Pathway to Change Agreement – Productivity Joint Working Group (PJWG) Joint Communication
Further to LTB 192/21 circulated to Branches and Representatives on 12th May 2021, which set out further joint and comprehensive recommendations from the Productivity Joint Working Group (PJWG), this communication is designed to provide a further update of their continued activity.
Following on from those joint recommendations and as a means of keeping Branches updated on the ongoing work of the PJWG, the attached Joint Communication has been agreed with the Business and was unanimously endorsed by the Postal Executive at a meeting on 27thSeptember 2021.
The PJWG has continued to meet with Royal Mail Group to move forward the joint recommendations in line with Section 2.6 of the Pathway to Change Agreement. The nature and complexities of these talks on productivity and the interlinked issues do not allow for quick and fast outcomes. However, there is a full awareness of the demand by Branches and Representatives to be kept informed and engaged on the wider issues around productivity.
As such, this Joint Communication is designed to provide a refresh on the key productivity joint recommendations and, in addition, set out the main areas of the ongoing work of the PJWG covering the following:
- A training program on WIPWH. Whilst the principle of WIPWH is going to be consistent, there will be targeted literature specific to Mail Centres, RDCs and Delivery Offices, which have completed a table top review and those who are performing a full structural revision;
- Deep dives into the WIPWH performance of five Mail Centres (Sheffield, Peterborough, Swansea, Manchester and Plymouth), a Distribution Centre (YDC) and the following seven Delivery Offices – Mumbles, Dronfield, Great Yarmouth, Bolsover, Cupar, Birmingham East and Wallington;
- The aim of these will be to produce an easy to follow process for every Mail Centre, RDC and Delivery Office to enable them to carry out their own deep dive and validation exercise to ensure that the WIPWH actually reflects their office. This will aim to address anomalies and create the agreed baseline. Once this is completed, offices will then have an agreed base to begin productivity discussions based upon the flight-path;
- The PJWG is going to agree a process where offices attached to single cost centres will be able to ensure that their individual office is able to use the WIPWH metric to accurately reflect the performance of their resourcing unit. A process will be agreed, aiming to separate cost centres where possible to be able to show real performance by resourcing units. This process will be designed for those offices, which currently carry out both revisions and resourcing as separate units within large cost centres. Offices that do not undertake resourcing and revisions separately will continue to report WIPWH as a complete unit;
- The PJWG is going to continue to work on the details regarding how and when delivery offices will remove the unmeasured work hours from the calculation for WIPWH and how this is reflected in the reporting of WIPWH, including the development of the Delivery Opportunity Model;
- We have agreed that Area Processing and Delivery Representatives, who currently have access to Royal Mail Group’s intranet, will be given access to QlikView in order to access the data within the Mail Centre Opportunity Model, as well as the Delivery Opportunity Model, once it has been fully developed. We are currently discussing how this may be further rolled out, thereby enabling all representatives the opportunity to access this information (it should be noted that this has now been achieved for the vast majority of Area Processing Representatives and a communication had been issued to support the remainder getting access);
- We will be reviewing current core Planning Values, the current level of frequency applied to such core values, RCS codes and unmeasured workload / activity, which fall within current measured codes and other aspects of WIPWH to ensure it is as fair as possible against local measures and factors whilst recognising it is not a precise measure.
It has been agreed to synchronise the release of the attached Joint Communication to Branches, Representatives and Royal Mail Group managers alike today. To further support this, a programme of Divisional-based presentations (which could be either face to face or via remote meeting format) of Divisional Representatives and Area Representatives is being arranged. This will enable the PJWG to outline in more detail the actions and next steps contained in the Joint Communication. In advance of this, the Postal Executive will also be taken through the presentation for feedback and relevant information.
This evolving and proactive work on productivity is going to play a key part in our future operational planning and will enable excellent ‘fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay’ performance. It will also protect our members from the information generated by technology, which would otherwise drive the high-pressure, continuous improvement model that was previously preferred by the Employer.
I would like to place on record my thanks to the Productivity Joint Working Group, who have already completed a vast amount of work in a short period of time, whilst continuing to develop and refine our joint approach on this issue. This will ensure that the spirit and intent of the Pathway to Change Agreement is delivered and honoured.
Further information on this activity and outputs of the PJWG will be circulated to Branches and the field in due course. Any enquires on the content of this LTB and the attached Joint Statement should be referred either to the DGS(P) Department or the appropriate operational department.
Yours sincerely,
Terry Pullinger
Deputy General Secretary (Postal)
LTB 416/21 Pathway to Change Agreement – Productivity Joint Working Group (PJWG) Joint Communication
CWU Eastern No5 Branch 
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