Chaos in Enfield - Geo-Route

[Pmn]

What a surprise - not!

http://www.enfield-today.co.uk/tn/news.cfm?id=15528

EXCLUSIVE By Nick Tarver

ENFIELD has been plunged into postal chaos by a series of Royal Mail costcutting measures which have left postal workers struggling to cope.

Two thirds of all deliveries are not being completed and some mail has been left in the sorting office, in Southbury Road, Enfield Town, for up to a week. According to workers at the office, new procedures brought in two weeks ago have caused havoc.

Twelve workers were made redundant, a new sorting system was launched and staff were banned from using their own cars for deliveries, making it impossible for them to deliver mail to everyone on their round.
The problem is now so bad that postal managers from the Enfield office and as far afield as Watford have been brought in to help make deliveries and agency staff have been hired.

A union leader said the current situation at the Enfield office is the “worst in living memory”.
A postal worker at the office, who asked to remain anonymous after blowing the whistle on the scandal, said: “For the past two weeks the Royal Mail has been plunged into chaos.

“Undelivered mail is piling up – some has been there for a week. These changes were introduced by Royal Mail to save money, but during the past two weeks they have smashed every budget because they’ve had to employ agency staff.
“Managers, even some from Watford, have had to go out on deliveries. It’s become totally desperate and if nothing is done the service will just implode.”

Tom Walker, from the Communication Workers Union, said: “Royal Mail is sacrificing provision and quality of service at the altar of cost-cutting.

“They are planning to introduce these measures elsewhere and we think it will be as catastrophic as it has been in Enfield.”
A Royal Mail spokesman said: “We are committed to delivering the mail to our customers six days a week.
“Now and then we do revise the delivery schedule in a particular office to ensure that we are as efficient as possible.
“There may have been some minor disruption to delivery in parts of Enfield recently as a result of this, but we are working hard to ensure customers receive the delivery service they are entitled to expect.”
nick.tarver@nlhnews.co.uk

[F0zziebear]

The only good thing is that at least they trial these things before rolling out further afield. All new systems will fail if the local staff are not involved in implementing it. In my experience if the local union want something to fail it will.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

The only good thing is that at least they trial these things before rolling out further afield. All new systems will fail if the local staff are not involved in implementing it. In my experience if the local union want something to fail it will.

Nope its not a new system - its 1 year on from Gio-route being implemented in my office and we are still suffering the consequences - so much so that we could not summer lapse and still we have cut offs and OT paid. The system itself is good but in my experience management impose the changes rather than discuss and come to an agreement on the values used in plotting new duties. I suppose although the "trickle down" theory has to some been disproved in economics it appears to have found a home in Management techniques.

[F0zziebear]

TBT you write with an amazing level of insight an yes trickle down theory whilst theory never seems to work in reality. Management trickle down theory is alive and kicking. I saw SDD being implemented and it amazing how well it worked when there was co-operation and joint working, and how it failed when there wasn't. No piece fo software is going to have more knowledge than the local posties. The software can definitely provide an overall picture, but will never know alleyways and the way in which buildings are numbered. This has to be done locally with people. I can't stress this enough, yet the same mistakes get made everytime changes to deliveries are made.

[norbert]

TBT you write with an amazing level of insight an yes trickle down theory whilst theory never seems to work in reality. Management trickle down theory is alive and kicking. I saw SDD being implemented and it amazing how well it worked when there was co-operation and joint working, and how it failed when there wasn't. No piece fo software is going to have more knowledge than the local posties. The software can definitely provide an overall picture, but will never know alleyways and the way in which buildings are numbered. This has to be done locally with people. I can't stress this enough, yet the same mistakes get made everytime changes to deliveries are made.

You have to look at RM's management team briefing system and RM's top down style

Unite are scathingly critical of this "We and only we have the answers " style - hardly the fifth column ?

