Relations between old guard and newbies

[Atanarjuat]

How are relations in your office between the old guard and the newbies (ie those on monthly pay contracts). It's been my impression that it's not all smooth, with a fair bit of distrust and even hostility between the two? And if that's indeed the case - why?

I get the difference in pay rate and hours, but that's a given. But much of the ill feelings seem to go one way - from the oldies to the newbies.

[A2B]

No problem at our office, new starts knew what they were signing up for and have got on with the job.

Lots of help and advice given to the newer starts from the more experienced posties because lets face it we've all been a bit overwhelmed when we first started.

The only gripes from the new starts are about the lack of decent management and poor communication from them

[kazardaimenu]

I haven’t seen it at our office only some gripes about d2ds due to not getting the ‘d2d payment’

[Atanarjuat]

Apparently the supplements for the newbies are "baked" into their hourly rates....

[TooManyLoops]

No issue at ours, we all get along fine

[Mr Rush]

Some of our youthful newbies have gone onto people's duties and mouthed off about how piss easy it was and how they got it done in just two hours, etc. I understand in one case they were told in no uncertain terms to shut the f**k up or they'd make themselves very unpopular. In a humorous twist it turned out the same individual wasn't getting as much done as claimed. The Outdoor Actuals see all!

All the new staff were taken in for a meeting a few months back because some or all were refusing to touch D2D due to that age-old misconception that the Delivery Supplement is a payment for D2D and they don't get it. To drive it home: it is ¾ a replacement for the old D2D payments and ¼ a replacement for the shift allowance. No-one is specifically paid for D2D - it's part of the workload since 2010 and therefore covered by basic pay.

[Patmanposts]

In my DO, most of the old guards keep to themselves. No animosity or anything, they just don’t seem to interact with us newbies with the exception of a couple of them.

This could be because we have a high turn around but even so…… I feel like there is a lack of forthcoming /interaction / camaraderie from them.

You could say i’m a 'senior newbie’ and i go out of my way to chat and make the other newbies feel a part of our place. After 3 days of coaching every one is just left to it….. i have been in the same position and it’s hard going so i empathise.

[GRS]

No problem at ours between new staff and older posties. We all get along and the newer staff are always at ease and happy to come and ask advice etc.

All you’ve got to do is respect each other. They respect us because of the years we’ve put in and the knowledge we have and we respect them for coming in, adapting to a very tough environment to work in, knuckling down and cracking on.

[Aardvark]

Small DO. No problems - after all we are all in this mess together.

[pieoftheday]

How are relations in your office between the old guard and the newbies (ie those on monthly pay contracts). It's been my impression that it's not all smooth, with a fair bit of distrust and even hostility between the two? And if that's indeed the case - why?

I get the difference in pay rate and hours, but that's a given. But much of the ill feelings seem to go one way - from the oldies to the newbies.

Bollox

[Barnacle]

How are relations in your office between the old guard and the newbies (ie those on monthly pay contracts). It's been my impression that it's not all smooth, with a fair bit of distrust and even hostility between the two? And if that's indeed the case - why?

I get the difference in pay rate and hours, but that's a given. But much of the ill feelings seem to go one way - from the oldies to the newbies.

Bollox

My sentiments exactly. Can’t say I’ve become aware of any unpleasantness between old and new contract. It’s more often the case that those on the old contracts want the new contracts equalised. There is no animosity.

[OikOik]

No issues here at our DO.

[Smoothbackground]

Although we largely get on on an individual level, there is def a great deal of suspicion, mistrust, resentment and animosity towards us on the part of the Old Guard — well, a small but very vocal minority thereof. It’s as though they have been conditioned to see us newbies as a threat to their survival.

[Pidleypoo]

The most obvious rage bait thread I’ve seen on here.

Our office is large and we have a fair few new starters and everyone gets on.

You need to grow up if you don’t.

Everyone on the old contracts thinks we should all get the same pay and we were against these new contracts whilst being out on strike for 18 days.

It’s really embarrassing if you’re falling for the divide and conquer strategy Royal Mail have had for years.

It was Royal Mail that introduced the new contracts , not “legacy” employees or the union for that matter.

I’ll help new and old employees and talk to them as I always have whilst saying that new contracts should be paid the same as me.

[LouBarlow]

Although we largely get on on an individual level, there is def a great deal of suspicion, mistrust, resentment and animosity towards us on the part of the Old Guard — well, a small but very vocal minority thereof. It’s as though they have been conditioned to see us newbies as a threat to their survival.

To be fair, in all of my years in the job, there has always been a slight buffer between the old timers and the new starts, even when contracts etc were identical. Now, with so many of the veterans leaving, the atmosphere is a lot more pleasant in ours. I go out of my way to be as helpful as I can as I genuinely think that new starters are being stitched up with these new contracts. Having someone working alongside you, doing the exact same job, for less money, is a disgraceful situation and I’m surprised it is even legal under employment laws.