Wake up team, you are losing your staff

[fb1969]

Everyone is different and if you felt you couldn't take the way things were then I don't blame you for leaving.

The company don't care about the frontline workforce so, as others have said, you've had a lucky escape.

[blacov]

Thanks for your reply, I'm not trying to paint a horror story , just to share my experience of my first two day's. I thought I would have walked into a more positive environment in the DO which I was based at. The impression that I got from the workplace coach was that training me was an inconvenience, all I wanted was to be trained correctly and not rushed through. I know it may seem a rash decision to hand my notice in after two days but I can read between the lines very well. I don't think it's exceptable to be trained to a poor standard left on a loop and hope for the best on day two. It is a shame I still want to be a postie, but wanted to be trained by somebody that gives a ..... about the person that they are training. I thought I would of got training in the depot for a few days to understand how to sort mail and parcels, and then go out.

I've worked with a few new starters over the years, once they've had their few days with a workplace coach. I think all of them have said, they've learnt far more working with me than with the WPC.
Because it's the sort of job you learn by actually doing it!

In my opinion it takes a while to get to know the job properly, especially with the PDA's, scanning and knowing where to get a signature and when to take a photo, etc. Added to trying to throw in a walk and finding your way around once you're out on the street.

These things may sound easy to those who've been in the job for a while, but to a new starter there's a lot to take in!

One bloke said to me once, that working for RM is like driving down a motorway – everything is 100 miles an hour and there's no time to take everything in.
I told him that after a while it would become first like an A-road, and eventually a country lane.
He turned out to become a perfectly good and respected postie and one that knew a quite a few different walks.

I can understand your frustration and I think it's one of those jobs that you're either suited to or you're not. But in my personal opinion you haven't really given it much of a chance.

Good luck in whatever you do next.

Yeah thanks for the reply, it's a real shame I still want to be a postie, but to be trained correctly, not just off you go and see what happens and make as many mistakes as you like, I don't think customers would be to happy with the training regime. On my first day I met another work place coach earlier in the morning he appeared to be really positive and friendly.

The training is s**t.
But do you want to work for the company or not?
Persevere, put yourself about, ask questions, etc.
The best way to learn the job is honestly experience, in which you had basically zero. You have to learn a great deal of it from your own initiative.
It takes a while to learn the ropes, let alone get efficient and confident in it.
That can take some people a few months, others within about a month - 6 weeks.
It sounds like you went in with a negative attitude and got put off straight away.
If you had just stuck it out, you’d have learned how to do it, and as soon as you were a acclimatised and up to speed, you may have even begun to enjoy it...
I know I did.
You will never know though now...
That’s how I don’t understand how you can chuck it after two days.

Good luck in the future though and hopefully can take something positive from it .

Thank you for the reply. No I went in with a positive attitude even though I was told to get there for 06:00 on my first day, but found out it should have been 08:00hrs. The first postie I met apologised on behalf of Royal Mail for the confusion he was really great he said he was a workplace coach. I then met the other WPC he was okay but was rushing things through, giving a brief overview of the frame etc which i think yes has thrown me off. I can't see how anybody would pick things up with that style of training. I understand about you have to do the job to get the experience, just wanted to be trained correctly and I would have been good to go, and yes I still want the to be a postie

I agree that giving it up after only two days could be slightly premature. However I can perfectly understand why you did it and I think you have made a good decision.

If I went to a well known company, with market leading pay and benefits and on my first I was told incorrect start time only to be accidentally met by a random postie with no manager on site. If I was told next to nothing and paired with a guy who doesn't even try to hide that I am a burden, if I was thrown at the deep end on day two.

I would have done the same unless I was desperate for a job. I know very well you made your decision based on the fact that you were pretty much ignored from day one by pretty much everybody who should have made you feel welcome and at ease, especially during your first days. You have done yourself a favour.

[Bearcat@76]

Thanks for your reply, I'm not trying to paint a horror story , just to share my experience of my first two day's. I thought I would have walked into a more positive environment in the DO which I was based at. The impression that I got from the workplace coach was that training me was an inconvenience, all I wanted was to be trained correctly and not rushed through. I know it may seem a rash decision to hand my notice in after two days but I can read between the lines very well. I don't think it's exceptable to be trained to a poor standard left on a loop and hope for the best on day two. It is a shame I still want to be a postie, but wanted to be trained by somebody that gives a ..... about the person that they are training. I thought I would of got training in the depot for a few days to understand how to sort mail and parcels, and then go out.

I've worked with a few new starters over the years, once they've had their few days with a workplace coach. I think all of them have said, they've learnt far more working with me than with the WPC.
Because it's the sort of job you learn by actually doing it!

In my opinion it takes a while to get to know the job properly, especially with the PDA's, scanning and knowing where to get a signature and when to take a photo, etc. Added to trying to throw in a walk and finding your way around once you're out on the street.

These things may sound easy to those who've been in the job for a while, but to a new starter there's a lot to take in!

One bloke said to me once, that working for RM is like driving down a motorway – everything is 100 miles an hour and there's no time to take everything in.
I told him that after a while it would become first like an A-road, and eventually a country lane.
He turned out to become a perfectly good and respected postie and one that knew a quite a few different walks.

