Rotation and rest days.

[trythat]

As I've said before I don't understand why reserves are not treated the same as fixed duty staff. We've always treated reserves the same, whether on rota days or as we are now on rota weeks. Why are OPG getting on to their area reps or div reps, it's no harder to manage reserves than fixed staff. Poor and lazy management, plus I don't understand why the rest of the staff are not complaining.

questions for you about this how does your office manage to get the rota day off for reserves every week?

Postie A is on annual Leave but his day off was scheduled to be Tuesday
Postie B is his Floater and due to work this duty on Tuesday and be off on Monday
Postie C is the Reserve and due to be off on Saturday by rotation

How does your office manage to give postie C his day off on the saturday and what happens on Tuesday when two people are potentially due to cover this duty

As I say we now do rota weeks, but when we did rota days, everyone was treated the same then as now. In our office reserves tend to know a number of jobs, so you just swap people as and when needed. You've always got people who want to do OT or work their day off. If they've been employed on a fixed day off, then thats a different matter, but why treat reserves different from the rest of the staff?

I suppose it comes down on how you train staff and what people expect, we expect people to get their due days off.

Perhaps from now on, I'll just keep out of it, and think ourselves lucky that we've managed to get people what they expect.

[chrisj]

I do not really understand your post...

But, I am glad that you have realised that your office is unique; perhaps, small and/or overstaffed; but as you said, that was even in the past.

Things have changed drastically in the last 5 years with reduction in staff levels, longer walks and then this big Modernisation/Revision that has brought paired working, shared vans and park and loop with even longer loops. Add the fact that a lot of offices now have large number of part timers, it is a hard task to get Reserves on a rota-ed days off or even an average of 1 in 6.

Some Reserves even get more than 1 in 6 saturdays off. I have been lucky once in 3 years to get 2 saturdays in a row... It just depends on your skill set and the duties that the Reserve is covering. I have also had 6 Mon/Tuesday off in a Row - and there was very little the manager could do because there are rounds that I know that only a few people know (working in a merged office) and there those that I do not know and/or do not like such as Rural/drivers and HCT...

[POSTMAN]

The way i look at it ,and what I usually post about it is...

Get a seniority list of the reserves.
Go down the list so they reserves get the pick of what duties are available for the next week.
They should then in the interest of fairness...
Have the day off of the duty they are covering,if it's 'Bobs' duty and it's a Sat off then they have that.If 'Bob' was on it he would have that day off wouldn't he!
Get some kind of aggregate list,that way you can keep an eye on who's had Sat's off,if some,even if they are low on seniority in the list have not had a Sat off for a while then they get priority.

It really is not hard to do,it's just lazyness on the managers and reps part.

[trythat]

I do not really understand your post...

But, I am glad that you have realised that your office is unique; perhaps, small and/or overstaffed; but as you said, that was even in the past.

Things have changed drastically in the last 5 years with reduction in staff levels, longer walks and then this big Modernisation/Revision that has brought paired working, shared vans and park and loop with even longer loops. Add the fact that a lot of offices now have large number of part timers, it is a hard task to get Reserves on a rota-ed days off or even an average of 1 in 6.

Some Reserves even get more than 1 in 6 saturdays off. I have been lucky once in 3 years to get 2 saturdays in a row... It just depends on your skill set and the duties that the Reserve is covering. I have also had 6 Mon/Tuesday off in a Row - and there was very little the manager could do because there are rounds that I know that only a few people know (working in a merged office) and there those that I do not know and/or do not like such as Rural/drivers and HCT...

Office 130, 3rd revsion since 2010 going through now, will need to put in nearly 100 hours indoor. So no we are not over staffed or particularly small. Don't beleive we're unique either, as I don't hear of any problems in the other DO in my area. So I assume as reps we have worked hard on the DOMs to train staff and not take the lazy route.

[chrisj]

I stand corrected! I still think it is unique to have Reserves having rotational saturdays off even pre-revision and modernisation. You only have to see the number of posts on Reserves not getting enough saturdays or long weekend off to see that there is a real issue nationwide.

You area must be doing something right. However, you will be surprised how ignorant people are of some of the real issues Reserves, Part timers and Junior staff face in some offices.

Some people in my office often appear shocked and disbelieving about the shocking treatment of some Reserves, despite working with us day in day out; despite seeing some reserves used almost all over the office )and other offices) and covering the typical Monday and Tuesdays off and always getting bank holiday as day off...

The situation in our office now is that we have Full time reserves and 27.5 hours reserves - no 32 hour reserves. A Reserve can be used to cover FT, 32hrPt or 27.5hr Pt duties irrespective of his or her own contractual hours.

The other thing to highlight is that some offices are now going for fixed day offs - some poor posties are being shafted to have the same day off all the time... It will be great for childcare issues like the Original Poster or for going to college but it seems unfair...

[magicw]

We are a big office. Over 150. There is only one person I know who has a family friendly agreement which means she doesn't work any Saturdays.
I accept that agreeing a fixed rest day hasn't helped my cause. ( it was the only way I could guarantee my Wife being able to plan her own work and that of her 18 staff).

I came off fixed rest days some time ago, hoping it would improve my argument of getting the occasional Saturday. It has not!
My rep seems to be of the , that's the way its always been, so tough luck school.

It does piss me off though that the same people tend never to be there on a Saturday. One of my managers the other week made a comment that somebody had let us all down because he hadn't come in to work his Saturday rest day.

We lapse all year round. and have at least 8 vacancies. A minimum of 4 rounds get lapsed every day.

My big problem is, my wife works every Saturday and I am reliant on my In laws for childcare on a Saturday. They make a round 70 mile trip, are both in there 70's and now my Father in Law is having to go under repeated treatment for Skin Cancer which keeps coming back .

I would imagine the answer is make an application under family friendly.

[chrisj]

Go for it!

[Ann321]

We have six reserves and after six months of tormenting our manager on a daily basis, we have been given a one in six rotate. We all have a fixed day of during the week, but get a long weekend every sixty weeks. The duty holders get a one in four long weekend, and the union said we were entitled to a one in four also, but we settled for a one in six. Don't give up!!

[DGH]

The secondary reason (the main one is management taking the lazy option) reserves don't get their 1 in 6 is because their more senior colleagues and union won't support them - largely because of the demand for 'occasional' Saturdays.

Unfortunately, newer starters, even those lucky enough to be assigned vacant jobs, are lucky to get more than a couple of Saturdays a year off outwith their holiday weeks. It's a disgrace - and we senior staff are, sadly, complicit to a degree.