Royal Mail boss: 6,500 postal workers off sick every day

[POSTMAN]

https://www.personneltoday.com/hr/royal ... every-day/

Royal Mail has 6,500 postal workers off sick every day, out of a total of about 130,000 employees, its chief executive has warned.

Martin Seidenberg, the chief executive of International Distribution Services (IDS), the Royal Mail owner, told The Times CEO Summit that the business wanted to be at the “vanguard” of efforts to tackle the nation’s economic inactivity problems. The absences at the Royal Mail cost the organisation £200 million a year, he said.

It has a cost to us, and of course an impact to you, to society, because of the quality that we can deliver or not deliver,” Seidenberg said, adding that was “super important for us to fix”.

In response to its issues with sickness absence, IDS has given all of its 130,000 staff 24-hour access to an online GP.

“We’ve been very surprised how heavily this is being used,” Seidenberg said. “We like it, because quite frankly, we believe that the sooner we can take care of our people and they have access to medical support, the sooner they’re likely to return to the job.”

Seidenberg also warned that the UK’s education system was failing to equip children with the technology skills needed when they move into work.

He spoke alongside Sir Charlie Mayfield, the former chairman of John Lewis who led the government’s Keep Britain Working review. Mayfield said it was no surprise that school leavers were generally unprepared for employment because “we’ve created a system where education and employment have never been more separate”.

In addition to what is being taught in the classroom, Mayfield pointed to work experience as an example of how the UK was failing to ready young people for their careers. “People basically don’t do work experience anymore [because] we’ve made it so difficult for people to do it,” he said. He gave an example of a plumber who might be open to having a young person still at school shadow him for a few hours, but cannot because he does not have employers’ liability insurance. “It’s madness and yet it is also fixable. We need to sort out the whole pathways into work.”


“The easiest and most valuable person to recruit is the one you’ve already got in the business,” Mayfield said. “There are very few opportunities to drive growth that actually benefit employers, benefit individuals, save on welfare, don’t cost a tonne of money and don’t have to take a long time, and these are all right in front of us.”

Also speaking at the summit was Jennie Daly, the chief executive of housebuilder Taylor Wimpey. She told delegates that many employers in the construction industry had scaled back their apprenticeship programmes in response to higher employment costs.

[Mr Rush]

“The easiest and most valuable person to recruit is the one you’ve already got in the business,” Mayfield said.

Rather too late for RM to take that onboard the way they've behaved the last half decade. I know twice as many people who no longer work for RM than currently do.

[WalkerX]

“The easiest and most valuable person to recruit is the one you’ve already got in the business,” Mayfield said.

Rather too late for RM to take that onboard the way they've behaved the last half decade. I know twice as many people who no longer work for RM than currently do.

We`re the company`s greatest asset, yet they`d rather chase that extra penny, and treat us like donkeys.

[postslippete]

6,500 postal workers out of 130,000 staff suggests that there are 5% absent at any one time. And £200 million a year?

But why?

Typical of RM to attack the symptoms rather than look at treating the causes. I don't think staff in particular want better access to healthcare and rehab, they just want manageable workloads and realistic expectations. Keeping people healthy, motivated and wanting to stay in the business has to cheaper than continually replacing them I would have thought.

Like the article said The easiest and most valuable person to recruit is the one you've already got in the business

[TopperGas]

"In response to its issues with sickness absence, IDS has given all of its 130,000 staff 24-hour access to an online GP.

“We’ve been very surprised how heavily this is being used,” Seidenberg said."

The fact so many sick employees are using the scheme seems to suggest that their sickness is genuine and they are looking for treatment/a solution, if that is the case, apart from doubling postie's workloads, what are RM doing to try and cut sickness absence?

[Dano boy]

..... sceptical to why they done a press release about the £200m it's costing RM and the amount of staff off weekly. Me thinks there will be another attack on the staff looming in regards sick pay or sick attendance etc . They won't stop until they get zero hour contracts in , in preparation to split the company where ole Czech matey sells up and leaves the mess behind

[Ad_bee]

Royal Mail suffers from a plague of w*****s in its boss-class from top to bottom, from the likes of Thompson (profession w****r employed to do just that) Seidenberg and chums, right down to the shop-floor failed-posties or face-fit wannabees who get to strut about being coaches, planners, assistants because they cannot actually do the job themselves and they found a handy 'get out of work' ploy.

Any good managers soon find out where the exit-door is just the same as the posties. We must have got through a dozen good ones from various other firms who just couldn't surf the interminable bullshit of the miculation-logistical fascination with Royal Mails onanist policy obsession.

Who chooses the management paradigm, the managers and policy ?

Its not just Royal Mail.

[Kenfandango]

Any good managers soon find out where the exit-door is just the same as the posties. We must have got through a dozen good ones from various other firms who just couldn't surf the interminable bullshit of the miculation-logistical fascination with Royal Mails onanist policy obsession.

Who chooses the management paradigm, the managers and policy ?

Its not just Royal Mail.

The few good managers I've had in the 5 years I've been there have been kept at "trainee manager" level, being shipped here there and everywhere, while the really awful ones are full managers within 4-5 months. Then the "trainees" hand in their notice and RM act like it's a real shock

[Mr Rush]

The few good managers I've had in the 5 years I've been there have been kept at "trainee manager" level, being shipped here there and everywhere, while the really awful ones are full managers within 4-5 months.

I've observed over the years that being substantiated as a manager always coincides with claiming a scalp. It's a gang initiation. The ones with a consceince won't revel in the cruelty, and for that they are never quite accepted.

[TopperGas]

..... sceptical to why they done a press release about the £200m it's costing RM and the amount of staff off weekly. Me thinks there will be another attack on the staff looming in regards sick pay or sick attendance etc . They won't stop until they get zero hour contracts in , in preparation to split the company where ole Czech matey sells up and leaves the mess behind

It was a press release it was a presentation at a CEO get together, I'm not sure what RM were actually presenting, unless it was how to destroy a UK institution? It totally ironic the ex John Lewis CEO suggested retaining staff was all important!

[lincolnshirepostie]

6,500 postal workers out of 130,000 staff suggests that there are 5% absent at any one time. And £200 million a year?

But why?

Typical of RM to attack the symptoms rather than look at treating the causes. I don't think staff in particular want better access to healthcare and rehab, they just want manageable workloads and realistic expectations. Keeping people healthy, motivated and wanting to stay in the business has to cheaper than continually replacing them I would have thought.

Like the article said The easiest and most valuable person to recruit is the one you've already got in the business

100% agree with this statement. Ultimately what factors in someone's life causes them to go off long term sick? I'd say these factors in ranking order (though it would be interesting to see this actually polled by the public:

1. Exhaustion and stress from overworking
2. Family bereavement
3. Long term illnesses not to do with work (Long COVID, genetic problems etc)

Point being, unreasonable workload and a toxic management coupled with worsening conditions and worsening purchase power for the average postie (leading us to have to work harder for the same pay), in a climate of late-stage capitalism where the average joe is getting poorer and not richer, are creating the perfect storm for a mental and physical health storm that can only get worse unless things get better.