breaks

kitkatchunky · Post by **kitkatchunky** » 19 Feb 2016, 19:15

Hi all, is it just my office or does no one take breaks. I asked a few people today and they said can't have a break we don't have time.

olilew · Post by **olilew** » 19 Feb 2016, 19:41

In our office of about 40 just me and about 3 others take any break at all!

datasaint · Post by **datasaint** » 19 Feb 2016, 19:42

kitkatchunky wrote:Hi all, is it just my office or does no one take breaks. I asked a few people today and they said can't have a break we don't have time.

Well a break isn't optional. If you have an accident on delivery, one of the things RM will ask is did you have your break, if you reply no they'll say it's your fault because you were fatigued.

People need to realise job and knock doesn't exist any more there's no point trying to "make time".

camelelf · Post by **camelelf** » 19 Feb 2016, 20:12

I take a break in the morning along with my partner. I see very few others apart from a couple of guys on rural rounds.

I see some people leaving the office before 9am to deliver.

Jpro747 · Post by **Jpro747** » 19 Feb 2016, 20:53

olilew wrote:In our office of about 40 just me and about 3 others take any break at all!

ditto

Post by **woopesh** » 19 Feb 2016, 21:38

I'm a newbie and I see very few posties taking breaks. Once, on a delivery, one rode past on his bike and saw me sitting down. He asked me if I was finished, and I told him I was taking a break and he looked at me like I was taking a s**t in his grandma's front garden. I don't think its the done thing. Almost all of them seem more concerned about going home early. Frankly I don't get it.

Post by **mudmonster** » 20 Feb 2016, 00:08

[quote="woopesh"]I'm a newbie and I see very few posties taking breaks. Once, on a delivery, one rode past on his bike and saw me sitting down. He asked me if I was finished, and I told him I was taking a break and he looked at me like I was taking a s**t in his grandma's front garden. I don't think its the done thing. Almost all of them seem more concerned about going home early. Frankly I don't get it.

They will be the first ones to moan when more lapsing has to be done some posties are their own worst enemies run round to finish early or to ghost overtime and think management won't see them

Blue Moses · Post by **Blue Moses** » 20 Feb 2016, 06:49

Whilst there are and always have been runners in all offices the reality for most posties is this;
If you go in on your start time,put in your d2d in your duty time and take a full 40m break (I'm talking from a full time point of view),then almost all duties are not do-able in the alloted time.
However,if you inform a manager of this fact you will be looked at in a bewildered manner and challenged as to why the duty is not do-able in the time/we are/we're not,paying you o/t to complete/stand up rows etc.
If you continue over a period of time with this then your performance will be criticised/put under the spotlight but I bet the walk won't be tested.
The only way most people can complete anywhere near their duty finish time is to not take a break.
This has been caused by poor revisions,lapsing and van share duties.
It needs to be seriously looked at by the union in my opinion.

postie1975 · Post by **postie1975** » 20 Feb 2016, 16:24

Blue Moses wrote:Whilst there are and always have been runners in all offices the reality for most posties is this;
If you go in on your start time,put in your d2d in your duty time and take a full 40m break (I'm talking from a full time point of view),then almost all duties are not do-able in the alloted time.
However,if you inform a manager of this fact you will be looked at in a bewildered manner and challenged as to why the duty is not do-able in the time/we are/we're not,paying you o/t to complete/stand up rows etc.
If you continue over a period of time with this then your performance will be criticised/put under the spotlight but I bet the walk won't be tested.
The only way most people can complete anywhere near their duty finish time is to not take a break.
This has been caused by poor revisions,lapsing and van share duties.
It needs to be seriously looked at by the union in my opinion.

Hit the nail on the head the 40 minute break is a total joke now before we even begin tieing up we have to inform the line manager if we think we might be going over so that the line manager can look at the frame and see the call rate and agree if extended needs to be booked where as before if we got back we just booked the extended and the 20 minute break we didn't have.
They say now with regards to meal breaks use it or loose it.

mancpat · Post by **mancpat** » 20 Feb 2016, 18:12

postie1975 wrote:
Blue Moses wrote:Whilst there are and always have been runners in all offices the reality for most posties is this;
If you go in on your start time,put in your d2d in your duty time and take a full 40m break (I'm talking from a full time point of view),then almost all duties are not do-able in the alloted time.
However,if you inform a manager of this fact you will be looked at in a bewildered manner and challenged as to why the duty is not do-able in the time/we are/we're not,paying you o/t to complete/stand up rows etc.
If you continue over a period of time with this then your performance will be criticised/put under the spotlight but I bet the walk won't be tested.
The only way most people can complete anywhere near their duty finish time is to not take a break.
This has been caused by poor revisions,lapsing and van share duties.
It needs to be seriously looked at by the union in my opinion.

