why does royal mail hate theyre workforce

[chunk]

The top management dont hate you.
I wish they did as it is at least an emotional response you can work on.
They actually don't see you at all !
The workforce is seen as a wage bill and a source of profit.
Your only a number on the bottom line.
Incidentally I believe they view customers the same way!

[baldrick]

ahh yes, when things are going well for yourself in this twisted form of capitalism, lets keep a lid on it by bringing up failed communist states, and socialist governments who couldnt control the workers. you see the workers dont need controling when they are getting a fair crack at the whip. the top 5% of earners in this world dont want fairness, they want theyre selfish greed to continue, im not a communist, theyre is a fairer way of rewarding the workers in this world, and spreading the wealth around, of course if you are talented, intelligent, or hard working, you must be rewarded for your efforts, but the corporate saleries are disgusting and immoral, and who can blame immigrants from going to countries that pay 5 times the wages of your own country, i would do the same,, unions must protect and increase wages when companys are doing well, and of course if companys are losing money then we must do whatever we can, even pay cuts to protect help out. but when you have companys using immigration to help push down wages and working conditions to maxamise theyre greed its immoral and wrong. unfortunately its hard to reason with people, whos salary depends on them disagreeing with you ?

Well said bb. We're heading into 'austerity measures' for those at the bottom of
society, not the ones at the top who created the problems.
In the 80's the Tories blamed 'militant unions' and the workers for creating problems in the economy.
Now the unions don't have a lot of influence, and it's unrestricted capitalism/market forces which are close to bringing
the whole system down.
But who get's to pay the price??? And of course they will try to blame scapegoats.

[taurus88]

The problem with current working conditions is that they're paying by the hour, and trying to judge their money's worth, rather than by the kilogram, which seems to me to be the fairest measure of a postman's work in present circumstances. I see some postmen on a heavy day having to take out four over-loaded bags. The van driver chucks parcels back at them and they have to incorporate those into their round. They can't reduce their number of bags because they've got two diddy pouch boxes on their round which require a good deal of contortionism in order to get bags in and out. But they finish ten minutes early - albeit completely knackered and looking like death warmed up - so they should have more work, obviously. The union doesn't care, the union is weak, the union is a mouthpiece for the Royal Mail and its new idea of minimalism equalling more. You get less help, less direction, the new postmen are trained for a couple of days then thrown to the frakking sharks, and yet in spite of all this, someone somewhere seems to think everything is just dandy and that this is the future.

[billiard ball]

The problem with current working conditions is that they're paying by the hour, and trying to judge their money's worth, rather than by the kilogram, which seems to me to be the fairest measure of a postman's work in present circumstances. I see some postmen on a heavy day having to take out four over-loaded bags. The van driver chucks parcels back at them and they have to incorporate those into their round. They can't reduce their number of bags because they've got two diddy pouch boxes on their round which require a good deal of contortionism in order to get bags in and out. But they finish ten minutes early - albeit completely knackered and looking like death warmed up - so they should have more work, obviously. The union doesn't care, the union is weak, the union is a mouthpiece for the Royal Mail and its new idea of minimalism equalling more. You get less help, less direction, the new postmen are trained for a couple of days then thrown to the frakking sharks, and yet in spite of all this, someone somewhere seems to think everything is just dandy and that this is the future.

the last 2 quotes are both brilliant, and so true. nice to see im not aline in my anger at the corporate greedy selfish world we find ourselves in.

[rob1n]

RM doesn't hate its workforce, it's the other way 'round! I workin a London MLO, the staff there are mainly good people,the problem is that there are a lot of part time staff who seem to have no loyalty to RM,we sometimes forget that amongst us are people who possibly have two jobs, they come in for the late shift say at about 17:00/18:00 knackered from the day job and not really up to it - they certainly don't give a damn about Royal Mail,it's just another 4-5 hours work.

Staff resent these people without really recognising it, we have given away our duties to these people and not really noticed it, they are, in the main, lazy & have no real understanding of the jobs they do, the average postie will do a good job & used to "go the extra mile" if needed but, nowadays they are tired.