[gillyaz]

it's now December and as a customer we are still feeling that Enfield's managers don't give a stuff about us customers. We have had a shocking service since the end of the summer, but saw the effects before hand of heavy handed unnecessary interference by managers on our brill postie's morale.He got moved as a result of the changes, but rumour has it he'll be back & not a day too soon, we have had a series of numpties, interspersed with odd days of good. Why won't they learn to involve & consult with frontline staff when making these dramatic changes? They know what works & what doesn't

[F0zziebear]

As we all know (if you check out google) is that there is a theory of change, that if followed in general will enable good long term effects. However, RM management are usually under exceptional pressure to deliver short term cuts. These cuts are generally not transformational but around the edges. Without local involvement these changes rarely work and usually there is sub-conscious and sometimes conscious sabotage of these changes.

In reality the time needed to truly consult and implement is not enough time. This is against a back drop of needing clear offices and hit targets. Working RM Ops is a thankless task most of the time as you get little praise when the system works well and lots of flack as soon as it does not. Similar to being a goalkeeper

[oypostie]

“There may have been some minor disruption to delivery in parts of xxxx recently as a result of this, but we are working hard to ensure customers receive the delivery service they are entitled to expect.”

Aren't these words now becoming a weekly occurance in whatever local paper covers the latest victim of Geo-route

[Lounge Lizard]

The only good thing is that at least they trial these things before rolling out further afield. All new systems will fail if the local staff are not involved in implementing it. In my experience if the local union want something to fail it will.

No, "and staff were banned from using their own cars for deliveries" is a good thing too.

[dvbuk55]

As we all know (if you check out google) is that there is a theory of change, that if followed in general will enable good long term effects. However, RM management are usually under exceptional pressure to deliver short term cuts. These cuts are generally not transformational but around the edges. Without local involvement these changes rarely work and usually there is sub-conscious and sometimes conscious sabotage of these changes.

In reality the time needed to truly consult and implement is not enough time. This is against a back drop of needing clear offices and hit targets. Working RM Ops is a thankless task most of the time as you get little praise when the system works well and lots of flack as soon as it does not. Similar to being a goalkeeper

Clear office policy? - it worked fine when it was possible to clear the office - then came the tinkering, I can almost guarantee that I haven't seen our office totally clear for the last two years. Problems occur, as you say, when change is pushed through despite "consultation" too quickly and without due regard to what the end result will be. Change for the sake of cost cutting, which has been the prime motivator for change in RM, will inevitably result in a poorer quality of service and that can be witnessed by the tabloid stories on an almost daily basis.

[F0zziebear]

I couldn't agree more which a part of the reason why I left RoyalMail. I couldn't match-up the need to cut costs, be innovative, provide good quality service, give out a book of stamps per complaint, and not have any bullying and harassment. none of the work I did the latter couple of years really truly considered consciously the essence of a public service within a commercial environment.

This may sound a bit garbled but the cost-cutting measures always mentioned the 'human' element but it was swept sub-consciously under the carpet. Decisions on a mass-scale are made in offices and not on the ground. It is possible in a spreadsheet or on a powerpoint slide to prove that almost anything is possible. Geo-route would demonstrate that these new routes and way of working are possible. No piece of software and substitute real life exactly. It has to use assumptions. These assumptions should then be used as a basis for consultation and implementation at reasonably less stressful times.

The autumn push is NOT the time to be implementing national re-organisations and the current senior hierarchy of RoyalMail Group know this as they were around at the previous attempts. There is no excuse regardless of the financial pressures

[norbert]

I couldn't agree more which a part of the reason why I left RoyalMail. I couldn't match-up the need to cut costs, be innovative, provide good quality service, give out a book of stamps per complaint, and not have any bullying and harassment. none of the work I did the latter couple of years really truly considered consciously the essence of a public service within a commercial environment.

This may sound a bit garbled but the cost-cutting measures always mentioned the 'human' element but it was swept sub-consciously under the carpet. Decisions on a mass-scale are made in offices and not on the ground. It is possible in a spreadsheet or on a powerpoint slide to prove that almost anything is possible. Geo-route would demonstrate that these new routes and way of working are possible. No piece of software and substitute real life exactly. It has to use assumptions. These assumptions should then be used as a basis for consultation and implementation at reasonably less stressful times.

The autumn push is NOT the time to be implementing national re-organisations and the current senior hierarchy of RoyalMail Group know this as they were around at the previous attempts. There is no excuse regardless of the financial pressures