Royal Mail Group: Hybrid Working Policy – Decision to Impose Four Day Working in the Workplace

Royal Mail Group: Hybrid Working Policy – Decision to Impose Four Day Working in the Workplace

Further to LTB 180/26 dated 22^ndJune.

It is fully recognised that Royal Mail’s unilateral decision to impose four-day working in the workplaces is highly unpopular amongst some of our Admin members and this has been demonstrated by the level of correspondence received from Branches and directly from members in the last couple of weeks.  Without exception, the complaints centre on the domestic upheaval being created by management, which we believe to be utterly unnecessary, as there wasn’t a problem with the current arrangements.

The purpose of this LTB is for Reps and Branches to share this information with members who have raised objections to the actions of Royal Mail.  For the avoidance of any doubt, the Union put forward a robust argument to Royal Mail, making it abundantly clear that their actions would be very badly received by our Admin members. Unfortunately, RM were not prepared to listen to our arguments, even though they fully understood that their actions would be extremely contentious with our Admin members who have worked hybrid arrangements for many years now.

To put this matter into perspective, the Union does not have a Collective Agreement in relation to hybrid working, with the vast majority of these arrangements being introduced as a result of the pandemic in 2020/21.  It is however recognised that some members worked from home prior to this, with the full support of their managers.  Senior management’s attitude in regard to this matter is to hide behind the contract of employment, which stipulates that members are required to attend a place of work and additionally, management argue that the hybrid working arrangements were always discretionary.

In the absence of a Collective Agreement surrounding these matters, RM is proceeding as planned, although management have confirmed there is a degree of flexibility around the introduction date as it is recognised that childcare arrangements will have already been made by our members for the school summer holidays.

Members are advised that if the changes to the hybrid arrangements are problematic for them personally, they should consider applying for Flexible Working Arrangements (RM’s Working Arrangements Policy attached) via their line manager and seek support from their local CWU Representative if required.  There is also an appeals process if the request is rejected by the manager.  Also, I can see no good reason why members should not be able to lodge a Raising Concern if it is felt that local management are being unreasonable in their rejection of Flexible Working Arrangements.

In essence, despite the union’s best endeavours, Royal Mail has made an executive decision to move from three days in the office to four, and this decision was conveyed in a wider business communication from Alistair Cochrane, CEO.  It needs to be emphasised that we did challenge the rationale behind this change and it is disappointing that Royal Mail has not been prepared to listen to our legitimate concerns and is pressing ahead regardless of the frustrations felt by many of our members.  In these circumstances, the advice above should be considered and actioned where appropriate.

Yours sincerely

Andy Furey

Assistant Secretary 

Attachment 1: LTB200.26 RM Group – Hybrid Working Policy – Four Day Working in the Workplace

Attachment 2: Att. to LTB200.26 – RM Working Arrangements Procedure

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