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Royal Mail Pick my Holidays?
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Beforenineoclockgoodone
- Posts: 186
- Joined: 16 Jul 2007, 12:23
- Location: Cheshire
Royal Mail Pick my Holidays?
Sorry if this has been talked about. What a crap way of picking your holidays, this week we have to pick two weeks together then the rest of my leave is picked for me, whats that all about? why should I pick holidays that I don't want, only to have to go & swap them with someone who has holidays that I do want? Why can't we do as we have been doing for years where nearly all the time it works. I was told today by my manager when I said to him that I want my holidays when my wife & kids are off, he said, "Do you think you have the right to have those weeks (half term) just because you have got kids"? I said I don't have the right but surely I have the right to go away with my family? unbelievable.
Job & finish
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pickaname
- Posts: 1467
- Joined: 11 Sep 2007, 20:24
Royal Mail Pick my Holidays?
In my office, annual leave is picked on a seniority basis one year and a juniority basis the following year.
Kindof fair but its just a bit of a s**t if youre bang in the middle of the pecking order.
Kindof fair but its just a bit of a s**t if youre bang in the middle of the pecking order.
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TrueBlueTerrier
- FORUM ADMINISTRATOR
- Posts: 72626
- Joined: 30 Dec 2006, 10:29
- Gender: Male
- Location: On my couch
Royal Mail Pick my Holidays?
Changing ours this year into a 1st come 1st served so I guess its going to be a bun fight - however as with most people I am willing to swap to help others I don't think it will be that bad.
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dongash
- Posts: 341
- Joined: 25 May 2007, 14:11
- Location: Macclesfield, Cheshire
Royal Mail Pick my Holidays?
just had the same shite at macclesfield office! a form was given to everybody and you put an option in and royal mail choose your holidays for you!!! you just move a bit each year till 2011!!!! i kid you not. you have MORE rights being a in prison than working for royal mail!!! i fear it is all part of the bigger plan i.e confrontation, and to make more full time/anybody with any decent amount of service leave, and be replaced by yet more 24 hour contracts? thus putting even more pressure on the remaining full time staff! holidays are an entitlement to be taken when YOU want them,not when royal mail want you to have them. It is quite simple, employ MORE full time staff ! we never had this problem years ago did we? mind you it was not run by asset strippers, failed postmen, graduates etc who don't know one end of a letter from another then !!!! 
:lfo :cfo 
:lfo :cfo -
johnnyp
- Posts: 5239
- Joined: 27 Jan 2007, 16:00
- Gender: Male
- Location: SE ENGLAND
Royal Mail Pick my Holidays?
This is from the way forward agreement,remember though you should have a LOCAL LEAVE AGREEMENT.
Selection of annual leave
The objective will be as far as possible to maximise leave opportunities for employees, whilst ensuring that operational needs and the customer specification are met at all times. This agreement covers selection of full week leave and part week e.g. holidays staring mid-week. Single days leave will be agreed locally through the Staff Resourcing Manager in Mail Centres or the line manager in other operational units.
The leave year will be April to March. The Christmas pressure period, determined by the operational unit, will be a closed period for leave. The selection process should be complete by the end of the preceding October each year.
The granting of leave must always be subject to operational requirements and fairness of allocation. Employees who wish to exchange between themselves periods of leave already signed for will be able to do so, with the agreement of the Staff Resourcing Manager in Mail Centres or the line manager in other operational units.
Prior to annual leave signing, the Staff Resourcing Manager in Mail Centres and the line manager in other operational units, will have discretion to grant specific requests for particular periods of leave from individual employees based on their exceptional and unavoidable personal circumstances. This will include meeting the commitments of employees new to the unit where they join with holidays already arranged, without disadvantaging existing staff with agreed leave already allocated.
Assigned allowances are paid during annual leave but not non-assigned or intermittent allowances. Where assigned shift allowances are averaged across a rotation, employees may not take more than three weeks of their leave from the most unsocial shift (i.e. that which attracts the highest payment) of the rotation.
