Managerial Bullying

[Mailbag]

I would like to add to my statement by adding that if u have come off long term sick also you are not allowed halfdays. The reasons we were given for not having half days after a holiday was that you should be fully rested and if you were putting in for halfdays when u come back they would think that you didn't really want to be there. They have a duty of care that they act upon if they think you have had too much half days and so they stop you from taking them. Lately whenever I have put in for a half day my managers face turns to a smirk as if to say you'll be lucky or if I'm asked if I want to try and get a half day (when it's quiet) it's a face of empathy and consolation. I have obviously had too many half days but I am not gonna gripe about it too much, I've let my feeling be known and thats as far as I'm gonna push for fear of becoming more of an awkward keyer than I already am. They'll change their tune in a few weeks time, they just seem to go through this same phase every year about this time, not sure why. I guess they are worried people will have no leave left and go sick instead but I'm not a manager and am no privvy to that sort of thing.



PS
from what I have written, don't think my manager is particularly bad or anything, they aren't, I think it was meant as a way to make light of the situation rather than anything else but it doesn't help.

[xxxx]

Well I find that a lot of management and coaches within the MDEC don't understand stats properly, and this counts as an individual and as a team, I find the time frames they judge performance on are too narrow, and if they used the average over a greater period of time it would give a better picture. The sample rate for marking accuracy is too little, and they never try to look for patterns, its just a case of - 'your stats are low this week, I don't care if the rest of the MDEC shares the same decrease in performance, its your fault for not keying properly'

Personally then, I must say that you've had poor coaching. Sounds like a knee jerk reaction to me. I myself have had a recent dip in performance but was only spoken to to make me aware of it (as if i wasn't already), but I wasn't denied half days, shoved into training sets, or immediately coached. And that's the way it should work, with the stats there is a four weekly sheet or something if i'm right, your coach should be looking at that and taking into account, illness, or whether you've just come back from annual leave etc, rule changes you've missed. And i'm quite sure they don't use it as a stick to beat you with and it wouldn't affect their bonus as far as i'm aware as we're never in danger of missing our targets, especially on early shift. We are the best performing shift from all MDEC's, am I right?!

[Mailbag]

I too have suffered a dip in performance recently and have not had to do training sets or been coached, it's just been mentioned to me.

[evilc]

Well I find that a lot of management and coaches within the MDEC don't understand stats properly, and this counts as an individual and as a team, I find the time frames they judge performance on are too narrow, and if they used the average over a greater period of time it would give a better picture. The sample rate for marking accuracy is too little, and they never try to look for patterns, its just a case of - 'your stats are low this week, I don't care if the rest of the MDEC shares the same decrease in performance, its your fault for not keying properly'

Personally then, I must say that you've had poor coaching. Sounds like a knee jerk reaction to me. I myself have had a recent dip in performance but was only spoken to to make me aware of it (as if i wasn't already), but I wasn't denied half days, shoved into training sets, or immediately coached. And that's the way it should work, with the stats there is a four weekly sheet or something if i'm right, your coach should be looking at that and taking into account, illness, or whether you've just come back from annual leave etc, rule changes you've missed. And i'm quite sure they don't use it as a stick to beat you with and it wouldn't affect their bonus as far as i'm aware as we're never in danger of missing our targets, especially on early shift. We are the best performing shift from all MDEC's, am I right?!

NO YOU ARE NOT RIGHT, nights are the best

[xxxx]

Well I find that a lot of management and coaches within the MDEC don't understand stats properly, and this counts as an individual and as a team, I find the time frames they judge performance on are too narrow, and if they used the average over a greater period of time it would give a better picture. The sample rate for marking accuracy is too little, and they never try to look for patterns, its just a case of - 'your stats are low this week, I don't care if the rest of the MDEC shares the same decrease in performance, its your fault for not keying properly'

Personally then, I must say that you've had poor coaching. Sounds like a knee jerk reaction to me. I myself have had a recent dip in performance but was only spoken to to make me aware of it (as if i wasn't already), but I wasn't denied half days, shoved into training sets, or immediately coached. And that's the way it should work, with the stats there is a four weekly sheet or something if i'm right, your coach should be looking at that and taking into account, illness, or whether you've just come back from annual leave etc, rule changes you've missed. And i'm quite sure they don't use it as a stick to beat you with and it wouldn't affect their bonus as far as i'm aware as we're never in danger of missing our targets, especially on early shift. We are the best performing shift from all MDEC's, am I right?!

Then i suggest you take a closer look at the league table form all the teams across all the MDEC sites, the four teams on earlies from Plymouth are consitantly in the top 10! With the top two teams changing places from 1st to 2nd week on week!

