, with the pressure, to work ‘forced’ overtime. I personally haven’t done a minute of overtime since last October (when our revision took place). You have to be strong willed and stand up for yourself to ignore the pressure from them. But it still gets to you. I do like the job once you are out of the office and are delivering but there’s always that niggling feeling that you are being tracked and monitored (which you are). As long as you have a decent, similar minded work partner working with you it can work very well for you. Some new starters barely last a week with all the moving about from round to round or even as you say, moved to different offices, and the lack of proper training. It’s definitely worth a go if you feel you can deal with the incompetence. Most of the fellow postal workers are great people but the constant shafting from management or higher grinds you down. I’m looking at leaving next year myself. Taking 6 months off unpaid to try sort my head out and sort out something new for myself and my family. I’m 54 very soon so it’s now or never. Good luck in whatever you decide.
fb1969
EX ROYAL MAIL
Posts: 1587
Joined: 29 Aug 2012, 08:38
Gender: Male
Location: hiding on the backstreets

Re: Advice for new starter

Post by fb1969 »

...complain about management being bad. Are they really that bad?

RM seems to employ "workload managers" rather than "people managers" like most companies would. A lot of the managers have no idea how to speak to people and how to get the best out of them - so you are asked/told to do something and they cannot handle you saying you don't have time etc. There are some fairly decent managers out there, but they are few and far between - and a lot of them get pressured from their bosses to get things done.

Do they pressurise you to do more all the time?

Not necessarily all the time, but they mainly take on people on part time hours in the full knowledge that they will be required for longer than the times specified.

Do new starters get treated like dogs bodies being sent here there and everywhere?

Our office is ok in this respect, newbies tend to be kept on the same duty for several months. But, when the office was short of people to do afternoon collection duties some newbies were expected to do them.

How are you supposed to learn the job properly if you're constantly getting sent to a different village?

As per the other reply, RM don't care. Once you have done a newbie round for some time you are pretty much expected to do any duty. People haven't been put on the more remote solo rounds, but have been put on a van share duty (two people doing two rounds) with no allowance for them not knowing the round.

I'm leaving a permanent job of 5 years so it's a risk for me but I really want to be a postie but it seems its a changes alot since its been privatised, maybe not for the good?

I joined a couple of years before privatisation and the job has got a lot worse since then. Senior level management are totally detatched from any idea of what the job is and what is involved. Money they say has been invested into the job hasn't been put in the right places, but they are not interested. Their current 'plans' supposedly involve a postie staying out delivering until everything is delivered - it is fair to say that during Christmas and like you could easily spend twice as long on delivery most days than you do in the summer.

Number63 has replied while I was typing this and we seem to echo each other, I am a few years older and am seriously wondering whether my body can take the workload for much longer. Mentally the job has pretty much wrecked me at times and I am not afraid to admit that I have had time off sick because of it.
Royal Mail
failing the workforce, failing the public and deliberately failing mail on a daily basis for too many years.
Scottspa76
Posts: 14
Joined: 27 Jun 2022, 09:55
Gender: Female

Re: Advice for new starter

Post by Scottspa76 »

Thanks I'm definitely considering not taking the job now. I'm so disheartened and disappointed 😞
fb1969
EX ROYAL MAIL
Posts: 1587
Joined: 29 Aug 2012, 08:38
Gender: Male
Location: hiding on the backstreets

Re: Advice for new starter

Post by fb1969 »

Give it a good think, see if you can have a quick chat with a postie from the office (assuming you live near by). If you have had an offer then joining now will probably give you better Terms of Employment than RM want newbies to have in the future.
Royal Mail
failing the workforce, failing the public and deliberately failing mail on a daily basis for too many years.
Numberone63
EX ROYAL MAIL
Posts: 621
Joined: 05 Sep 2017, 18:38
Gender: Male

Re: Advice for new starter

Post by Numberone63 »

Scottspa76 wrote:
27 Jun 2022, 18:32
Thanks I'm definitely considering not taking the job now. I'm so disheartened and disappointed 😞
Sorry to hear that. It’s was a great job when I started in 2009 and I’ve heard it was a fantastic job before that. I’m similarly disheartened and disappointed that I’ve stayed there this long and feel how I do right now. Especially how we’ve been treated in the pandemic and now in this pay dispute. Good luck on what you choose. I’m honestly looking at B&M or similar.
Scottspa76
Posts: 14
Joined: 27 Jun 2022, 09:55
Gender: Female

Re: Advice for new starter

Post by Scottspa76 »

I'm currently at screwfix and I'm so bored there and the pay is rubbish so was full of high hopes
SMS1969
Posts: 524
Joined: 28 Jun 2021, 11:36
Gender: Male

Re: Advice for new starter

Post by SMS1969 »

Scottspa76 wrote:
27 Jun 2022, 18:32
Thanks I'm definitely considering not taking the job now. I'm so disheartened and disappointed 😞
I’d take it and have go.I’ve been a postie a year next week, and including delivery supplement I’ll be on well over £13 an hour. Royal Mail will also put in 10% into my pension, up from 3%. You won’t be on that pay straight away but time flies. It can be hard physical work, but not all days are.
You will be put on different rounds, but you should be paired up with someone who knows it and can guide you.
Managers will want all newbies to be flexible, that should have been relayed to you at the interview. But overtime isn’t compulsory, you don’t have to do it. They might want you to come in on your day off, again up to you.👍
clashcityrocker
Posts: 14233
Joined: 22 Sep 2009, 13:50
Gender: Male
Location: strummerville

Re: Advice for new starter

Post by clashcityrocker »

Scottspa76 wrote:
27 Jun 2022, 18:32
Thanks I'm definitely considering not taking the job now. I'm so disheartened and disappointed 😞
Royal Mail's weakest link has always been their management. They are truly crap.
For a long time it didn't matter because we were a government body and nobody talked about budgets or things like that.

We are now at a crossroads. The business needs to change in order to survive but that change cannot be managed due to the halfwits they have in charge at grassroots level. Most of them couldn't run a bath let alone a Delivery Office. I am not being horrible. In 23 years I think I have met one manager who could get a real job in the real world.
And the constant complaining you hear from the staff is really just a death rattle as they slowly realise that they can no longer expect to be paid 5 hours overtime for scratching their fat hairy arse for 10 minutes (unless they are besties with a manager or are protected by the union)

But none of that really need to concern you. You go into work, do your job to the best of your ability and go home.
If you are the sort of person that gets worn down by office politics then it isn't an easy place to work.
If you can let all of that go over your head then the job is a stroll in the park.

Ignore the crap and enjoy the dawdle around in the sunshine.
Why not phone up Robin Hood
RoboPostie
Posts: 10
Joined: 02 Mar 2018, 20:12
Gender: Male

Re: Advice for new starter

Post by RoboPostie »

You have to be strong willed and stand up for yourself to ignore the pressure from them. But it still gets to you.
I fully relate to what @Numberone63 said there. Unfortunately the constant pressure after the revision hugely increased my workload did get to me, and I recently left after 4 years. My manager, with no skills of any description - neither interpersonal or organisational, resorted to bullying me.

You're bound to hear loads of horror stories at review sites, and when you ask questions like this here; however I'm sure there are loads of posties who are lucky enough to have manageable workload. They're probably less likely to be vocal.

You might get lucky- you might get good managers in a well-run office. However, unfortunately, when you start you are almost certain to be a "Reserve". That means you'll be doing any job that needs covered- different jobs every day. Eventually you'll learn them once you've done them a few times. A steady duty is prized, it's something you tend to get only after you've been there a few years. I knew at least one Reserve who'd been at our place for 10 years without getting a steady duty.
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