Annual leave selection process principles:
Leave will be organised within the existing organisational structure of the office, e.g. work areas for Mail Centres and RDCs, Delivery sections in large Delivery units and across the whole office in other Delivery offices.
In all cases, the line manager/staff Resourcing manager will need to ensure specialist areas are always adequately covered, e.g. drivers, rurals, VCS, mech.
All employees will be included on an equal basis, whether full- or part-time.
Reserves will be allocated to work area and with that, specialist groups where needed, but reserves may be required to work within other work areas for the coverage of unforeseen absence and short-time sick absence.
Operational requirements within the work area will determine the maximum number of people that may be away at any one time. This will be based on:
- Forecast variations in workload during the year including event forecasting such as peak traffic periods, Bank Holidays etc;
- forecast sick absence;
- training and substitution absence;
- the resulting leave reserve level and supplementary staffing.
Selection of leave
Royal Mail and CWU, locally, will agree their own annual leave selection procedures. This must conform to all of the principles listed above. If the current selection procedure already conforms, there is no need to change. Where current arrangements do not conform, they will need to be changed. However, if annual leave has already been selected for the year or part-year, this will be honoured and the new procedure will not be introduced until after this leave period.
Two examples of annual leave selection procedures that do not conform have been attached at Annex 1 for consideration, but the local unit is free to come up with its own procedures, always provided that they conform to the principles. All selection of annual leave procedures will be subject to a National Review during their first year of operation.
Taking Leave
Employees may not attend the office whilst on annual or other leave. This means that employees may not attend the office to work overtime or Scheduled Attendance.
Annual leave may not be taken as an alternative to sick leave (except where it runs concurrently with it in the case of extremely long absences in order to satisfy legal requirements). Employees who have been off sick must not start annual leave unless they have recovered, and should notify the office of their recovery before starting any annual leave. Annual leave cannot be recorded as sick leave if an employee falls sick during it, unless a medical certificate is produced.
Where time or days off in lieu are earned, they way in which this may subsequently be taken as time off work will continue to be determined locally.
Carrying leave into another year
Annual leave should generally be taken in the year that it is due, and the business expects all employees to have at least four weeks away from work every year. However up to one week (or 5 odd days) may be carried over into the next leave year, and up to five days may be anticipated during the last month of the previous leave year. Transfer of leave in excess of these limits requires written permission from the line manager, except that leave that cannot be taken due to sick leave may be allowed in the following year. Where this is granted and would reduce the annual leave taken in a particular leave year to less than four weeks, the individual must also confirm in writing that they are willing to voluntarily forgo their statutory leave entitlement under the Working Time Regulations 1998.
Covering leave
Both Royal Mail and CWU are committed to ensuring that leave and sickness absence is covered as efficiently as possible, since this will both maximise operational performance and therefore bonus earnings, and also enable the widest possible choice of leave to be offered to employees. Indoor jobs where the job holder is absent will only be covered by reserve or overtime where this is an unavoidable operational necessity given the expected workload commitments of the office. During periods when workload commitments tend to reduce, such as the summer, the expectation is that operational performance will be maintained by staffing the operation with a correspondingly reduced level of resource, in line with the Way of Working Agreement, Section 17.
Example one
Preferences will be met using the following process:
employees will be divided into 3 annual leave groups. These groups will be used only in “tie-break” situations where more people request leave than can be allowed to take it. The order these groups have for priority will be rotated annually. The allocation to groups will be decided locally but could initially be by seniority across the annual leave groups. Where more people from one group request leave than is available, leave is then allocated from top of the group to bottom and again this can be alternated annually;
the leave year, with the maximum number of people allowed away each week, is published to employees who are asked to nominate 3 preferences;
a reasonable period of time will be given to complete the form and this ought to encourage employees within work areas and/or specialist groups to maximise their opportunity for first choices. Preferences must be returned by a fixed date. After the selection process has closed, any spare remaining weeks can be signed for on a first come, first served basis.
the line manager then allocates leave, maximising first choice preference. When first choice preferences cannot be met, the “tie-break” is used.