Tired of seeing the job erroded by management, no training or very slapdash training, no standards - standards that we as postmen/women had to meet years ago just to get in the job,the pride has gone out of it and now the good old postie is standing next to a housewife/part-time worker who doesn't care, (no insult to hosewives meant).

But, what of managers?

How would you feel if you had been in the jobs 20-30 years and some young oik, a graduate,takes the shift over, he has the obligatory "6 month operational experience" on his CV and all of a sudden he's the Shift manager,only thing is, he's not capable of managing the shift - he knows it but, won't admit it, he has to be wet nursed by another more experienced manager,this graduate is probably a salary band, he's probably on 40 -50k a year!

So,the line managers have no faith in this idiot and nor do the staff,in the end we all blame RM for employing these people and we eventually hate our employer, we all know that we blame RM for this or that but, truth be told,RM has been pretty fair with us,the pay we get you wouldn't get "outside" for what we do. I have seen people leave RM over the years and they have almost always said " i wish I'd never left RM, I have to work so hard now" never known anyonethat has been more succesful after leaving RM.

All in all it was a good job,I used to be proud to say I worked for RM, but now I'd rather not think about it, the days of job and finish have long gone, the staff who did a fair days work for a fair days pay are all but over.

Simple answer? - if jobs must go then, get rid of higher managers who we really don't need, far too many pen pushers,those graduates, RM admit the graduate scheme is not working, get rid of them unless they really are an asset to the company (as soon as the country comes out of this mess and the job market picks up, they'll leave RM and goforthe job they really wanted when they came out of uni anyway, no loyalty), why are you paying tens of thousands of pounds to certain managers at bonus time- is a shift manager worth 30k in yearly bonus?

I think not, scrap part time working, they don't give a damn about RM, they are, in the main, lazy. send back all acting managers as most are totally useless and are only there because they "tick the right box".

I realise this isn't going to save the business but, these are some suggestions as to what's wrong with RM.

Mad or what?

[taurus88]

That's all stereotyped rubbish, rob1n. Loyalty to an employer is non-existent, period. It doesn't matter whether you're full-time or part-time, you work for the money. Yes, some people have pride in their work and others don't, but the common thing uniting anybody who works for Royal Mail is that they are being paid, they're not working on a volunteer basis. I've personally seen part-time temps who do a good job and full-time perms who don't. It's not about what type of contract you've got, it's the kind of person you are. I personally feel that I have a personal responsibility to the public every time I go out to post - that they frakking hate me simply because I'm a postman is broadly an irrelevance to me.

I think it's very easy for folk what have been in the job for years to say that standards have been gradually eroded, without realising that people who start today are coming into a very different job than the one that the more senior members of the work force would have done. Everything is brand new, yet still, after two days you're out on your won and fending for yourself. It's not just mail any more, it's d2ds, specials, recordeds, parcels, etc. These are all things that will have gradually been thrown upon you if you've been around for a while, but when you get ten hours training (in effect) on the whole shebang, how can you be surprised if somebody is completely out of their depth and not as good as someone who has seen these things evolve gradually over the years?

There are some within Royal Mail who seem to blame part-timers for all the ills in the world, but part-timers are a symptom of the disorganisaton within the company. If you look at other companies they are perfectly capable of training, integrating and developing both their part-time and full-time work force without any noticeable devolution in quality.

[billiard ball]

what can the workers do with this bull, most of us h@te our job now. overworked, overmanaged, and pig sick of being used and abused for a few tenners a week. ok, so what do we expect we are workers, and we are there to help a business to make money. all i can say is that if i were running a business it would matter if your workforce was disillousioned, and morale was low. but when a business is run like royal mail, and lets face it most large businesses are, these problems dont matter, becuase no one is accountable. managers know as long as they do what they are told, and dont ask stupid questions, they will keep there job , and pick up there bonuses. i was thinking why dont we tie up a manager, and wreck your office. at 0800 hours on the 1st monday of november 2010, pass the word.

