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Automated Clocking

Postal workers discussion forum. Discuss the day to day life in a Blue Shirt.
deltaforce
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Joined: 01 Jan 2009, 15:29
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Post by deltaforce »

wookie wrote:I am surprised switching to monthly pay hasn't reared its head. i assume it will mean job losses in the pay department.
I would imagine most of it is automated anyway so I can’t see where it would make any difference.
Woody Guthrie
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Joined: 29 Sep 2018, 20:47
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Post by Woody Guthrie »

wookie wrote:I am surprised switching to monthly pay hasn't reared its head. i assume it will mean job losses in the pay department.
Monthly pay was an issue back in the day when it was labour intensive and cost heavy.

Now most of it is automated the admin is not the issue but I think each pay run costs a certain amount to the banksters.

I'll give you a scenario why monthly pay wouldn't work though.

It's pay day and Bob's overtime hasn't been paid.
Manager: Really sorry Bob, it will be in next friday.
Bob is pissed off but at least it's only a week.

Monthly pay.
You'll get it next month Bob.
Cut to Bob being thrown in the back of a police van and the manager an ambulance.
Only dead fish follow the current
deltaforce
Posts: 778
Joined: 01 Jan 2009, 15:29
Gender: Male

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Post by deltaforce »

denhamhoop wrote:
deltaforce wrote:It won’t incentivise any one, all it will achieve is to drag everyone down so that there will be no point in working at a brisk rate.
Welcome to Indoor Processing when you finish your job go and "help"(actually do while they watch you) the slower workers
Like I said. It drags everyone down and nobody gains , operational staff or managerial.
2yearpostie
Posts: 1839
Joined: 03 Mar 2020, 15:36
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Post by 2yearpostie »

Woody Guthrie wrote:
wookie wrote:I am surprised switching to monthly pay hasn't reared its head. i assume it will mean job losses in the pay department.
Monthly pay was an issue back in the day when it was labour intensive and cost heavy.

Now most of it is automated the admin is not the issue but I think each pay run costs a certain amount to the banksters.

I'll give you a scenario why monthly pay wouldn't work though.

It's pay day and Bob's overtime hasn't been paid.
Manager: Really sorry Bob, it will be in next friday.
Bob is pissed off but at least it's only a week.

Monthly pay.
You'll get it next month Bob.
Cut to Bob being thrown in the back of a police van and the manager an ambulance.
plus im sure 140,000 odd pay packet letters going through the post look good on the weekly figures.
afcdibby
PARCELFORCE
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Joined: 26 Mar 2015, 20:58
Gender: Male

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Post by afcdibby »

wookie wrote:I am surprised switching to monthly pay hasn't reared its head. i assume it will mean job losses in the pay department.
It absolutely amazes me that posties are still weekly paid. The administration of this alone must cost a fortune. In Parcelforce it's Monthly pay as it is in most companies.
afcdibby
PARCELFORCE
Posts: 89
Joined: 26 Mar 2015, 20:58
Gender: Male

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Post by afcdibby »

Woody Guthrie wrote:
wookie wrote:I am surprised switching to monthly pay hasn't reared its head. i assume it will mean job losses in the pay department.
Monthly pay was an issue back in the day when it was labour intensive and cost heavy.

Now most of it is automated the admin is not the issue but I think each pay run costs a certain amount to the banksters.

I'll give you a scenario why monthly pay wouldn't work though.

It's pay day and Bob's overtime hasn't been paid.
Manager: Really sorry Bob, it will be in next friday.
Bob is pissed off but at least it's only a week.

Monthly pay.
You'll get it next month Bob.
Cut to Bob being thrown in the back of a police van and the manager an ambulance.
Welcome to Parcelforce. It's a bitch, but I havn't seen a police van outside yet.
afcdibby
PARCELFORCE
Posts: 89
Joined: 26 Mar 2015, 20:58
Gender: Male

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Post by afcdibby »

2yearpostie wrote:
Woody Guthrie wrote:
wookie wrote:I am surprised switching to monthly pay hasn't reared its head. i assume it will mean job losses in the pay department.
Monthly pay was an issue back in the day when it was labour intensive and cost heavy.

Now most of it is automated the admin is not the issue but I think each pay run costs a certain amount to the banksters.

I'll give you a scenario why monthly pay wouldn't work though.

It's pay day and Bob's overtime hasn't been paid.
Manager: Really sorry Bob, it will be in next friday.
Bob is pissed off but at least it's only a week.

Monthly pay.
You'll get it next month Bob.
Cut to Bob being thrown in the back of a police van and the manager an ambulance.
plus im sure 140,000 odd pay packet letters going through the post look good on the weekly figures.
It's a good point but unsustainable.
Zicomurphy
Posts: 579
Joined: 24 Oct 2014, 06:40
Gender: Male

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Post by Zicomurphy »

Also a word of warning to anyone thinking “I work up to or over my time everyday anyway so this won’t affect me”. Can you be certain that will be the case in the future after Royal Mail have implemented their parcel separation plans and with letter volumes in decline? This has the potential to have a big impact on all our working lives (and our lives outside work).
Sugar
EX ROYAL MAIL
Posts: 431
Joined: 08 Jul 2007, 07:57
Gender: Female

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Post by Sugar »

Acca Dacca wrote:
denhamhoop wrote:
deltaforce wrote:It won’t incentivise any one, all it will achieve is to drag everyone down so that there will be no point in working at a brisk rate.
Welcome to Indoor Processing when you finish your job go and "help"(actually do while they watch you) the slower workers
That will happen once and no one will finish early again

Royal Mail will get no more work out of them than if they had went home at 1pm so its futile
"Helping others" as you call it is just the basic management skill of managing your staff and the workload at any given time and if someone has some slack in their day then they should be asked to help out elsewhere. Happens up and down the country in other businesses as part of fulfilling your contracted hours.