When vacancies are filled in the work are/specialist area, office, the new entrant is allocated the annual leave slot that the previous jobholder left.
Example 2 Annex 1
This system is based on that which presently exists in a number of offices throughout the country. The period defined for the purpose of Summer Leave is April through to September.
The system operates on each block being listed 1,3,5,2,4,6. An example of this year’s blocks would be:
1 2 3 4 5 6
May 17th June 7th July 5th July 26th Aug 16th Sep 6th
June 4th July 2nd July 23rd Aug 13th Sep 3rd Sep 24th
Numbers of employees off in each particular numbered block would be dependant on operational requirements and the availability of slots within each block. There is also the facility to take two weeks within any of the periods and a week outwith the Summer period at other times throughout the year.
The blocks rotate through each other. For example, the first block of employees (which would have May 17 – 4 June for the illustration) would for the following year move to period 3 (which is July 5 – 23 July) and then the following year to period 5, which is Aug 16 – 3 Sept. IN effect, this means all employees rotate through all the blocks and annual leave can be identified at least seven years in advance. The opportunity would also exist for individuals to change leave to maximise preference. This would be done as defined earlier through individuals who are exchanging the undertaking and having it cleared by the Resourcing/Unit Manager.
Selection of annual leave
The objective will be as far as possible to maximise leave opportunities for employees, whilst ensuring that operational needs and the customer specification are met at all times. This agreement covers selection of full week leave and part week e.g. holidays staring mid-week. Single days leave will be agreed locally through the Staff Resourcing Manager in Mail Centres or the line manager in other operational units.
The leave year will be April to March. The Christmas pressure period, determined by the operational unit, will be a closed period for leave. The selection process should be complete by the end of the preceding October each year.
The granting of leave must always be subject to operational requirements and fairness of allocation. Employees who wish to exchange between themselves periods of leave already signed for will be able to do so, with the agreement of the Staff Resourcing Manager in Mail Centres or the line manager in other operational units.
Prior to annual leave signing, the Staff Resourcing Manager in Mail Centres and the line manager in other operational units, will have discretion to grant specific requests for particular periods of leave from individual employees based on their exceptional and unavoidable personal circumstances. This will include meeting the commitments of employees new to the unit where they join with holidays already arranged, without disadvantaging existing staff with agreed leave already allocated.
Assigned allowances are paid during annual leave but not non-assigned or intermittent allowances. Where assigned shift allowances are averaged across a rotation, employees may not take more than three weeks of their leave from the most unsocial shift (i.e. that which attracts the highest payment) of the rotation.
Annual leave selection process principles:
Leave will be organised within the existing organisational structure of the office, e.g. work areas for Mail Centres and RDCs, Delivery sections in large Delivery units and across the whole office in other Delivery offices.
In all cases, the line manager/staff Resourcing manager will need to ensure specialist areas are always adequately covered, e.g. drivers, rurals, VCS, mech.
All employees will be included on an equal basis, whether full- or part-time.
Reserves will be allocated to work area and with that, specialist groups where needed, but reserves may be required to work within other work areas for the coverage of unforeseen absence and short-time sick absence.
Operational requirements within the work area will determine the maximum number of people that may be away at any one time. This will be based on:
- Forecast variations in workload during the year including event forecasting such as peak traffic periods, Bank Holidays etc;
- forecast sick absence;
- training and substitution absence;
- the resulting leave reserve level and supplementary staffing.
Selection of leave
Royal Mail and CWU, locally, will agree their own annual leave selection procedures. This must conform to all of the principles listed above. If the current selection procedure already conforms, there is no need to change. Where current arrangements do not conform, they will need to be changed. However, if annual leave has already been selected for the year or part-year, this will be honoured and the new procedure will not be introduced until after this leave period.
