royal mail through the eyes of a new employee

[miamiblue]

Hi guys, thought id come here to seek some advice and share my experiences....only been with the royal mail for a few weeks. Great forum by the way.

Anyway, got myself a part time contract, 20 hrs per week. Post person with occasional driving duties.
Attended the induction day which was mostly a waste of effort as most of what was discussed(health and safety,etc) meant nothing when i actually started at my office.
First day i was put straight out onto a walk with another postie. (Nice guy too....il call him bob).I was told by my manager that i should start work 45 min before my start time as that would mean i would be coming in the same time as bob who was showing me the ropes. Manager failed to mention i would not get paid for this.(Bob doesnt get paid for the early start either but im guessing he is far to polite to complain and he hasnt been in the job long.)
Bob told me he rarely finishes his walk on time. Mostly finishing between 30min -1hr over his time or somedays longer. Bob doesnt take his break either. Actually thats a lie.....he usually takes a 5 second break on a shift to swig some water before cracking on with his work. And dont forget he comes in 45 min early on a daily basis. As he was so busy trying to finish on time my training wasnt great. I come to the conclusion that the walk is physically impossible to finish in good time cos- 1. Its too big and 2. I spend half the morning waiting in the office car park for a driver to take me out and drop me off on my round(lack of vehicles). I had to guess on things such as redirections, extra's and sorting out the mail i had to bring back to the office. (By the time i get back after a walk the managers are nowhere to be seen and ive had prob only one conversation with my manager since ive started.)
After 3 days shadowing i was out on my own. Ive gotta be honest i quite enjoy the walk, it is physically demanding but as im a bit of a fitness freak i enjoy the extra cardio. Whats really really annoying is the fact that i start daily before my contracted time, finish later than my contracted time and take no break. I only get paid for my contracted 20 hrs per week. I really feel like im being taken advantage of as a 'newbie'.
Glad i came across this site as the advice on here is great. I had never heard of 'cutting off', overtime sheets or didnt realise how many employees are done wrong by until i logged on here.Nothing was explained to me. Execpt at my interview i was told id get paid overtime for working longer hours which was a lie.I assumed a company such as royal mail would provide adequate training and actually be fair. This is the first job ive worked where i dont get paid for what i do.
I doubt il be here for long, il be looking for new employment which is a shame, cos i quite enjoy the actual work, being outdoors delivering.

Have a nice weekend guys

[thebiggestman]

What the f^€* goes on in these offices? Where are you working
Stand up for yourselves and either refuse to do it or demand the extra
I cannot believe grown men don't have the nuts to protect themselves

[P13]

You need to insist on being paid for all the hours you are working or tell your manager you are only working your contracted hours

[miamiblue]

Yep. crap isnt it?.

As i was told in my interview overtime would be paid id assumed all was good. I was quite happy as i could do with the cash. Of course it wasnt until i got my pay slip i realised i wasnt getting paid it.
Ive not really had the chance to chat to my colleagues.I guess most of them are on full time hours. When i get in they are running around like headless chicken and thats the only time i really see them.
To be honest, my last job was stressful enough which ended on very bad terms and i wont be taking any shite in this one.But of course being new i didnt wanna rock the boat so to speak as im aware im on a trial period. No one explained my rights or rules etc. It wasnt until i came on this website i realised the truth so big thanks to this site!

[Indy]

Is the OP a wind-up???

[hantsman]

Is the OP a wind-up???

Far from it Indy, This is what goes on in most delivery offices IMHO

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Is the OP a wind-up???

Far from it Indy, This is what goes on in most delivery offices IMHO

Ditto

[fishtank]

Is the OP a wind-up???

Far from it Indy, This is what goes on in most delivery offices IMHO

Ditto

Sadly i think so too.
Maybe not as bad but getting there.
As for "having the nuts" that's easy to say if you're in a position of strength but just in the door it's not really the same.
Where are his colleagues?
Where's the rep?
Where's the WPC?
Probably "too busy".

