Royal Mail: First class delivery for well being.

[lostinthepost]

So.....Anyone find this to be the reality?

Andy Cartland, founder and MD at Acre, the market leader in sustainability and safety recruitment, speaks to Shaun Davis, group director of safety, health, wellbeing and sustainability at Royal Mail Group about his love of learning and the importance of employee health and wellbeing.

Andy: Your remit is quite broad, covering safety, health, wellbeing and sustainability. Do you identify yourself as a H&S professional or a sustainability professional?

Shaun: I’d describe myself as a business professional with a safety, health and environmental bias. As I see it, my role is about making a positive contribution to the success of the business while protecting the people who work for it and the environment we all share. That’s really where the worlds of H&S, environment and sustainability come together, because in my mind, sustainability is built first and foremost on an organisation’s commitment to keep people safe and well. What better way to demonstrate a sustainability mindset than protecting the very people that make the organisation what it is.

Andy: What do you think are the advantages of putting H&S and sustainability together into one role?

Shaun: I’ve seen HSE (health, safety and environment) become a lot more integrated over the past 10 years and I think there’s a certainly a trend for more SHEQ (safety, health, environment and quality) roles.

There’s so much cross over between the disciplines. If you’re on site doing a safety inspection, it makes sense to be able to assess the environmental impacts while you’re there. It makes the role that much richer for the individual and the core skills involved, the ability to assess, audit, coach and challenge are usually the same, so it’s a natural fit. It also supports the operation as they can get on and do their day job without repetitive interruptions to do audits/inspections from different areas; an integrated approach avoids duplication and is more effective and efficient in my view.

Andy: You do a lot of coaching and mentoring in your role. What advice would you offer to people looking to take their career to the next level?

There’s little benefit in my view to piling one safety qualification on top of another one. Once you have a core foundation in safety, the investment is better made in other disciplines, be that quality, environment or even HR or leadership.

Andy: Is that the reason you have four post-graduate degrees?

Shaun: [laughs] That’s partly the case, yes. I’ve always loved learning new things, but my main reason for studying was so that I could have conversations with people from different parts of the business and be able to see things from their perspective. Now when I speak to the finance, marketing or HR director, I’ve got a much better understanding of their priorities and view points. That’s what learning does – it gives you new perspectives and also gives you an appreciation of other peoples priorities – not to mention an opportunity to challenge and debate.

Andy: You’re also conducting research for a doctorate in coaching and mentoring. Are you able to share some findings?

Shaun: I’ve just submitted my research which is looking at coaching, well-being and organisational culture at the Royal Mail. One of my main findings is around the important role a line manager can play in the mentoring relationship. I’m planning to publish the research next year and hopefully turn the key findings into a handbook for practitioners.

Andy: Health is an increasingly important issue, not just for business, but for UK PLC overall. Do you think it’s getting enough attention?

Shaun: I’ve always felt that health was underrepresented in the health and safety equation. It’s usually 90 percent safety and 10 percent health, which is why I’ve always advocated for a more balanced approach.

Keeping people safe is incredibly important, but so too is keeping people healthy. Prevention plays a key role on both fronts so it’s really about having the strategies in place to help support people before a problem arises.

Andy: How do you approach wellbeing at Royal Mail?

Shaun: Our CEO, Moya Greene is incredibly passionate about promoting wellbeing within the business – especially mental health. Our ‘Feeling First Class’ employee health and wellbeing strategy covers a wide range of initiatives from First Class Fitness, First Class Driving and most recently, First Class Mental Health, which we launched last October – in conjunction with our unions.

Andy: On a national level, mental health is gaining increasing recognition as a serious health issue. How have employees reacted to the First Class Mental Health programme?

Shaun: The response has been incredibly positive. About a quarter of the population will experience some kind of mental health problem in the course of a year, with mixed anxiety and depression the most common mental disorder in Britain. This is a national issue and one that people are finally starting to talk openly about. When we told people we were producing a set of mental health awareness videos last year, we had employees contact us and ask that their stories be used in the videos so that their experiences could help others.

We’re also working with other large organisations to shape the workplace wellbeing agenda in the UK through Business in the Community’s Mental Health Champions Group and have signed the Time to Change Pledge to publically commit to ending the stigma of mental health conditions in the workplace.

Andy: With such a huge workforce, how do you get the First Class Mental Health message out there?

Shaun: It’s not just to scale, but also the diversity. We have people in offices, in sorting offices and out on the road so it’s really just a matter of understanding what method is going to work best. For some people it’s via conversations with their line manager and finding resources on the intranet. We reach others via newsletters, letters and our magazine. We’re currently piloting an App that will give people access to the information while on the move and will be rolling it out to all our frontline operations in the UK next year.

Andy: You’ve spoken previously about the need for language to change in H&S – can you say a bit more about this?

Shaun: I’ve always been interested in language so I studied NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) which looks at how language, neurological processes and behaviour interact.

