Christmas week leave?

Spedley · Post by **Spedley** » 14 Dec 2018, 21:07

Never heard of anyone booking Christmas Eve off. Even as a private company on Christmas Eve quality of service is far more valuable than saving a few hours.

Post by **SpacePhoenix** » 14 Dec 2018, 21:27

Xmas eve isn't a pressure day in MCs but that's probably down to the mail processed by earlies and lates on xmas eve won't go anywhere, just get sorted ready for the first artic runs after xmas

Celgar · Post by **Celgar** » 14 Dec 2018, 21:56

dohnut wrote:So I have christmas week leave this year, and apparantly I may have to come in on christmas eve, because it falls on a monday, no time off before christmas?. I have been here over 11 years and have never heard this, can they do this, Sureley this should of flagged up when picking christmas leave.

The Xmas week is due to be blacked out and not available to be booked as AL. The same error was made by mistake by our DOM this year so a postie had booked the week off and it has only just been realised somehow. Our DOM has been told off by upper management and will now have to deliver that walk on Xmas Eve themselves. The Xmas week will not be bookable as AL next year though.

Woody Guthrie · Post by **Woody Guthrie** » 15 Dec 2018, 16:11

The Xmas week will not be bookable as AL next year though.

I think that might be a situation that's revisited.

From what I'm witnessing in my own office and hearing from offices around is that we're all over-resourced this year, it would seem from anecdotal evidence that the expected parcel volumes have not materialised. Most of the excess delivery has been covered by the duty holders leaving us with spare bodies every day who would usually be doing parcel delivery. If this trend continues through to Christmas the key measure of efficiency (items/work hours) is going to be really bad.

There are only two ways to correct this, curtail overtime opportunities for staff during the Christmas period (not a popular choice) or open up December for annual leave.

ScousePostie · Post by **ScousePostie** » 15 Dec 2018, 17:24

We where allowed to book it but as the most senior posties are first pick in our office this year they all got that week - only for the manager to tell them all that they had to give back Christmas Eve and they could either tag the day onto the other end of the leave week or use it another time.

Post by **SpacePhoenix** » 15 Dec 2018, 21:57

Woody Guthrie wrote:
The Xmas week will not be bookable as AL next year though.
I think that might be a situation that's revisited.

From what I'm witnessing in my own office and hearing from offices around is that we're all over-resourced this year, it would seem from anecdotal evidence that the expected parcel volumes have not materialised. Most of the excess delivery has been covered by the duty holders leaving us with spare bodies every day who would usually be doing parcel delivery. If this trend continues through to Christmas the key measure of efficiency (items/work hours) is going to be really bad.

There are only two ways to correct this, curtail overtime opportunities for staff during the Christmas period (not a popular choice) or open up December for annual leave.

I wonder if some of it's down to people not spending money due to Brexit. There's no way that RM could risk cutting back on staffing during xmas pressure any year, irrespective of mail volumes

Celgar · Post by **Celgar** » 15 Dec 2018, 23:25

Woody Guthrie wrote:
The Xmas week will not be bookable as AL next year though.
I think that might be a situation that's revisited.

From what I'm witnessing in my own office and hearing from offices around is that we're all over-resourced this year, it would seem from anecdotal evidence that the expected parcel volumes have not materialised. Most of the excess delivery has been covered by the duty holders leaving us with spare bodies every day who would usually be doing parcel delivery. If this trend continues through to Christmas the key measure of efficiency (items/work hours) is going to be really bad.

There are only two ways to correct this, curtail overtime opportunities for staff during the Christmas period (not a popular choice) or open up December for annual leave.

On face value it doesn't seem we are as busy as last year but I think that is probably due to how last Xmas went down the toilet thanks to the snow. Our DO doesn't have any spare capacity and for example I had to book nearly two hours extended today. Locally we are supposedly twenty percent up in terms of parcels but it is hard for us posties to determine if that is correct or not.