NO YOU ARE NOT RIGHT, nights are the best

[hakgirl]

Hello all,
well, it's taken me a while but I've read through a lot of the MDEC related posts on here and am unhappy to see that things have in fact got worse in the past 2yrs instead of better. I'd like to say that I can't believe what's been going on, but having worked there for as long as I did I simply can't! The Plymouth MDEC is without a doubt the worse place (not the job itself but some of the management team and the, well lets call them "work rules" shall we) I have ever worked. I met lots of nice people there, and made some very good friends but even that didn't quell the sickening feeling I had in my stomach every day that I had to go to work. It would be interesting to see the sickness stats again, especially those that involve stress and depression because I truely believe that the main factor for people taking time off in that place is the place/job/managers...people just don't want to be there as they are being bullied at every turn.
I would say to Mr Kimble: I'm sorry to hear what has happened to you and I'm sure you're taking the right steps to do what you can about your situation, keep your chin up and remember that you have a good support system around you...even if they are not always able to get the results you deserve.

UNITED YOU STAND, DIVIDED YOU FALL! TRY TO UNITE THE MDEC IF YOU CAN

[Jessika]

Well I find that a lot of management and coaches within the MDEC don't understand stats properly, and this counts as an individual and as a team, I find the time frames they judge performance on are too narrow, and if they used the average over a greater period of time it would give a better picture. The sample rate for marking accuracy is too little, and they never try to look for patterns, its just a case of - 'your stats are low this week, I don't care if the rest of the MDEC shares the same decrease in performance, its your fault for not keying properly'

very true, the managers really dont understand what the numbers on their spread sheet mean. i once had a manager tell me i could key slower (fewer TPH) in an effort to increase my effective keystrokes per task but i was also told to make sure my KPH didnt drop. when i said i couldnt do that my then manager looked at me like i was being unreasonable and i spent the best part of an hour explaing that that if i'm using less keystorkes per task (because i've become more efficent) and less tasks per hour then how can i keep my KPH the same.

[La]

Managers don't key though do they? Do you expect them to key or do you expect them to manage? Anyway I hear that they are all being re-trained in keying rules etc so are obviously taking steps to improve this issue so that's good news all round.

La
xXx

[Jessika]

surley knowledge of the keying rules should be required to manager properly, how can i be told how to key by someone who doesnt know how to do it themselves?

[La]

I totally agree. But a keyer who keys for 7 hours a day 5 days a week is bound to have a better keying knowledge than their manager after a short while - it is unfair to expect them to know the rules inside and out in the exact way that a keyer does, because their jobs comprise of far more than just keying. They need a very good knowledge but could never know keying the way that we know it. Even a manager that was once a keyer will gradually loose their keying skills. It is the coach's job to act as the bridge between the two really, someone who keys but marks too.

La
xXx

[Mailbag]

La, you are a coach on earlies, no?

[BELIAL]

La is by her own admission a SCAB . I'd guess from her posts a manager too. Icould be wrong about one ,but she said she was a scab

[Mailbag]

La is by her own admission a SCAB . I'd guess from her posts a manager too. Icould be wrong about one ,but she said she was a scab

Well whatever she is, I doubt after that flaming she will be bothering to post anymore, without people like her there is no one to discuss the opposing view.

[mdecwu]

I am the Night Shift Rep at Stockport MDEC, I have no particular problem with anybody reading my posts knowing exactly who I am. The disappointing thing for me is that the MDEC position could be just about the best job in Royal Mail and it is fair to say there is only one reason why it is not mis-MANAGEMENT.

Earlier today I went to a meeting convened by our new MDEC Manager, specifically to develop a plan to recognise bullying & harassment and a strategy to eradicate it, a worthy ideal and one I would have liked to whole-heartedly embrace, unfortunately as I have a colleague/member still on suspension following the last strike and being the victim of a vexatious complaint on the picket-line, I had to forgo this meeting.

This is an appalling error of judgement and a total mishandling of the situation, meaning that all great ideals will only be thwarted by managers feeling they have to be seen to be doing something, rather than judge and deal with a situation on it's merits.

The sooner management can move away from the despotic, dictatorial approach and realise they are not kindergarten teachers, perhaps some of the clouds might lift and resurrecting things like DRAW groups may not seem so futile!!



LIVE LONG AND PROSPER!!! [/quote]

[TrueBlueTerrier]

This is an appalling error of judgement and a total mishandling of the situation, meaning that all great ideals will only be thwarted by managers feeling they have to be seen to be doing something, rather than judge and deal with a situation on it's merits.

The sooner management can move away from the despotic, dictatorial approach and realise they are not kindergarten teachers, perhaps some of the clouds might lift and resurrecting things like DRAW groups may not seem so futile!!

This approach appears endemic throughout all the Royal Mail irrespective of task or geographical location.