Hit the nail on the head the 40 minute break is a total joke now before we even begin tieing up we have to inform the line manager if we think we might be going over so that the line manager can look at the frame and see the call rate and agree if extended needs to be booked where as before if we got back we just booked the extended and the 20 minute break we didn't have.
They say now with regards to meal breaks use it or loose it.

That is because,despite what people say here,the managers in the offices want you to take breaks.

I've spoken to a few over the years and they would rather we all take our breaks so they can tell their DSM they need more hours in the offices.

However people not taking breaks and finishing on a weds at 130 ish is not helping. All the DSM sees is that there are people going home early and those hours can be filled with lapsing or bigger walks.

There's only about 10% of our office that takes breaks. Quite a few finish early so our managers are put under pressure to lapse walks even though they want more staff. Those who don't take breaks are then quick to have a go at the managers for making them do more lapsing but can't understand that it's because of their own doing. The union rep is banging his head on a wall trying to explain it to them.

wa4jim · Post by **wa4jim** » 28 Feb 2016, 13:09

Can I ask how break times are officially supposed to work? I'm on a 20-hour contract (normally 10:00 to 15:00, Weds thru Sat) but I've been doing all sorts of hours. The contract says my pay includes breaks but it doesn't specify what they are. When putting down my hours I'm never sure when to allow for a break.

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 28 Feb 2016, 13:13

REMEMBER ITS YOUR ATTENDANCE TIMES - NOT YOUR CONTRACTED TIMES

from the way forward agreement: http://www.royalmailchat.co.uk/communit ... 36&t=11941" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Conditioned attendances extended by overtime (or by SA on Sunday) consecutive with the beginning or end will attract additional breaks if the entitlement for the total attendance (overtime plus conditioned hours), in the table above, is greater than the breaks already scheduled during the conditioned attendance. For example, an 8 hour conditioned attendance with 4 hours overtime would attract an extra 20 minutes (i.e. 60 minus 40). In most cases, particularly if the additional break is for only 10 minutes, it should be taken between the period of overtime and the normal conditioned attendance.

wa4jim · Post by **wa4jim** » 28 Feb 2016, 15:38

Thanks.

Chewster · Post by **Chewster** » 28 Feb 2016, 16:51

Nobody really takes breaks in my office either aside from some of the old timers. I'll take 5/10 minutes to go to the shop and have a bit to eat but that's it, usually leaving me with 20 or 30 minutes of break to take (I'm a part timer so obviously it depends on how long I'm out there for). I was told when I started to just work through your break then add on the break time to your docket at the end of the day. So as far as the higher ups are concerned, everyone is taking their break. Some people even take a break AND add another break onto their docket....

maninred · Post by **maninred** » 28 Feb 2016, 18:23

mancpat wrote:
postie1975 wrote:
Blue Moses wrote:Whilst there are and always have been runners in all offices the reality for most posties is this;
If you go in on your start time,put in your d2d in your duty time and take a full 40m break (I'm talking from a full time point of view),then almost all duties are not do-able in the alloted time.
However,if you inform a manager of this fact you will be looked at in a bewildered manner and challenged as to why the duty is not do-able in the time/we are/we're not,paying you o/t to complete/stand up rows etc.
If you continue over a period of time with this then your performance will be criticised/put under the spotlight but I bet the walk won't be tested.
The only way most people can complete anywhere near their duty finish time is to not take a break.
This has been caused by poor revisions,lapsing and van share duties.
It needs to be seriously looked at by the union in my opinion.

Hit the nail on the head the 40 minute break is a total joke now before we even begin tieing up we have to inform the line manager if we think we might be going over so that the line manager can look at the frame and see the call rate and agree if extended needs to be booked where as before if we got back we just booked the extended and the 20 minute break we didn't have.
They say now with regards to meal breaks use it or loose it.
That is because,despite what people say here,the managers in the offices want you to take breaks.

I've spoken to a few over the years and they would rather we all take our breaks so they can tell their DSM they need more hours in the offices.

However people not taking breaks and finishing on a weds at 130 ish is not helping. All the DSM sees is that there are people going home early and those hours can be filled with lapsing or bigger walks.

There's only about 10% of our office that takes breaks. Quite a few finish early so our managers are put under pressure to lapse walks even though they want more staff. Those who don't take breaks are then quick to have a go at the managers for making them do more lapsing but can't understand that it's because of their own doing. The union rep is banging his head on a wall trying to explain it to them.

Very well said!