Angard shift allocation and notifications

[paulus103]

Re paulus posting , skilled angard casuals getting more shifts, do you mean experienced, rather than skilled?
In my opinion, i would classify the work as unskilled, you do not need any tickets and the bare minimum training , i normally work inward parcels sort, inward tacked heavy & large sort, opening tso bags into conveyor belts, i don't know about the machines, and if they require you to have significant training, my induction was more health & safety , rather than any training

Know the postcodes, know where to push work to e.g. lanes, are known to be reliable and work hard. Depending on the shift it might also include Locker area, missorts, despatch, scanning tracked items to right postcodes/area or people that can be trusted to work without management oversight - doesn't include bag opening, DTRE, workers who are slow, unreliable etc.

Some of these areas strictly speaking should not have Angard workers in there and in the long term isn't sustainable.

[sameer1haq]

Re paulus posting , skilled angard casuals getting more shifts, do you mean experienced, rather than skilled?
In my opinion, i would classify the work as unskilled, you do not need any tickets and the bare minimum training , i normally work inward parcels sort, inward tacked heavy & large sort, opening tso bags into conveyor belts, i don't know about the machines, and if they require you to have significant training, my induction was more health & safety , rather than any training

Know the postcodes, know where to push work to e.g. lanes, are known to be reliable and work hard. Depending on the shift it might also include Locker area, missorts, despatch, scanning tracked items to right postcodes/area or people that can be trusted to work without management oversight - doesn't include bag opening, DTRE, workers who are slow, unreliable etc.

Some of these areas strictly speaking should not have Angard workers in there and in the long term isn't sustainable.

Are you able to see or check if ur a skilled or unskilled worker?

[SpacePhoenix]

Re paulus posting , skilled angard casuals getting more shifts, do you mean experienced, rather than skilled?
In my opinion, i would classify the work as unskilled, you do not need any tickets and the bare minimum training , i normally work inward parcels sort, inward tacked heavy & large sort, opening tso bags into conveyor belts, i don't know about the machines, and if they require you to have significant training, my induction was more health & safety , rather than any training

We have probably a half dozen casuals/Angard mech trained. Don't think they do the full course which is iirc 3 days long

[Warbo]

Re paulus posting , skilled angard casuals getting more shifts, do you mean experienced, rather than skilled?
In my opinion, i would classify the work as unskilled, you do not need any tickets and the bare minimum training , i normally work inward parcels sort, inward tacked heavy & large sort, opening tso bags into conveyor belts, i don't know about the machines, and if they require you to have significant training, my induction was more health & safety , rather than any training

Know the postcodes, know where to push work to e.g. lanes, are known to be reliable and work hard. Depending on the shift it might also include Locker area, missorts, despatch, scanning tracked items to right postcodes/area or people that can be trusted to work without management oversight - doesn't include bag opening, DTRE, workers who are slow, unreliable etc.

Some of these areas strictly speaking should not have Angard workers in there and in the long term isn't sustainable.

I agree with experienced over skilled. A skilled job is recognised training/studies over a set period of time and with a qualification when finished. Doctor/nurse .Engineer and so forth. Tradesperson/craftsperson.
I have worked the areas mentioned sometimes a number of them per shift and see no reason to "big" any of them up. I have my preference and managers know this. The most involved for me is TSO with the amount of different class/types of mail and pushing to correct areas. Lot harder than scanning in a ring. The key is start steady, work steady and finish steady.

[Warbo]

Our mail centre uses joinedup to book agency workers.
The system doesn't allow direct booking e.g. the mail centre does not have the ability to pay people. Hours are processed and added to joinedup app - Angard is the only one who can process the worked shifts.

However, given how Angard work e.g. they just send anybody (which caused shifts to fail when all new workers turned up).
Workers are now split between skilled and non-skilled.
The majority of workers needed are skilled.
I don't see favouritism but it does mean skilled workers work more shifts.
The overall quality of worker has improved.

So there will be no blank sheet for "not on the list"/2called at short notice" etc workers.
Are the sheets not processed by the book room?

Workers sign sheets, book room add hours to joined up - they have to be on the list sent by Angard as no way to add hours otherwise
At end of the payroll week, hours are approved by Angard and then processed by angard payroll.
There can be a blank sheet but very rarely however people need to be assigned the shifts prior to arrival otherwise no way to enter their hours.

When people work without being on joinedup - mistakes do happen it takes months for payment to be authorised and processed.

That is incorrect. There is a sheet for people who are called in at short notice. These are to cover no shows/sickness/holdups with mail/unpredicted volume. It also covers assigned people who have been missed of the sign in sheet. Never heard of any problems getting added and paid correctly.
I have witnessed wrong rates and times on joined up but correct on the relevant pay slip but also any short payment has always been sorted quickly by the next payday.

