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[number one]

Working your hours hahaha... we were told this would happen with PDA actuals

[HTPostman]

Maybe I’m overthinking it but I’ve had experience of clock in machines. For 3 years I was sometimes 2 or 3 minutes late, even 10 minutes late because of traffic. I’d always clock out the same number of minutes late to make it up and thought it was fine.

After a year I was invited to a disciplinary meeting with my manager, given a printout of my clocking machine data and told over the course of the year I’d short changed them by 54 minutes and if it happened again I’d be deducted pay, and if it continued after that they may have to look at me leaving for gross misconduct. I might’ve started 54 mins late over a year but I finished 54 mins late too.

But they didn’t care. That’s not how their machine worked. I have a feeling Royal Mails will be similar.

[iHateD2Ds]

We’ve all recently witnessed letters volumes falling and the likes of DPD are miles ahead in terms of tracking ,reroute -ing delivery of parcels .RM really needs to up their game to compete which probably the union acknowledges but obviously there are stumbling to reach an agreement.

[mags999]

we need to seperate letters and parcels to be able to do what they think is needed to be highly competitive probably meaning small standard parcels with letters only

[sindba]

"we need to be able to review - and where needed, revise – our processing and distribution operations, and our-postmen and women’s walks, at least once a year, so that we can adapt these in line with the rapid decline in letter volumes."

This sounds very ominous.

How the hell they do they hope to do full walk revisions at least once a year?

And what will it mean for us? Sounds like a nightmare for working conditions.

[grchpo]

we need to seperate letters and parcels to be able to do what they think is needed to be highly competitive probably meaning small standard parcels with letters only

If this was the case I would be travelling 10 miles to the start of my route then later some one else would have travel that 10 miles to possibly go to a house I had delivered letters to that day. How can this make sense & save money. If someone asks where's their parcel, I tell them it may be here later, madness.

[2yearpostie]

who come in an hour early to finish an hour early purely so they can pick their kids up from school. I can think of at least 4 here who do that. That no doubt will end. If RM do look to cut staff I wouldn’t be surprised if a fair few leave because working their actual hours means they can’t get to the school gates for 3pm.

Ive been told that as long as the mail is here early enough so you are working that this is perfectly acceptable and counted as working your hours, i think they call it flexing.

At the moment, yes.

But if in future it’s linked to your pay, no doubt the computer will purely be looking at you starting on time and finishing on time, so there will be issues. It won’t care if someone has come in early (for free), it’s looking at you clocking in and out on time.

Eg hours 7 till 3.

Clock in 5am, leave 1pm = 2 hours pay docked (even though you’ve worked a full 8 hours)
Clock in 5am, leave 3pm = correct time worked (even though you’ve worked 10 hours)
Clock in 7am, leave 3pm = correct time worked.

We will see but I can see there being some unhappy people.

Thats all very well but my contract has no start and finish times stated on it, just we will give you 25 hours of work. i have to ask the dom what time he wants me to start between 530 and 9 am each day

[postieblueshirt]

we need to seperate letters and parcels to be able to do what they think is needed to be highly competitive probably meaning small standard parcels with letters only

If this was the case I would be travelling 10 miles to the start of my route then later some one else would have travel that 10 miles to possibly go to a house I had delivered letters to that day. How can this make sense & save money. If someone asks where's their parcel, I tell them it may be here later, madness.

if that happens then were just returning to the way we worked before van sharing was thought up.

[Mr Rush]

I do hope the company springs for more than one machine in large offices. In my brief time at Amazon a long time ago, clocking in and out with more than a hundred people at shift change was a nightmare. And that was with multiple units at the choke point, and before social distancing.

[HTPostman]

who come in an hour early to finish an hour early purely so they can pick their kids up from school. I can think of at least 4 here who do that. That no doubt will end. If RM do look to cut staff I wouldn’t be surprised if a fair few leave because working their actual hours means they can’t get to the school gates for 3pm.

Ive been told that as long as the mail is here early enough so you are working that this is perfectly acceptable and counted as working your hours, i think they call it flexing.

At the moment, yes.

But if in future it’s linked to your pay, no doubt the computer will purely be looking at you starting on time and finishing on time, so there will be issues. It won’t care if someone has come in early (for free), it’s looking at you clocking in and out on time.

Eg hours 7 till 3.

Clock in 5am, leave 1pm = 2 hours pay docked (even though you’ve worked a full 8 hours)
Clock in 5am, leave 3pm = correct time worked (even though you’ve worked 10 hours)
Clock in 7am, leave 3pm = correct time worked.

We will see but I can see there being some unhappy people.

Thats all very well but my contract has no start and finish times stated on it, just we will give you 25 hours of work. i have to ask the dom what time he wants me to start between 530 and 9 am each day

Same here. About a year ago they started printing out the start times for PTers for the following week which makes a huge difference. But it’s all on the assumption you’re willing to work early OT.

Eg my start time tomorrow is 7.25. I can’t come in and do 7.25 till 12.25 then toddle off home because they’ll put my OT hours as 7.25 till 10.15, then my 5 hours as 10.15 till 3.15. So in effect my contracted hours tomorrow are 10.15 till 3.15.

Makes it confusing day to day but fortunately I am asked in early each day and am happy to do so.

[clashcityrocker]

Ive been told that as long as the mail is here early enough so you are working that this is perfectly acceptable and counted as working your hours, i think they call it flexing.

If the mail is in and the work is available, why isn't your start time simply brought forward?
No need for starting early or "flexing".

Start times were supposed to be aligned to mail arrivals.

[clashcityrocker]

Makes it confusing day to day but fortunately I am asked in early each day and am happy to do so.

If there is a need to ask you in early every day, then why isn't your (or a more senior part timer who wants it) being offered an increase in their contracted hours?
You know - in line with the national agreement?

[oypostie]

If this was the case I would be travelling 10 miles to the start of my route then later some one else would have travel that 10 miles to possibly go to a house I had delivered letters to that day.

That sounds like Royal Mail logic to me

[Phantom]

Automated clocking in and out ! Going to be a lot of people unhappy about working a full 38 hours a week.

Going to be a lot of managers not been able to fiddle hours too.

[yellowbelly]

Makes it confusing day to day but fortunately I am asked in early each day and am happy to do so.

If there is a need to ask you in early every day, then why isn't your (or a more senior part timer who wants it) being offered an increase in their contracted hours?
You know - in line with the national agreement?

Because that would mean management actually following a process which involves work, rather than writing it down on the back of a fag packet.

And as you will know Clash, if it's done on OT and not contracted hours it means that (currently) those hours are not having to be paid as holiday pay
when the worker concerned is on holiday.