RMCtv : Sickness still a problem : Chief Operating Officer

[SpacePhoenix]

Asking an ageing workforce to do more and more work with no extra reward.
Making people walk further
Making people deliver more
Tracking people’s movements
Giving people additional daily tasks
Questioning their work rate
Refusing them annual leave
Making them work from old tatty vans
Making them take 2/3 days mail out because the walk hasn’t been covered for a few days
Forcing revisions in even after staff have raised concerns

Hummm... I wonder why sickness is high?

Very well said,, I can see royal mail collapsing very soon.. the whole business will cease to exist. It been destroyed that much...

The government would have to step in. There's loads of alternatives for sending parcels (but I doubt any of them would have anywhere near the required capacity) but there's no alternative for sending letters

[Sir Henry]

Weird, I just know everything that is on here, where's mastermind?

Sorry guys it's true but it was yonks ago...

I've heard from some oldens (one was my Dom ) that years ago the rep used to come around with a list of when you'd gone sick and tell you that next week or so it was your turn to have a week off as you haven't had time off for a while.

Sick list

my dad was a postie back in the fifties and sixties, the union used to keep
a check on your sick leave and tell you when you were due your next
spell of leave he says they used to be called whitly days, and every postie
took their due turn of sick leave

Blimey PM. If i were of a more paranoid mindset I might well think someone was trawling through your posts looking for s**t to fling.

[Woody Guthrie]

We all have back in the day stories.

I used to watch the night shift go into the British Leyland plant with sleeping bags and pillows under their arms.

Different days.

[Hyrrokkin]

Asking an ageing workforce to do more and more work with no extra reward.
Making people walk further
Making people deliver more
Tracking people’s movements
Giving people additional daily tasks
Questioning their work rate
Refusing them annual leave
Making them work from old tatty vans
Making them take 2/3 days mail out because the walk hasn’t been covered for a few days
Forcing revisions in even after staff have raised concerns

Hummm... I wonder why sickness is high?

Very well said,, I can see royal mail collapsing very soon.. the whole business will cease to exist. It been destroyed that much...

Get a grip - rubbish

[Marshamp11]

Terry do you actually exist?

Maybe he is off sick.

[Cedar_Room]

Terry do you actually exist?

Maybe he is off sick.

I chuckled at this. Gallows humour at its best

[wookie]

I will drop my few cents. Some may disagree with me but hopefully some will share my opinion. Royal Mail sickness problem is quite deeply rooted in covid pandemic. There a few groups of people emerging from it.

Terrified of catching covid and potential health complications.
Happy to take a free ticket to go off and with compulsory 10days isolation triggered off a track&trace ping (now scrapped)
Regular calculated sick leave. Call them system abusers if you like.
Genuine sickness very often due to fatigue/stress from workloads that are unachievable.

All of the above has been greatly exacerbated by increased volumes especially during last 2years as well as very badly timed and poorly designed, forced revisions.

In my opinion if not for the revisions now with the workloads decreasing slightly we would start to record a steep fall in sickness absences. This is a great place to touch on the potential pay deal. In order to give us anything remotely in line with inflation I am pretty certain Royal Mail will try to attack sick leave benefit and if not scraping paid sick leave completely they will try to weaken it significantly so it becomes difficult to go sick and still get paid.

I agree with what you are saying. I would like to add I am now in an office where 2 people are at work WITH covid, but have had pressure put on them straight away as soon as they went sick, they do not want a 'stage' warning and have that said to them down the phone.

[A2B]

I will drop my few cents. Some may disagree with me but hopefully some will share my opinion. Royal Mail sickness problem is quite deeply rooted in covid pandemic. There a few groups of people emerging from it.

Terrified of catching covid and potential health complications.
Happy to take a free ticket to go off and with compulsory 10days isolation triggered off a track&trace ping (now scrapped)
Regular calculated sick leave. Call them system abusers if you like.
Genuine sickness very often due to fatigue/stress from workloads that are unachievable.

All of the above has been greatly exacerbated by increased volumes especially during last 2years as well as very badly timed and poorly designed, forced revisions.

In my opinion if not for the revisions now with the workloads decreasing slightly we would start to record a steep fall in sickness absences. This is a great place to touch on the potential pay deal. In order to give us anything remotely in line with inflation I am pretty certain Royal Mail will try to attack sick leave benefit and if not scraping paid sick leave completely they will try to weaken it significantly so it becomes difficult to go sick and still get paid.

I agree with what you are saying. I would like to add I am now in an office where 2 people are at work WITH covid, but have had pressure put on them straight away as soon as they went sick, they do not want a 'stage' warning and have that said to them down the phone.

I understand the reasons why people are working after testing positive but it will cause others to go off sick, it's typical RM paying pounds to save pennies

[norris9]

1. Stop stressing your staff out. If you don't harass your staff they won't go off with stress.

2. Stop pressurising Posties to stay out to complete, the job is exhausting. Go and walk 10+ miles a day 5 days a week, bending, twisting, with a bag on your shoulder up and down steps/slopes. Aching everyday, especially when we're done for the day and trying to relax at home.


Walks should be reduced. Walking 10+ miles a day is actually absolutely ridiculous. Try walking 10 miles just once a week. Most people would be exhausted just doing it once, they'd go home in pain so tired that they'd fall straight to sleep as soon as they get home.