I think safety in particular can be quite elitist in its language and that creates barriers. The point of communication is to be understood, but that won’t happen if we continue to use jargon only other safety professionals understand. Why, for instance do we talk about accident rates just in percentage terms? Or frequency rates? In doing so we seem to completely overlook the people involved. When we humanise the language we immediately improve the engagement.

Andy: Finally, what advice would you give to fellow practitioners in H&S?

Shaun: Follow your gut instinct and don’t wait for the perfect plan, strategy or business case. Just do it. You may need to correct and adapt along the way, but the time really is now. When you work this way you’ll be surprised at what you can achieve.

People often say “Safety is just common sense” – I heard a great saying last week “Common sense isn’t common until it becomes common knowledge” I love this and see our role as practitioners to make safety common knowledge to everyone.

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[tonytucker]

Yawn you expect us to read that after pushing a trolley for 5 hrs today,jog on

[motherhubbard]

It reads like a script from Twenty Twelve.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Yawn you expect us to read that after pushing a trolley for 5 hrs today,jog on

No, its entirely your choice, just as it is to be an impolite ass if you want.

[General Mannerheim]

`our unions` f**k off.

[Dorset Plodder]

Must admit to just scanning it. However it seems the usual "Management-Speak", I suppose they all develop it while talking to each other at these Management get togethers.
My son was watching the Apprentice the other night, and I thought "Is this all the youngsters think business is about "? Flash Suits, Stupid Hair Cuts and Buzz Words. PMSL at this particular episode (although I'm not a regular fan) as they had to perform Handy Man tasks and they didn't have a bloody clue!

[Ozzvaldo]

Another bloodsucker with absolutely no idea of the realities of working in delivery.

[Speedmeister]

If they were that bothered about health & safety & sustainability they'd employ enough staff & not give us absorption. I wonder how much this 'expert' is being paid?

[franco1]

Our CEO, Moya Greene is incredibly passionate about promoting wellbeing within the business – especially mental health. Our ‘Feeling First Class’ employee health and wellbeing strategy covers a wide range of initiatives from First Class Fitness, First Class Driving and most recently, First Class Mental Health, which we launched last October – in conjunction with our unions.

First Class?
Right now i feel like a worn out unloved D2D thats just been thrown out with the rubbish and s**t on by a stray mangy old dog.

[DB1100]

Shaun Davis should get his well pampered ass out on delivery for a few months undercover so he can experience first hand how much Moya is concerned about the health mental or physical of her delivery staff.

[CharlesSpooner]

If well-being is so important then why do the members of staff doing the most physical and public facing role have to work for 5 hours straight with no break and in many cases only cursory lip service paid to issues such as toilet breaks.

[DirtyHarry]

It's just bullshit, plain and simple.

[pants123]

they doesnt give a c r a p........

All that is written here is apart of their job, as directors of the company....

but underneath, they dont mean a single word of it, very sad, but true....

[pants123]

It's just bullshit, plain and simple.

[pants123]

Found this from another thread...... clearly shaun davis is not on this planet....


Andrew is a postman who suffers from Multiple Sclerosis and is also profoundly deaf.

He has been unable to work due to his condition diagnosis 18 months ago and allegedly, Andrew has been waiting so long for Royal Mail to support his return to work that his pay has been stopped and he has to rely on benefits.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) claim that Royal Mail then tried to sack him.

This was stopped however as the CWU say they proved it would have been illegal.

It is also claimed that Royal Mail then tested Andrew back at work where he passed and a new test was invented to ensure he would fail, by deliberately using a faulty chair.

CWU lastly claim that Royal Mail said Andrew has no rest room for his meal break because it is in continuous use by managers for disciplinary purposes, and that his MS means he will get stuck in the toilet.

Dave Chapple, CWU rep, said: "Most decent employers would do their best to try and get a disabled worker like Andrew Mootoo off benefits and back to work on a properly adjusted duty.

"Instead, for 18 months, since MS was diagnosed, Royal Mail, nationally and locally, have tried every dirty trick in their book to get Andrew the sack and reduce him to a lifetime of benefits dependency.

"What offensive rubbish from the country's second largest employer.

"All Andrew' s friends at Bridgwater Delivery Office want, is for Royal Mail to sit down and give him a chance to come off the dole and work for his living, as he wants to do.

"The work is there.

"The CWU have even accepted that Andrew could return on a monitored trial basis.

"Every reasonable compromise CWU offer to Royal Mail has been spurned- every patient CWU plea to Royal Mail to give Andrew a chance has been ignored.

"Justice for MS sufferers at work. Justice for Andrew Mootoo."

Andrew drives a car, shops, goes to sport matches, goes shopping, walks down busy high streets and goes to the gym once a week.


Royal mail take care of your well being, bull s h i t..... this poor fellow is not well, and they tried every dirty trick in the book to sack him.....