Getting a reserve from another office when my regular partner is on holiday?

themailman · Post by **themailman** » 16 Oct 2018, 14:08

I'm just wondering what, if any, protocol is being breached here.

Currently, when my shared van partner or I am off on holiday, we will almost always be given a reserve sent in from another office and with which comes the usual discussion with the manager about how much we will have to leave in the frame, depending on what time they arrive at our place/how we get on with the first few hours of delivery. I often tell the DOM that I will phone in with an update if we can finish or not due to having to drive round or explain each loop to the reserve, which can add easily 30 minutes onto your day.
Nothing too unusual there, but when you start noticing that several of our own reserves are being used to cover sick leave only, and the annual leave of only some people you start to wonder if that is proper procedure?
Can I insist that I am given one of our own reserves (who knows the duties and you won't have to wait for/explain things to day after day) instead?

Now, I know many of you will think, what's the problem, more time messing around indoors and outdoors means less time for delivery, but believe me, it gets quite taxing after a while, as it's not as if you are given any extra time to try and alleviate the issues that occur. And it would be nice for a change to be able to confidently say, I will 100% be able to complete this duty today.

thanks.

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 16 Oct 2018, 16:30

Can I insist that I am given one of our own reserves

No.

But you can suggest it, thats about as far as I would go.

There is no agreement or process that goes into such specific as to when and where a reserve should be used.

themailman · Post by **themailman** » 16 Oct 2018, 16:52

TrueBlueTerrier wrote:
Can I insist that I am given one of our own reserves
No.

But you can suggest it, thats about as far as I would go.

There is no agreement or process that goes into such specific as to when and where a reserve should be used.

Thanks.

It kind of goes against common sense to 'punish' the same people over and over again when it could be done more fairly. I get that there are 'operational' reasons such as being able to drive etc, but these are never the reasons it's done for.

LaggyBand · Post by **LaggyBand** » 17 Oct 2018, 06:03

Problem is you aren’t being punished. On all days you’re expected to work your hours and whether you get to complete with the out of office reserve shouldn’t be bothering you as you will be working the same amount of time.

Actually the way you worded your opening post the DOM sounds pretty erm, sound, not expecting you to complete with the reserve, nor pressuring you too.

I’d take that deal. Leave a loop etc and take some pleasure in teaching someone something new. More fun.

Post by **hothothot** » 17 Oct 2018, 08:21

I had exactly the same problem there ain't much you can do about it , I used to argue about how much we were cutting off on a daily basis , just keep cutting off .

themailman · Post by **themailman** » 17 Oct 2018, 15:20

LaggyBand wrote:Problem is you aren’t being punished. On all days you’re expected to work your hours and whether you get to complete with the out of office reserve shouldn’t be bothering you as you will be working the same amount of time.

Actually the way you worded your opening post the DOM sounds pretty erm, sound, not expecting you to complete with the reserve, nor pressuring you too.

I’d take that deal. Leave a loop etc and take some pleasure in teaching someone something new. More fun.

It's the trying to calculate how much we need to leave in every day with a different partner depending on how you THINK they will cope doing a new delivery .
That's what I mean by being 'punished'.
For instance, I left office today about 15 minutes after official dispatch time and manager didn't think we'd need ANYTHING taken off us to complete. I firmly disagreed as the reserve was just in the job a few weeks and I'd need to explain a lot of the 'quirks' of the duty to him. Manager agreed to phone for an update towards end of delivery - or what he perceived would be near our ending time. I thought we MAY get away with needing 1 loop taken off us, but it was closer to 3 loops because the new guy, understandably slowed down through fatigue and made a few mistakes as the delivery went on, all which adds time.
The unfair part of it is that I'm not a mathematician or a coach or a forecaster so it's not really my job to calculate how much assistance we will require.