flexible hours

[korky]

heard on radio today that its now extended to all workers.
not sure how this could work with a pair who work together.
i have child care issues that were instantly dismissed 3 years ago when we started p&l, maybe because i'm a bloke because a few women got help with their shift times.
don't tell me to seek our unions advice has i've tried before and failed

[Surreypostie]

You only have the right to 'Request' flexible hours. They do not have to give you them. Bit of a non story really. If you work on delivery I should imagine you got more chance of doing a tango with the the Queen than getting flexible hours.

[Straight4ward]

From ACAS guidelines on flexible working - reasons an employer can refuse a request

If you reject the request it must be for one of the following business reasons as set
out in the legislation:
the burden of additional costs,
an inability to reorganise work amongst existing staff
an inability to recruit additional staff
a detrimental impact on quality
a detrimental impact on performance
detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand
insufficient work for the periods the employee proposes to work
a planned structural change to your business

[korky]

From ACAS guidelines on flexible working - reasons an employer can refuse a request

If you reject the request it must be for one of the following business reasons as set
out in the legislation:
the burden of additional costs,
an inability to reorganise work amongst existing staff
an inability to recruit additional staff
a detrimental impact on quality
a detrimental impact on performance
detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand
insufficient work for the periods the employee proposes to work
a planned structural change to your business

Only the 2nd really could count, and that only if say my oppo refused to tinker with his times.
quite a few have their own deals anyway, i got a straight NO

[PhilthyPhil]

This announcement does not really affect us as officially Royal Mail already do this for all employees anyway

[rehabron]

heard on radio today that its now extended to all workers.
not sure how this could work with a pair who work together.
i have child care issues that were instantly dismissed 3 years ago when we started p&l, maybe because i'm a bloke because a few women got help with their shift times.
don't tell me to seek our unions advice has i've tried before and failed

You have a legal right to request flexible working but as previously stated your employer has to give your request serious consideration but are not legally bound to grant your request unfortunately due to the categories listed in the guidelines.
However your posting mentioned women get help with their shift times and if you can substantiate this you can use them as a comparator to strengthen your application and a refusal can give rise to a possible discrimination complaint.

[Dorset Plodder]

I'm going to ask if I can work from home!

[korky]

known some allowed in a little later to get kids off to school, i need to start a little earlier to get back 1 or 2 days a week, just 30 mins would do,
all i got told is that I'd be sent back out on delivery if any mail still in,
99% of the time i'd make it anyway, but need to clog it sometimes and not have a break, luckily i have a great oppo too which helps.
i did send in a template letter off the gov site years ago when our finish times altered, got totally ignored!

[Flashman_]

This announcement does not really affect us as officially Royal Mail already do this for all employees anyway

This DOES affect us. in my experience, if you ask for any flexibility the DIMs give a flat refusal to help in any way.
Now Everybody has the legal right to ask and most importantly have that request properly considered. This means that now a DIM has to follow a set procedure and timescale(Legally enforceable) for dealing with it. He cannot use general statements as to why it is refused but instead it has to be a real valid reason looking at the individual request. The reason for refusal has to show specifically why they believe they cannot accommodate the request. Any refusal is now challenge-able in that you could put in an official appeal which in is self has strict time limits and must be dealt with seriously.
I know all this because A colleague who had this right before now (they had children to care for) had to take RM to a industrial tribunal for failing to comply with the procedure and refusing on unjustified grounds. RM eventually settled out of court for the maximum payout that the case warranted and she got the change that was originally asked for. This would not have been possible had this not been a legally binding process that RM now has to consider for all of us.
Moral is go and ask for that change you've always wanted, because you now have a legal right to it, no more fobbing off by Dims.

[Flashman_]

known some allowed in a little later to get kids off to school, i need to start a little earlier to get back 1 or 2 days a week, just 30 mins would do,
all i got told is that I'd be sent back out on delivery if any mail still in,
99% of the time i'd make it anyway, but need to clog it sometimes and not have a break, luckily i have a great oppo too which helps.
i did send in a template letter off the gov site years ago when our finish times altered, got totally ignored!

In your situation Korky I would definitely try again now. They would have a big problem proving that what you want here could not be accommodated.

[jack]

known some allowed in a little later to get kids off to school, i need to start a little earlier to get back 1 or 2 days a week, just 30 mins would do,
all i got told is that I'd be sent back out on delivery if any mail still in,
99% of the time i'd make it anyway, but need to clog it sometimes and not have a break, luckily i have a great oppo too which helps.
i did send in a template letter off the gov site years ago when our finish times altered, got totally ignored!

In your situation Korky I would definitely try again now. They would have a big problem proving that what you want here could not be accommodated.

Royal mail can be cantankerous bastards though and I suspect very little will change regarding this new flexible hour law, like you said in a previous post... the only real way you can challenge any injustice is by ET and the government have made that fooker a near impossibility by introducing charges

[Flashman_]

In the case of my colleague who went down the ET route the cost was covered by the Union. It was pretty easy to build a case against the arrogant management because they showed almost total ignorance of the law. They failed on the procedure, not meeting deadlines for dealing with the case and did not give proper reasons for refusal. The Union lawyers decided it was winnable so were happy to stump up the costs (which I believe RM would have to pay when they lost the case)

[TrueBlueTerrier]

I'm going to ask if I can work from home!

Like they do in Holland http://www.royalmailchat.co.uk/communit ... 22&start=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Dorset Plodder]

Not a serious proposal TBT........... However I feel this Flexible working is more suited to the Office Types than us Posties. You can hear the DOMs saying, "I'll be working from Home today, I have my laptop". Yeah more like working from the beach!
Fair enough Child Care is a Bigy, and being able to pick the Kids up is VERY important. I sometimes have to pick the Grandkids up and sometimes I'm pushed to make it for 1515 (Busy Day.....Bit of Lapsing...Hit the traffic on the way home)