No. 554/15 PARCEL AUTOMATION MANUAL FINGER SCANNERS

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Letter to Branches





No. 554/15
Ref: 732.02
Date: 26th August 2015


For the attention of:

All: Postal Branches
Area Processing Representatives
Area Distribution Representatives
Divisional Representatives


Dear Colleagues

PARCEL AUTOMATION MANUAL FINGER SCANNERS – JOINT STATEMENT CORE PROTOCOLS FOR MANAGERS, WORKPLACE COACHES AND UNION REPS WORKING WITH INDIVIDUAL MANUAL SCANNER DATA

Further to LTB 451/15 please find attached for the information of Branches and Representatives the Joint Statement on protocols to be applied with the deployment of manual finger scanners in Mail Centres and Regional Distribution Centres.

It was decided to further develop the strategy at Swindon Mail Centre and the attached core protocols have now been agreed and endorsed by the Postal Executive at its meeting on Tuesday, 18th August 2015.

The deployment plan will begin with two pilot sites at Swindon Mail Centre and SWDC in September 2015. It is then anticipated that the main rollout will take place between 28th September and 30th October 2015 to all Mail Centres and RDC’s.

With regards training, Workplace Coaches will be trained over a 4 hour session to ensure they are aware of the big picture (RM strategy and commercial opportunity) before receiving specific technical training on the PDA and finger scanner equipment.

Workplace Coaches will then train Mail Centre/RDC employees during a 1 hour session to ensure that all employees can use the equipment in the manual parcel area.

As you will see from the protocols, we have protected individuals and the information will not be used to instigate conduct proceedings.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Shelley Banbury & Steve Jones (PEC members), John Humphries, Ian Taylor & Phil Wright (Divisional Representatives), for their assistance to the department in bringing this matter to a conclusion.









Any enquiries in relation to this LTB should be addressed to Joe Malone, Acting Assistant Secretary, e-mail: dwyatt@cwu.org or shayman@cwu.org quoting reference number 732.02.

Yours sincerely


Joe Malone
Acting Assistant Secretary



JOINT STATEMENT BETWEEN ROYAL MAIL AND THE CWU ON CORE PROTOCOLS FOR MANAGERS, WORKPLACE COACHES, AND UNION REPS WORKING WITH INDIVIDUAL MANUAL SCANNER DATA


Royal Mail and the Communication Workers Union are working together in developing key business policies, mutual interest solutions and a new culture, which is at the core of all the commitments contained in the BT2010 Agreement and the Agenda for Growth, Stability and Long Term Success Agreement.

This document represents an example of how this joint activity embraces and supports the commitment to integrate the interests of all parties and complements the transparent mutual interest based culture approach.

Royal Mail has a long history of working with CWU to help individuals in the workplace receive feedback from measurement systems in a responsible way. Positive coaching has been a key feature of support from as far back as Coding Desk Operators in the 1980’s, and has been a key contributor toward developing a culture of trust.

The introduction in Mail centres and RDCs of manual processing scanners may raise some concerns of how the data will be used. The purpose of this statement is to reassure all colleagues about how this data will be used to help improve the service we can offer our customers.

Against this backdrop the primary purpose of introducing manual scanning is to capture data for our customers (for example being able to offer parcel tracking and accurate traffic counting). However, it will also tell us a number of other things about how we are performing down through MC, shift, work area and up to individual level. The primary expectation is Managers must be able to demonstrate that data has been used only on issues directly related to management of workflow, staff alignment to workload, and attention to team effectiveness, before discussing with individuals.

RM and the CWU will jointly review adherence to these protocols during the first 5 months of deployment and work together to look for any improvements that can be made either to the reporting system, the frequency with which information is made available and how the data is being used. One change that has already been identified and will be built into a second release of the reports after launch, is that named individual data will be available to WAM access at the end of the working week. The review will be ongoing, will take account of the level of barcoding on parcel traffic and be conducted through the existing joint working group. Both sides commit to concluding these discussions based on the experience of the first 5 months of deployment by the end of January 16.

For clarity, the data that will be gathered on an individual basis is:
Time spent logged in to a finger scanner
Time spent scanning
Number of items scanned
Who scanned and sorted which item.

A core responsibility of a manager is to help people achieve for customers whilst maintaining adequate resource to workload. The core protocols reflect the intention of putting positive supportive conversations at the heart of Royal Mail’s culture. The aim of the following protocols are to ensure we use coaching to support the individual, to enable them to build knowledge and confidence and to encourage better quality whilst operating the scanners. It has not been designed for any other purpose and should be a positive experience that highlights strengths and identifies development opportunities with the support of further training via the Workplace Coach. The data provided is not designed or intended for use as a staff surveillance system.

The Core protocols are:

1. An Individuals data will remain confidential to the individual, the Work Area Manager and Workplace coach where appropriate, it will be kept confidential and in line with the data protection act. An individual’s data will not be shared or displayed in any way.
2. Individual data will be used for development only. It will not be used to instigate conduct proceedings. Workplace coaches/section managers will support the development of employees. Data will be shared with WPCs/Work Area managers who will utilise it to design individual development sessions.
3. Individuals will be given informal feedback in person by either the WAM or a Workplace Coach, and in a way which respects their dignity. If at any stage an individual requests the involvement of the local CWU rep that will be arranged.
4. Individuals will have the right to request of their manager access to data concerning them.

If after further coaching and counselling an individual still has difficulties, Royal Mail managers and local CWU representative will work together to find alternative work that better suits the individual. If difficulties remain existing national agreements will apply.

All of the experience in RM has shown that formal procedures are seldom if ever required to resolve problems if the above approach has been used sensitively. Therefore it is not expected that formal approaches will be required. If such circumstances arise the Area Rep will meet with a senior local manager to determine the best way forward.

Any questions of interpretation, implementation, or application of this Joint Statement shall be referred to the respective Headquarters for resolution.



Andrew Forbes Joe Malone
Head of Parcel Automation Acting Assistant Secretary
Royal Mail CWU


Date: 26th August 2015

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What worries me about these kind of trials with very little information for opg to go on is what kind of through rate Royal Mail expects, will it be everyone has to be within say 10% of fastest opg? As we know there are quite a few things that can effect your speed on a number of process' within work. I just hope the WPC and reps work well together and don't get carried away with Royal Mail hype and end up crucifying opg.