[hantsman]

I worked it out over 52 weeks, thats 9.75 weeks @ 20 hrs thats RM are saving

[clashcityrocker]

I worked it out over 52 weeks, thats 9.75 weeks @ 20 hrs thats RM are saving

And that is how the manager will be looking at it.
The cost of the revolving door employment policy, the cost of failed redirections, the misdeliveries and the erosion of goodwill don't seem to enter into anyone's calculations.
As long as he can show the DSM he has saved x amount of hours - it's a good 'un.

[TheCobra]

This sounds like a pretty awful place. To be honest I've been in the job nearly 6 months now and I must admit I did find the first month pretty horrible (especially with it being xmas). The feeling of loneliness you can feel at first can be daunting, I found it hard, but once you get talking to the guys around you that helps a bit.

The training I received was decent though (1 week gradually being babied into 75% of an easy walk) and I was told about signing for any hours you go over (but I know exactly what you mean about feeling scared to sign for going over at first), however from the moment my training cut off I was plunged into a much much tougher walk with a total feeling of being dropped into the sea, sink or swim.

The round was vast and involved tons of steps and hills, I got a bad achilles injury from all the steps and heavy bags from it being a large round (and xmas). Having no-one to turn to and literally being pretty much crippled with pain, I took 5 days off sick.

When I came back I had a 'back to work' interview, I told the interviewing manager why I'd got the injury, that it wasn't a 'fall' or anything, just a gradual injury from the round being really tough for a newbie (honesty is the best policy, yeah right!). I asked them maybe if there was different round I could do, but they asked me to go back to my round, my injury was feeling a bit better and I felt like they weren't going to budge an inch to accomodate me, a mere newbie who was already moaning after 3 weeks in the job.

So back to my round and within about 1-2 weeks, my achilles had gone again to a really painful stage. I was getting round very slowly, limping by the end of my round, a sad sight really, slightly embarassing trying to do your round with a limp and trying to cover it up whilst being in pain.

I told my original training guy, as at that point I didn't even know which one of the various line managers was 'my' line manager. He tried a little to help,he even tried to get me the training walk I'd done as 'my walk' (but they wouldn't have any of it), but ultimately told me to go see line manager, which I did, I got no help whatsoever - by this I mean no advice whatsoever - just an attitude of 'you either sink or swim in this job, if you're getting injured already you probably won't hack it'.

I joined the union, asked them for their help, you know like 'maybe I could get a different/less tough round while my injury healed', or 'what would happen if I took time off'. The staffing manager eventually said I could go 'spare' but they had no other rounds to put me on (this in an office of 100+ rounds). So this meant I would be off my round, but not know which round I was doing from one week to the next. I said I'd give it a try, first day as spare they gave me a round on a vertical hill with equal amount of steps as my old round, if my old round was 8/10 toughness then this one was 9/10.

After one day of being 'spare' I said I wanted to go back to my old round rather than do this new one on a massive hill that was equally or more hard. Hey guess what, now they think I'm being 'awkward'. So I managed to get my old round back, somehow this felt like a victory, at least I knew it, I knew where I could get the bag weights down to a minimum and all the little short-cuts you learn.

It was ONLY when I came on here that I actually found any USEABLE advice - e.g. I started taking 2 Ibuprofen every day for the swelling, which I read on here, I split my round down into smaller bags which was more hassle but as I was using my own car (I know, again MUG!) I could do as many bags as I wanted really so this helped me a lot. I treated my injury with ice every morning, then every afternoon when I got back from my round and finally every evening.

So I got to a point where I could 'manage', kept my head down and shut my gob, guess what, I'm still bloody here. I think Royal Mail is a REALLY bad company to work for, especially if you have any problems, they DO NOT WANT TO KNOW! The ONLY reason I'm still here is that, like you, I love being outside, I love the job of postman compared to other jobs I've done.

