LTB 527/20 – Post Office: Christmas Opening Hours – Joint Statement

No. 527/2020

4th November 2020

Dear Colleagues

POST OFFICE: CHRISTMAS OPENING HOURS – JOINT STATEMENT

Further to LTB 514/20 dated 26th October, the following Joint Statement regarding Crown Office opening hours for Christmas and New Year has been published:

JOINT STATEMENT POST OFFICE, CWU AND UNITE
Opening hours for Christmas 2020

We have now confirmed the opening hours for the DMB network for this Christmas and wanted to take this opportunity to communicate this and some other related matters jointly.

Opening Hours

Work Time Learning Sessions

To help maintain customer service during the Christmas period, sales meetings on Mondays and WTLL sessions on Tuesdays will be cancelled from 7 December until the New Year. This will allow you to open at 8.30am, but you should still hold a session to brief your team incorporating key Teamtalk messages and prepare your branch for trading.

The only possible exceptions are Tue 8th December for branches in Northern Ireland and Tue 15th December for England, Wales and Scotland branches when December’s Trading Period end accounts need to be completed.

Christmas Eve

• With the primary aim to ensure good customer service, resourcing on Christmas Eve will be organised on the basis of minimal staffing levels. Consequently, Branch Managers will have full discretion to determine a reduced level of colleague attendance. We agree to work on the key principal of having no more colleagues in branch than the manager believes necessary to service our customers on the day whilst taking account of the necessary security required including keys.
• Work will take place at a local level to match colleague attendance to the optimum cover required using opportunities to pay back hours owed and set duty patterns requiring a minimal number of colleagues to work after 12:30.
• Managers will work locally with colleagues to determine who will work in the afternoon of Christmas Eve, utilising as a first priority volunteers where that is possible. Where there are insufficient volunteers, it will be the responsibility of Branch Managers to ensure that colleagues are assigned to duties accordingly to meet the customer requirements up to 16:00.

It is undoubtedly likely to be a busier than normal Christmas period with increased postings of packets and parcels. Thank you for all your efforts during this challenging time, your hard work and commitment to providing excellent customer service is very much appreciated.

Branches and Representatives are urged to bring this LTB and associated Joint Statement to the attention of our members working in Crown Offices. Reps are encouraged to engage with Area Managers to ensure Christmas Eve arrangements described in the Joint Statement are applied in all Crowns. If difficulties are encountered these should be escalated.

Yours sincerely

Andy Furey
Assistant Secretary

LTB 527/20 – Post Office – Christmas Opening Hours – Joint Statement