Two examples of annual leave selection procedures that do not conform have been attached at Annex 1 for consideration, but the local unit is free to come up with its own procedures, always provided that they conform to the principles. All selection of annual leave procedures will be subject to a National Review during their first year of operation.
Taking Leave
Employees may not attend the office whilst on annual or other leave. This means that employees may not attend the office to work overtime or Scheduled Attendance.
Annual leave may not be taken as an alternative to sick leave (except where it runs concurrently with it in the case of extremely long absences in order to satisfy legal requirements). Employees who have been off sick must not start annual leave unless they have recovered, and should notify the office of their recovery before starting any annual leave. Annual leave cannot be recorded as sick leave if an employee falls sick during it, unless a medical certificate is produced.
Where time or days off in lieu are earned, they way in which this may subsequently be taken as time off work will continue to be determined locally.
Carrying leave into another year
Annual leave should generally be taken in the year that it is due, and the business expects all employees to have at least four weeks away from work every year. However up to one week (or 5 odd days) may be carried over into the next leave year, and up to five days may be anticipated during the last month of the previous leave year. Transfer of leave in excess of these limits requires written permission from the line manager, except that leave that cannot be taken due to sick leave may be allowed in the following year. Where this is granted and would reduce the annual leave taken in a particular leave year to less than four weeks, the individual must also confirm in writing that they are willing to voluntarily forgo their statutory leave entitlement under the Working Time Regulations 1998.
Covering leave
Both Royal Mail and CWU are committed to ensuring that leave and sickness absence is covered as efficiently as possible, since this will both maximise operational performance and therefore bonus earnings, and also enable the widest possible choice of leave to be offered to employees. Indoor jobs where the job holder is absent will only be covered by reserve or overtime where this is an unavoidable operational necessity given the expected workload commitments of the office. During periods when workload commitments tend to reduce, such as the summer, the expectation is that operational performance will be maintained by staffing the operation with a correspondingly reduced level of resource, in line with the Way of Working Agreement, Section 17.
Example one
Preferences will be met using the following process:
employees will be divided into 3 annual leave groups. These groups will be used only in “tie-break” situations where more people request leave than can be allowed to take it. The order these groups have for priority will be rotated annually. The allocation to groups will be decided locally but could initially be by seniority across the annual leave groups. Where more people from one group request leave than is available, leave is then allocated from top of the group to bottom and again this can be alternated annually;
the leave year, with the maximum number of people allowed away each week, is published to employees who are asked to nominate 3 preferences;
a reasonable period of time will be given to complete the form and this ought to encourage employees within work areas and/or specialist groups to maximise their opportunity for first choices. Preferences must be returned by a fixed date. After the selection process has closed, any spare remaining weeks can be signed for on a first come, first served basis.
the line manager then allocates leave, maximising first choice preference. When first choice preferences cannot be met, the “tie-break” is used.
When vacancies are filled in the work are/specialist area, office, the new entrant is allocated the annual leave slot that the previous jobholder left.
Example 2 Annex 1
This system is based on that which presently exists in a number of offices throughout the country. The period defined for the purpose of Summer Leave is April through to September.
The system operates on each block being listed 1,3,5,2,4,6. An example of this year’s blocks would be:
1 2 3 4 5 6
May 17th June 7th July 5th July 26th Aug 16th Sep 6th
June 4th July 2nd July 23rd Aug 13th Sep 3rd Sep 24th
Numbers of employees off in each particular numbered block would be dependant on operational requirements and the availability of slots within each block. There is also the facility to take two weeks within any of the periods and a week outwith the Summer period at other times throughout the year.
The blocks rotate through each other. For example, the first block of employees (which would have May 17 – 4 June for the illustration) would for the following year move to period 3 (which is July 5 – 23 July) and then the following year to period 5, which is Aug 16 – 3 Sept. IN effect, this means all employees rotate through all the blocks and annual leave can be identified at least seven years in advance. The opportunity would also exist for individuals to change leave to maximise preference. This would be done as defined earlier through individuals who are exchanging the undertaking and having it cleared by the Resourcing/Unit Manager.