Another thing to note during all of this, even though they knew I had been off injured, was the constant pressure I felt to 'work my day off', I was only on a 24 hour contract working 5 days a week, why would I want to work 6 days a week and still only be paid 30 hours, I have never known or worked anywhere that thinks this would someohow be appealing to people. I do like to have some sort of worklife balance and to me 6 days a week for 30 hours pay is just a bit daft really, when you consider the hassle of getting up, going to the office, you still feel very much like you've done a full day.

Positive ending to this story though (so far) - We have recently gone on P&L and this has helped me massively, I've been given a new round, got a partner now which has helped me get to know more people, everyone seems to be working more as a team now and it's brought a lot of people together. I no longer have to use my own car. I am down to 1 x Ibuprofen a day and ice once a day on a much less demanding round. I feel much more integrated into the office.

Sorry for the essay, but this is my experience of the Royal Mail from a newbie point of view. I hope some people find it interesting! Oh yes and I haven't been off sick since the initial absence.

[OnAFlyer]

Do you realise how lucky you are to actually be doing the same walk all the time? Most new starters are 'spares', working all over the place and even being sent to different offices if needed. All you get for spending year after year working for RM is the chance to pick a walk you like that may be slightly easier than most, but you're asking for an easy walk after a few months.

You asked to leave your walk and go spare, then complained about that and asked to have your walk back - i'm not suprised the managers thought you were being awkward to be honest.

[postypie]

God how times have changed..when i first started as an AG over 20 years ago....whatever walk i was put on i either claimed (at least 1 to 2 hours per day),or cut off depending on how i felt and what area i was working in..in fact two of the walks i worked on and claimed on daily basis had large bits taken off so other posties could finish on time(one new walk was created by me claiming non stop)...never used me car,if i got out late...i would tell the gaffer i would either claim extended delivery or i could leave a couple of bags for him on his desk to deliver..he always preferred the first option...if drivers were late with my bags..i would always tell them to take the bags back to the gaffer much to their annoyance (used to love watching them phone the gaffer on their mobiles all in a panic and being told they would have to deliver what mail i left in as it was their fault the bags were late)...annoyed quite a few drivers i did..lol...if i cut off which i did a few times...i used to finish at least 30/45 mins early to catch either a bus or walk back to the office...drop my bag or bags on the gaffers desk..bid him a good afternoon and went home or to the boozer...(oh the colour of my gaffers face when i did this was a sight to behold)..anyway..one day a new gaffer came into our office who had a bit of a reputation as being a hatchet man...the manager who he replaced apparently left a note on his desk telling this new boss to keep well away from me...(which he did)..can't think why though!lol

[Darren Bent]

The job is not nice for people without experience or right contract. Problem is job market there is not many full time jobs.

[TheCobra]

Do you realise how lucky you are to actually be doing the same walk all the time? Most new starters are 'spares', working all over the place and even being sent to different offices if needed. All you get for spending year after year working for RM is the chance to pick a walk you like that may be slightly easier than most, but you're asking for an easy walk after a few months.

You asked to leave your walk and go spare, then complained about that and asked to have your walk back - i'm not suprised the managers thought you were being awkward to be honest.

As a person who has worked in many different jobs for many different companies of differing sizes and statures, I find the whole culture at Royal Mail absolutely astounding. that, if you should get an injury, yes an INJURY, you get treated like a leper who should be cast adrift. I wasn't helped, or offered any advice, hence the reason I asked of the possibility of doing another walk for a bit while my injury got better.

Having now been there 6 months, the round I was doing and the round they put me on as spare are pretty much 2 of the most difficult rounds in the office. So much for helping me eh. As I said sink or swim, and it seems that a lot of the posties who have been there a while are happy to buy into this culture rather than offering help/advice to newbies.

Simple things, like lowering bag weights, taking Ibuprofen helped a lot. I had been taking Paracetamol, but essentially they just kill pain, whereas Ibuprofen bring down swelling/inflammation, so this helped a lot. I had never had to take Ibuprofen before so didn't know this, simple little things can help people a lot. Surely they get it all the time where new people get pains/injuries, yet they seemed to not have any real advice to help me, no documentation or anything to call upon for others who might have had similar injuries, until I read a few things on here.