Resourcing to Workload – Annual Leave/Resourcing Guidelines 

Resourcing to Workload – Annual Leave/Resourcing Guidelines 

Further to LTB 559/15 dated 28th August on “Recruitment – Resourcing to Workload – Annual Leave/Resourcing Guidelines – September Review” it has been identified that the link in the Annual Planning Meeting Agenda regarding the full year annual Delivery Traffic Forecast referred to last year’s forecast. This has now been corrected and should be replaced with the up to date link below which can only be accessed via a Royal Mail computer, CWU reps should be able to access this link via the DOMs computer;

https://portal.royalmailgroup.com/sites/A522/DTFTdata/Forecast2016/Report.htm

Branches and representatives should note that when discussing your annual leave plan the above link will give you a forecast that will help you identify the weeks where traffic is historically below your model week (normally June to August) so that extra leave slots over and above the scheduled allocation can be allocated as a consequence of agreed levels of absorption during this period.

It is essential when entering discussions that CWU representatives establish and allocate the unit’s contractual entitlement first which will in turn identify the number of leave reserves required to enable reliable resourcing.
“Vacancies and leave reserve vacancies should remain under constant review to ensure adequate resource is available to meet customer and operational requirements”.
This exercise should include all staff contractual leave, Bank Holiday credits for annual leave that coincides with Bank Holidays and rest days that fall on a Bank Holiday, purchased leave, and any leave days carried over from the previous year.
For example:
If the above added up to 600 weeks to be allocated and covered and 2 weeks were closed for Christmas Pressure the number of leave reserves to cover AWD would be 12, (600 / 50) = 12. Add to this the leave reserves leave 12 @ 5 weeks = 60 weeks would mean another leave reserve (60 / 50) = 1.2.
In this example that would mean that a minimum of 13 leave slots a week for 50 weeks should be available. If you then run your annual traffic forecast and you agree to open up another 3 slots due to agreed absorption through the summer weeks then in the period June to August the number of open slots available should be 16.
 

This is just one example. Units may decide not to employ against all 13 reserves and convert some to S/A or overtime. That is your choice locally.
As a consequence of providing additional leave slots in the summer period there will be leave gaps in the ‘winter’ period which you will need to discuss and agree a plan to deal with. There will be more people available in the unit, bearing in mind traffic/workload traditionally increases during this period. This should be dealt with via weekly resourcing meetings.
In line with the guidance provided in LTB 559/15 any refusal by management not to recruit to the identified reserve staffing levels to facilitate leave entitlement and protect the USO and quality of service should be dealt with through the IR Framework.
Branches and representative should also note that within the Annual Planning Meeting Agenda guidelines it states that a work aid has been developed to assist in annual leave planning;
“This work-aid has been newly developed and will be reviewed jointly by the Royal Mail/ CWU tools group. It has been developed by Royal Mail to help DOMs and Reps jointly make the decisions on how best to fairly share out the total AL blocks for their office against a national workload profile. It is a guide only and should therefore be used accordingly”.
The review mentioned has not taken place; however, it is our intention to undertake this review ASAP. In the meantime this aide should only be used as a guide. CWU representatives should ensure that the principles outlined above regarding establishing annual leave and reserve staffing levels are utilised and applied correctly.
Any enquiries to Bob Gibson’s Office, quoting reference 210

Email address:

” mstewart@cwu.org

Yours sincerely​
Bob Gibson

CWU Assistant Secretary – Outdoor