[paulus103]

Our mail centre uses joinedup to book agency workers.
The system doesn't allow direct booking e.g. the mail centre does not have the ability to pay people. Hours are processed and added to joinedup app - Angard is the only one who can process the worked shifts.

However, given how Angard work e.g. they just send anybody (which caused shifts to fail when all new workers turned up).
Workers are now split between skilled and non-skilled.
The majority of workers needed are skilled.
I don't see favouritism but it does mean skilled workers work more shifts.
The overall quality of worker has improved.

So there will be no blank sheet for "not on the list"/2called at short notice" etc workers.
Are the sheets not processed by the book room?

Workers sign sheets, book room add hours to joined up - they have to be on the list sent by Angard as no way to add hours otherwise
At end of the payroll week, hours are approved by Angard and then processed by angard payroll.
There can be a blank sheet but very rarely however people need to be assigned the shifts prior to arrival otherwise no way to enter their hours.

When people work without being on joinedup - mistakes do happen it takes months for payment to be authorised and processed.

That is incorrect. There is a sheet for people who are called in at short notice. These are to cover no shows/sickness/holdups with mail/unpredicted volume. It also covers assigned people who have been missed of the sign in sheet. Never heard of any problems getting added and paid correctly.
I have witnessed wrong rates and times on joined up but correct on the relevant pay slip but also any short payment has always been sorted quickly by the next payday.

Not at our place. Blank sheets are very rare. Shifts are authorised and emailed to us by Angard - if it is short notice then on the sheet in the confirmed column it is set as no. If no clerk is available to print the sheet, people have to write on the bottom, but this is rare. Pay problems occur when people work without being authorised by joinedup - there is no quick way for them to be paid as it requires an SDL form to be processed.

[Mr Angryard]

From the replies it is clear that experiences vary.

The good news is that I have had a reply from RM to my original email to Michael Jeavons (the reply is not from him, but credit for passing it on for follow up and not just ignoring).

I am now due to have a conversation with someone at RM Angard and hope to get some progress so that all can see shift allocation is fair, and shift notifications are sensible and reasonable.

It is fair to say that First Call people have been having similar problems with lack of shifts, but some getting a few and some getting none...so I will include them in the discussion.

My aim is to positively try to get progress, using only what I know from my experience and that of my colleagues at the centre where I work (sometimes). I would welcome any specific examples of the issues in my OP, or just support for the effort to improve things.

I see some fairly serious allegations above of various sorts. I will not get into those as without definitive evidence that is minefield..just so you know please keep any comments relevant to the issues I want to raise, and it would be helpful if they are concise as possible.

Thanks and will report back.

[2chorizon]

No report back?
Did you have your meeting?

[Warbo]

No report back?
Did you have your meeting?

Any updates?

[Warbo]

How is everyone doing as regards shift allocations?

[radicalspirit]

I have not been offered one shift in almost two months. I called Angard and they said is it due to a lack of mail volume, but I know for a fact that new starters are working at my mail center.

[Xeonus]

Always new starters every month it seems at my mail centre.
Last week was rough for a lot of colleagues as the main person who allocated the shifts was on holiday. I know a few that had zero for the first time in a long time and a few that had just the one shift. I had two myself.

Length of shift has also definitely dropped from 7-8 hours down to 5-6 hours lately but that is preferable if it means more people can work perhaps.

Online shopping ain't as popular as it was during covid peak times but definitely higher than it was the summer before covid appeared! Again, this varies a lot depending on which mail centre you are at perhaps.

[SpacePhoenix]

We seem to have a lot of new Angard recently as well, not seen some of our regulars recently. I'm wondering if RM are trying to get them experience of the job, in preparation for the start of Autumn pressure

[Warbo]

Ah! So to sum up Groundhog Day. Quelle surprise!

[Warbo]

From the replies it is clear that experiences vary.

The good news is that I have had a reply from RM to my original email to Michael Jeavons (the reply is not from him, but credit for passing it on for follow up and not just ignoring).

I am now due to have a conversation with someone at RM Angard and hope to get some progress so that all can see shift allocation is fair, and shift notifications are sensible and reasonable.

It is fair to say that First Call people have been having similar problems with lack of shifts, but some getting a few and some getting none...so I will include them in the discussion.

My aim is to positively try to get progress, using only what I know from my experience and that of my colleagues at the centre where I work (sometimes). I would welcome any specific examples of the issues in my OP, or just support for the effort to improve things.

I see some fairly serious allegations above of various sorts. I will not get into those as without definitive evidence that is minefield..just so you know please keep any comments relevant to the issues I want to raise, and it would be helpful if they are concise as possible.

Thanks and will report back.

Any progress made with this issue?
Any update would be good!