Working your hours.

[Bella2013]

Ok so working your hours is practically unheard of in my (and probably every) office. I'm sick of doing hours and hours of overtime, I have tried to say I'm only working my hours but it turns into such a ridicilous drama. Is there a way that I can say I am never doing O/T again and only want to work my hours without having to take part in the telling my lino I'm cutting off drama daily?? How will they accommodate someone working only 4hrs when the rounds take longer than this? Are they just going to say bye bye to me seen as I've only been here a couple of months?

[daveyeff]

they probably will not renew your contract if you are still a trialist. I know its crap but that's the way they are these days. they expect you to be flexible. try to persevere if you can till you get more time in and hopefully something more permanent, then tell them to do one.

[POSTWOMAN]

if you are on a fixed term contract or temporary contract they may not renew it or renew it with reduced working hours on new contract etc.
But you don't have to work overtime if you don't want. They can accommodate by taking off work load from your walk or put you on a different walk that can be finished within your time or even send you to another delivery office to do some walk but within your finish time, tell you to only prep frames for other postmen, prep door to doors etc.

But in reality & most probably they will take work load off your walk so that you only do whats possible within your finish time.

Argue with that manager ASAP that how can you finish a 5 hour walk when your finish time is within 4 hours.Ask the manager what you want to do with the undelivered mail after 4 hours which is your finish time.
One basis of argument I used was - lets say a walk has 90 closes/houses. lets say 3 minutes per close. so 90 means 270 minutes. Lets say you get 4 hours for delivery or 240 minutes. 240 minutes divided by 3 minutes per close = 80. So it makes sense that the manager should take 10 closes of your walk so that you can finish in time of your contract hours.

1 close = house with 3 floors & 2 flats on each floor. So total = 3 floors, 6 flats.

Finally depending on your contract make sure to deduct the break time for your daily working hours & leave early which I did.

Its gonna be drama but you have to fight for it daily. if you don't & do overtime then managers will screw you more.

For worst case scenario- what you can do is start looking for jobs now. Get day offs on the day of interviews asking that its an emergency or taking sick leave etc.

[Creditshampoo]

Please smile be polite and do whatever wben they ask when they make your perm then dictate about your hours

[woopesh]

If you started on a permanent contract and are on probation, you are untouchable as long as you work your contracted hours and you deliver a "reasonable" amount of mail in those hours. I was told this in my induction. Infact you can only be let go during / after the trial period for misconduct, poor attendance etc.

All the newbies who started a few months ago at my delivery office including myself ALL started on permanent part time 25 hour contracts. I think this was introduced because of "bullying" by the managers. You have every right to "cut off" and they can't use this as an excuse to dismiss you once your probation ends.

For your reference regarding what is a "reasonable" amount of mail, all the newbies including myself can probably deliver 3/4 of a frame on a heavy day, and a full frame on a light day within the 5 hours allotted on our contracts. I was told by everyone apart from the managers that this is normal, that it will take 6 months to get upto speed. Obviously the managers wanted us up to speed from day 1.

Check your contract to see if its a permanent one, if it is you won't have to worry. You will probably still get some crap for cutting off though.

Honestly, I have never before worked in such a company, where there is so much antagonism between staff, immediate management and senior management. The whole system is set up for conflict.

[JeremyFisher]

"Yes sir, no sir, 3 bags full sir" is the motto that will get you a permanent contract, I knew the ins and outs of this company when I got my temporary contract and after half a year I got made permanent.

Make no mistake if you "be a pain" in their eyes they will not extend your contract, I've seen it happen, literally the day before the guys contract expires they say to him "you won't be needed anymore".

But I agree having to tell them every day is a bit silly, I am confident enough in my speed at the job and I do it right so if they complain I just ask them to send someone to test me, usually shuts them up.

[ninja]

here is the process that they should use but guess no manager would have seen it before.

[2pints]

You have to be comfortable with conflict that is the reality im afraid.I am fine with conflict especially when i know the facts first.That is the key in this job,learn all the ins and outs of delivery process and read up on what your rights are before confronting the managers,you will probably end up knowing more than they do.

[christinec]

HI I just have a small question.

Once your probation period is up (4th april 2016) will you have a meeting to confirm you permanently in post? or do you just continue to work?

[Chewster]

Just keep coming to work. In reality they'll probably slap you with another temporary contract. I had 4x3 month contracts before I got my permanent one...

[TrueBlueTerrier]

HI I just have a small question.

Once your probation period is up (4th April 2016) will you have a meeting to confirm you permanently in post? or do you just continue to work?

You should have a meeting at the end of your probation, you probably won't.

Continue to work, employment law is quite clear if they don't want you they have to tell you. If they haven't then keep turning up.