I can understand your frustration and I think it's one of those jobs that you're either suited to or you're not. But in my personal opinion you haven't really given it much of a chance.

Good luck in whatever you do next.

Yeah thanks for the reply, it's a real shame I still want to be a postie, but to be trained correctly, not just off you go and see what happens and make as many mistakes as you like, I don't think customers would be to happy with the training regime. On my first day I met another work place coach earlier in the morning he appeared to be really positive and friendly.

The training is s**t.
But do you want to work for the company or not?
Persevere, put yourself about, ask questions, etc.
The best way to learn the job is honestly experience, in which you had basically zero. You have to learn a great deal of it from your own initiative.
It takes a while to learn the ropes, let alone get efficient and confident in it.
That can take some people a few months, others within about a month - 6 weeks.
It sounds like you went in with a negative attitude and got put off straight away.
If you had just stuck it out, you’d have learned how to do it, and as soon as you were a acclimatised and up to speed, you may have even begun to enjoy it...
I know I did.
You will never know though now...
That’s how I don’t understand how you can chuck it after two days.

Good luck in the future though and hopefully can take something positive from it .

Thank you for the reply. No I went in with a positive attitude even though I was told to get there for 06:00 on my first day, but found out it should have been 08:00hrs. The first postie I met apologised on behalf of Royal Mail for the confusion he was really great he said he was a workplace coach. I then met the other WPC he was okay but was rushing things through, giving a brief overview of the frame etc which i think yes has thrown me off. I can't see how anybody would pick things up with that style of training. I understand about you have to do the job to get the experience, just wanted to be trained correctly and I would have been good to go, and yes I still want the to be a postie

I agree that giving it up after only two days could be slightly premature. However I can perfectly understand why you did it and I think you have made a good decision.

If I went to a well known company, with market leading pay and benefits and on my first I was told incorrect start time only to be accidentally met by a random postie with no manager on site. If I was told next to nothing and paired with a guy who doesn't even try to hide that I am a burden, if I was thrown at the deep end on day two.

I would have done the same unless I was desperate for a job. I know very well you made your decision based on the fact that you were pretty much ignored from day one by pretty much everybody who should have made you feel welcome and at ease, especially during your first days. You have done yourself a favour.

Thank you for the reply.

[WASD]

. So I think by day two I had more than a gut full of the RM experience. Like I have said I enjoyed delivering and speaking to customers with no problem, the training and attitude from the work place coach was terrible.

I fall into the category of agreeing you made the right choice of leaving. The office you worked at has the tell tail signs of a failing office, (a widespread national problem it seems if this forum is anything to go by). If you had stuck it out and learnt the job, the corner cuts, how to square up to managers to fight for your rights (just working your hours and not being bullied), you'd still have to deal with these issues on a daily basis, something that eats away at mental health for some.

It's incredibly hard to take any pride in a job by doing it well when you have narccistic colleagues and bullying managers.

I went for an interview at one place and they didn't even know i was coming, still got offered the job, then expected me to go site before being introduced to my manager on my start day. They begged me to start saying that a van was ordered and to be delivered to my house already after i turned around and said i wasn't going to work for them. No chance. These companies are common and never change.

The only reason i can think of you made the wrong choice is if you're not financially stable, or there would be a good office you could transfer to.

2 days is a bit premature, but if you read these forums you can be certain that you're not the only one joining then leaving quickly.

The lack of training is a big health and safety issue. We had an agency guy go to hospital due to a dog, having to learn the hard way when it comes dog attacks is a joke, and a law suit waiting to happen. Said agency guy i never saw again.

Good luck bud, you've not missed out on much, we might be going on strike soon enough.

[wrongturn]

!

[Clappedoutpostie]

I wonder how todays shenanigans will help RM’s massive retention problems. We had another 2 go last week with no notice. Another 3 or 4 who are within a year of retirement talking about getting out.

I hope these new parcel machines can sort them down to individual walk level as there won’t be anyone left who knows the sorting left at this rate. Madness.

[SpacePhoenix]

I hope these new parcel machines can sort them down to individual walk level as there won’t be anyone left who knows the sorting left at this rate. Madness.

Doubtful. Smaller MCs would need about 1,000 selections on the outputs and I don't believe the machines have anything like that amount. Also apparently an item can only be run through a given machine a single time

[nrgee]

Well as I'm sat on my sofa at home I'm just about to do the same. 37 years service and I'm leaving. Sick of the total idiot management, plus RM as an employee. I have no trust in it as a company. Good bye for good.

[Norfolk 'N' Chance]

I too am confused why you chucked it so quickly. You didn't even get to the point where you were thrown in the deep end on a walk on your own and had no experience of. Or given a partner who was rude and difficult to communicate with. I don't get it. You didn't get the "full" RM experience!