What makes RM staff so special they shouldn't be asked to do the same?

Time to wake up and smell the coffee, it's this lack of teamwork within the company, especially DO's, that's going to lead you all into driver owned/self employed duties where you have to only care about yourself otherwise you've no chance of completing on time.

So many arguments happen in DO's because walk "A" is hammered and the OPG is at breaking point whilst walks "B, C & D" are walking out of the door an hour before walk "A" has even completed prep and that OPG knows damn well that they'll all be finished and off home an hour or two before them.

Piss poor managerial organisation at its finest and rife in RM.

Doesn't take an Einstein to realise helping others out and not running out of the door at the earliest opportunity to finish early is going to add hours to the office total and possibly save duties, keep duties to a doable size and protect jobs in the longer term.

Stop giving senior managers the data they need to cut jobs and save money.
Tinoblade
Posts: 252
Joined: 13 Jan 2018, 19:51
Gender: Male

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Post by Tinoblade »

Sugar wrote:
"Helping others" as you call it is just the basic management skill of managing your staff and the workload at any given time and if someone has some slack in their day then they should be asked to help out elsewhere. Happens up and down the country in other businesses as part of fulfilling your contracted hours.

What makes RM staff so special they shouldn't be asked to do the same?

Time to wake up and smell the coffee, it's this lack of teamwork within the company, especially DO's, that's going to lead you all into driver owned/self employed duties where you have to only care about yourself otherwise you've no chance of completing on time.

So many arguments happen in DO's because walk "A" is hammered and the OPG is at breaking point whilst walks "B, C & D" are walking out of the door an hour before walk "A" has even completed prep and that OPG knows damn well that they'll all be finished and off home an hour or two before them.

Piss poor managerial organisation at its finest and rife in RM.

Doesn't take an Einstein to realise helping others out and not running out of the door at the earliest opportunity to finish early is going to add hours to the office total and possibly save duties, keep duties to a doable size and protect jobs in the longer term.

Stop giving senior managers the data they need to cut jobs and save money.
All of this.
Gold Fox
Posts: 313
Joined: 06 Jun 2014, 20:50
Gender: Female

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Post by Gold Fox »

Clocking in and out ... should not be a problem in Mail Centres but in Delivery Offices , I can not see working without hitch !!!
Ricardo44
Posts: 164
Joined: 15 Dec 2013, 20:34
Gender: Male

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Post by Ricardo44 »

The other side of the coin with regards to 'helping' people is that certain people will deliberately go slow if they know that someone else is coming to bail them out. Likewise with others who are just incompetent and will also exploit the same situation.
Acca Dacca
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Post by Acca Dacca »

I’m not disagreeing but when there is no agreed work rate for delivery and it’s done by people of different ages and physiques then it goes without saying that if people done early were told to go and help others the majority will slow down from then on in
If you tolerate this, then your paid break will be next
Woody Guthrie
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Post by Woody Guthrie »

Acca Dacca wrote:I’m not disagreeing but when there is no agreed work rate for delivery and it’s done by people of different ages and physiques then it goes without saying that if people done early were told to go and help others the majority will slow down from then on in
Of course they would and despite what Sugar says this isn't limited to Royal Mail it happens in all industries. The only time it doesn't happen is when the job is time dependent and everyone has a stake in the outcome.

To do that you have to incentivise staff either financially or with a job and finish system or on the flip side punish poor individual or team performance.

If you're just going to go down the work your contracted hours but help out those who are struggling route you'll get absolutely zero engagement from staff and why would you? If the lesson is working harder gets you more work you would need to be pretty dumb to buy into that.

There's also the fact that helping someone every day is either going to make them feel like s**t or make them lazy depending on their character. Neither is a good way to motivate staff.
Only dead fish follow the current
Sugar
EX ROYAL MAIL
Posts: 431
Joined: 08 Jul 2007, 07:57
Gender: Female

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Post by Sugar »

Acca Dacca wrote:I’m not disagreeing but when there is no agreed work rate for delivery and it’s done by people of different ages and physiques then it goes without saying that if people done early were told to go and help others the majority will slow down from then on in
There is, its called a prep test and IIRC when they planned duties going over to van share it was 18 seconds per letter drop and with 1 minute 56 seconds allocated for a parcel drop as a way to average out the walking speed to cover all ages. If people are struggling, going slow or killing a duty then that is down to a competent manager to work out why and take appropriate action to rectify the issue(s). But they don't it's much easier to have you all fighting amongst yourselves calling other people lazy, stupid or an idiot who carves up the job and hound those that are genuinely struggling to do whatever it takes to complete without dealing with a "manager" because it's become too stressful.

The possible future of RM is going to be worst than amazon et al and they will force in as much software as possible to track your every move and question why you weren't doing what the computer said you should have been doing when it said you should be doing it. They are going to automate everything and you won't get much say in the matter.

Just my two cents worth.