[Professor Peapod]

what can the workers do with this bull, most of us h@te our job now. overworked, overmanaged, and pig sick of being used and abused for a few tenners a week. ok, so what do we expect we are workers, and we are there to help a business to make money. all i can say is that if i were running a business it would matter if your workforce was disillousioned, and morale was low. but when a business is run like royal mail, and lets face it most large businesses are, these problems dont matter, becuase no one is accountable. managers know as long as they do what they are told, and dont ask stupid questions, they will keep there job , and pick up there bonuses. i was thinking why dont we tie up a manager, and wreck your office. at 0800 hours on the 1st monday of november 2010, pass the word.

I was unfairly dismissed a few months back after working for Royal Mail for over twenty long years. When I joined it was the best job I'd ever had and a great bunch of mates to boot! The managers were easy going and pleasant(how things have changed,eh?) The job in the last few years had left me feeling very low,while in the office and on delivery. Pressurised to do overtime by former fellow workers posing as managers I resisted their prying questions about my finances and refusal to help an ailing company!!! Earlier this year I was blessed with a young son and returned to work after my paternity leave to find myself accused of abusive behaviour towards a customer! I had no idea about what they were talking about but that didn't seem to matter and I was suspended after thirty minutes back in the office. I had a number of interviews in the next few weeks with representation of course but they tried to alter the evidence against me which was noted by my rep while also leaving me suspended! The whole process lasted ten weeks before I was dismissed in the summer. There were no witnesses to this alledged abuse and yet the DOM decided his word was better than mine. I requested an appeal but that floundered,due in part to the investigation not bothering to follow up points I had raised in the interview. I then took up the option to go to Tribunal and discovered that the legal team representing RM have the instincts of Hyenas and warned me that if I lose the tribunal they will seek out costs of up to £10,000 against myself and my family. Now I am left feeling worthless and under even more pressure to abandon my quest for justice in an industry where there is SO MUCH HATE otowards the management and rightly so...

[andy2007]

Why aren't the CWU representing you at Tribunal?

[Professor Peapod]

Why aren't the CWU representing you at Tribunal?

They are in effect mate. But they've taken so long over it and have basically told me I can't win. It's just too slim a line. And with RM's solicitors threatening me,I have to think of my family and property. I'm going to look into other ways to clear myself at the moment but I feel sorry for all you poor sods out there that could well be where I am standing now in the next few months. And don't say it can't happen to you,as I'm not the first postie to be dismissed on the same pretext this year alone.....

[andy2007]

Believe me. I DO, know you're right about that. I very narrowly escaped being in the same position, not very long ago. But I was lead to believe, that if I had lost my job. The CWU would be able to take on my case, and I wouldn't be risking financial ruin, if they did. That's why I asked you why the CWU weren't fighting the case with you.

[Professor Peapod]

Believe me. I DO, know you're right about that. I very narrowly escaped being in the same position, not very long ago. But I was lead to believe, that if I had lost my job. The CWU would be able to take on my case, and I wouldn't be risking financial ruin, if they did. That's why I asked you why the CWU weren't fighting the case with you.

I remember when I'd left my bag unnattended in the street and it was pinched (I'm pretty sure the IB were behind it) about ten years ago. I held my hands up and admitted I was to blame and was prepared for any punishment even the boot,because I was at fault. But after a few weeks I was told that they believed I had nothing to do with the theft and to be careful in the future. (a customer had told me that there was a delivery in the early afternoon which prompted me to believe it was a set up) but I was still guilty,I'd been off the ball and lax on duty. This recent event which led to my dismissal was not my fault and it shows just how vile the management have become,to sack me after my child is born,to ignore my protests of innocence and just treat me like a piece of rubbish has really damaged my confidence! And what sort of person can sleep at night knowing that his lies have led to me getting the sack? I've never cooperated with the management,always finished at the end of my duty whether the delivery has been completed (this was never a problem before last August) which makes me feel that the DOM took this opportunity to settle me once and for all. Royal Mail only like 'yes' men,remember that and you chaps might just keep your jobs...