I tend to agree Jahpostie, but I can see both sides of this. Im one of the few (the 1 in 8) thats still here after 6 months, having started in November as n xmas casual. Like many ive been assigned many a rural duty blind and id just get on with it to see what happens. Inevitably due to not knowing where to turn left, right etc parts didnt get done and i brought mail back. After 2 or three attempts at trying to learn a duty without any guidance id go back and say to the lino and dom. Im ok on this part, but i need to be shown these parts of the duty. On both occasions that resulted in a shaddowing day to learn the duty, which solved my issues. Ive certainly made a few mistakes, but i dont dwell on them, just treat them as a learning experience and move on.

Whilst this is a physical job, i have to be honest and say that during my many years in construction, ive worked just as hard if not harder. If your used to manual work then its fine. We had a shop manager start at our DO in April and he lasted less than a week. By all accounts it took him 5 hrs to do one road on a walk. how true that is i dont know, but if he was doing it blind i suppose its possible.

[eastie]

Whilst this is a physical job, i have to be honest and say that during my many years in construction, ive worked just as hard if not harder. If your used to manual work then its fine. We had a shop manager start at our DO in April and he lasted less than a week. By all accounts it took him 5 hrs to do one road on a walk. how true that is i dont know, but if he was doing it blind i suppose its possible.

Well I dont know how big your walks are but 25,000 to 28,000 step walks can easily be 5 to 5.5 hours.
Just because yours is an easy walk doesn't mean all walks are the same

[priority102]

Well as I'm sat on my sofa at home I'm just about to do the same. 37 years service and I'm leaving. Sick of the total idiot management, plus RM as an employee. I have no trust in it as a company. Good bye for good.

Speaking as someone who left last year after 25 years....you will NOT regret it one single bit. Best decision I made in many years, I didn't realise just how the toxic - yes toxic - atmosphere in our office was eating into me and affecting my mental health until I was out of it. My family and friends reckon I am a new human being now!

When I started it was a service I was proud to wear the uniform of. Disciplined, everyone wore uniform (and decent clobber is was then), plenty of banter, and if you mis-prepped a letter to the wrong street on your first delivery you took it back on your second delivery....that's how hot things were. It really was the dogs bollocks of jobs.

Now? WHOLE WALKS remain in the office if there is no cover. Uniform is not only poor quality, but how many do you see actually wearing full uniform?
I saw a "postie" recently who had one purple sock, one white sock, non uniform trainers, a tatty hi viz, and he was wearing a blue shirt underneath the hi viz that he had literally torn the sleeves off to make it like a vest.....with all the strands of cotton still hanging. He was an absolute disgrace, as were the management who allowed him out on the streets as a representative of the company.

Many thousands of pounds spent to monitor every move you make via PDA Actuals, many thousands also spent monitoring every twist and turn, stop/start/idling time/going round corners too fast/accelerating too quick/exact location in the vans via trimble. All money that could be spent on staff and providing a decent service to customers.

One after the other of exciting national agreements - each telling us that they are the future and re-invention of the job, but always in tatters after only months.

My one regret? That I didn't get out sooner. I would not return to this job if it was the last job on offer.

[norris9]

If anyone is still going in early, not taking breaks and therefore working for this company for free, whilst in the meantime the company only thinks you deserve a 2% pay rise, but the wealthy people at the top are giving themselves millions of pounds in pay rises and bonuses....

what are you doing?

Anyone begrudgingly doing overtime to clear their rounds......I suggest you stop. Cut off.

The company will not go ABOVE and BEYOND for you as you do for them. They see you as a pawn to play with to make them richer.

[Navalron]

Well as I'm sat on my sofa at home I'm just about to do the same. 37 years service and I'm leaving. Sick of the total idiot management, plus RM as an employee. I have no trust in it as a company. Good bye for good.

Speaking as someone who left last year after 25 years....you will NOT regret it one single bit. Best decision I made in many years, I didn't realise just how the toxic - yes toxic - atmosphere in our office was eating into me and affecting my mental health until I was out of it. My family and friends reckon I am a new human being now!

When I started it was a service I was proud to wear the uniform of. Disciplined, everyone wore uniform (and decent clobber is was then), plenty of banter, and if you mis-prepped a letter to the wrong street on your first delivery you took it back on your second delivery....that's how hot things were. It really was the dogs bollocks of jobs.

Now? WHOLE WALKS remain in the office if there is no cover. Uniform is not only poor quality, but how many do you see actually wearing full uniform?
I saw a "postie" recently who had one purple sock, one white sock, non uniform trainers, a tatty hi viz, and he was wearing a blue shirt underneath the hi viz that he had literally torn the sleeves off to make it like a vest.....with all the strands of cotton still hanging. He was an absolute disgrace, as were the management who allowed him out on the streets as a representative of the company.

Many thousands of pounds spent to monitor every move you make via PDA Actuals, many thousands also spent monitoring every twist and turn, stop/start/idling time/going round corners too fast/accelerating too quick/exact location in the vans via trimble. All money that could be spent on staff and providing a decent service to customers.

One after the other of exciting national agreements - each telling us that they are the future and re-invention of the job, but always in tatters after only months.

My one regret? That I didn't get out sooner. I would not return to this job if it was the last job on offer.

Priority 102 EXACTLY. The way it should be.