Staff who come in early

[SierraOscarBravo]

Just wondering why so many staff seem to come into work early ie. 30/40 minutes or 1hr before they are officially due to start? No wonder walks are being lapsed/flexed and indoor hours are being taken out when these people are getting back to the office so early. Those at the top don't care if you come in early. They look at what time you get back and if you are making time - because of coming in early - then they see it as an opportunity to lapse/flex walks and make savings.

If everybody came in and started their duties at the time they are supposed to then everybody would be closer to finishing nearer official finish times. Management would find it much harder to argue that there is time to flex walks within duty times.

Some of these early starters are in prepping their walks well before their official start of duty yet they put their official start time down as their actual start time! This again does them no favours.

Anyone have any answers to this? As long as it goes on those at the top will keep pushing for more lapsing/flexing and cuts in indoor hours and walks will get bigger. Can these early starters not see that they are just wrecking their own jobs by racing around like idiots so they can be first back?

LAPSING/FLEXING, REDUCTIONS IN INDOOR HOURS, WALKS GETTING BIGGER - what happens when staff come in early.

[north london driver]

dont know why you put this on at this time most staff are now at work.
there had their tea and sorted there first lot of mech by now.
anyway i better go now or i will be late.

[glass joe]

I start at 7 today, i bet writing this now there are some people driving/at work now even on a tuesday where it's usually light

[Ossie From Preston]

Ask your manager this question about early starters?
"Hey Boss which one of these lot that comes in 45 minutes before their time is a first aider"
Dom will be stuck for words because nine times out of ten there is not one first aider on site which is breaking every rule in the eyes of health and safety? its called "working illegal"
The union should be picking up on this....
Its only a matter of time someone will throw a wobbler or get badly injured at silly o clock when nobody is there to give first aid.
So if Dom is a first aider he will have to start coming in at silly o clock or make sure he has a first aider opening up or he may have to tell the staff "nobody comes in before their time as there is no first aider on site"
You guys look at the situation out there in your office you may have two first aiders in your office? bet you any money at some stage one first aider is on leave the other has to have his/her day off that week.
Question - Where is the cover? you are working illegal and nobody takes a blind bit of notice...

[steven100]

In our office we pay a few people to come in a couple of hours early to sort the mail up. This is done so we can lapse more. This should be stopped too.

[SierraOscarBravo]

The point about health and safety is also a pertinent one. Why come in early and put your own health and safety at risk? What happens when you have an accident or a medical emergency on site before the start of your duty when you should not even be on the premises at that time? The same applies to those individuals who come in on their days off or even on annual leave to prep in door to doors for the following day/week.

Management needs to crack down on this. Aside from the arguments about working in Royal Mail time, not your own time, the health and safety risks need to be addressed. At the moment management seems to turn a blind eye to this because it suits them. It saves them money on overtime when some are happy to work unpaid before the start of their duties and it makes it easier for them to push for lapsing/flexing.

If everybody came in at the correct start times and did the job properly instead of cutting corners, then management would be forced to confront problems such as walks being too big or insufficient duty time to flex walks. As things stand the early starters are letting management off the hook by giving them hours and hours of unpaid labour and they are wrecking the job for everybody. Yet these individuals will be the first to moan...

[Theghost]

Idiots,Plain and simple.
They cant leave early in our office,Just told to take extra parcels etc,So what is the point? Working for free and making others who come in on time look slow,Makes me so angry

[Ossie From Preston]

I Know the union can only ask member not to come in early and cannot force it on them but there must be a high up union rep reading this site where they can pick up on this First Aider issue early in the mornings and address it to management that way the Union can STOP people coming in early.

[SierraOscarBravo]

Idiots,Plain and simple.
They cant leave early in our office,Just told to take extra parcels etc,So what is the point? Working for free and making others who come in on time look slow,Makes me so angry

With us if you get back early a lot of the time you will get sent onto the IPS or sent back out to complete a delivery that hasn't been completed or gone out at all.

So let's see. You get up at some ridiculous hour of the morning to come in early and work for nothing. You then race around your delivery like an idiot so you can be the first back - only to be sent on the IPS or back out to finish a delivery. So instead of doing say 7/7.5 hours work (taking into account meal relief) you end up doing 8 or 9 hours. Why??

How many times do we have these early starters pacing up and down the aisle harrassing others who do come in at the correct time for missorts before they tie up and implying you are slow because you are not all in? Even more laughable is when they moan about not wanting to go over their time! If they come in early they are choosing to go over. Idiots.

[clashcityrocker]

You guys look at the situation out there in your office you may have two first aiders in your office? bet you any money at some stage one first aider is on leave the other has to have his/her day off that week.
Question - Where is the cover? you are working illegal and nobody takes a blind bit of notice...

So if an office has no volunteer first aider are you saying it should be closed on H&S grounds?
Or if the first aider goes sick or on holiday, the unit has to close?

[IcanthelpthewayIam]

Dom will be stuck for words because nine times out of ten there is not one first aider on site which is breaking every rule in the eyes of health and safety? its called "working illegal"

Depending on the number of staff in the office its not actually a legal requirement to have a first aider on site

[fishtank]

The only definitive legal requirements are a first aid box and an appointed person to maintain the first aid box.
Everything else is subject to a risk assessment and most delivery offices being short on dangerous machinery and relatively close to medical facilities will be low risk.

Mailcentres are usually a different scenario with the extra long breaks being a significant risk of self induced catatonia.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

The only definitive legal requirements are a first aid box and an appointed person to maintain the first aid box.
Everything else is subject to a risk assessment and most delivery offices being short on dangerous machinery and relatively close to medical facilities will be low risk.

Mailcentres are usually a different scenario with the extra long breaks being a significant risk of self induced catatonia.

Don't forget they also get 10 minutes so that Grace can wake them all up, so that's covered.

[britwrit]

So, these folks aren't on job and finish but simply coming in early... so they cram in more work?

Maybe they're secretly an order of monks, devoted to Saint Gabriel, the patron saint of postmen and women? Have you noticed any chanting or praying?

[IcanthelpthewayIam]

So, these folks aren't on job and finish but simply coming in early... so they cram in more work?

in these offices where its tolerated job and finish is still alive and kicking