Changes in Transport - Shift and VR outcomes announced - Multi-skilling concerns remain
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Transport leadership have announced this week the outcomes of the shift review process and voluntary redundancy interest outcomes. A summary of the headlines below:
VR granted to some colleagues, with complaints VR applications being paused for the time being
VR coming from reduction in demand in certain teams and simplification and automation of processes
Most colleagues receiving first preference of shift pattern, with almost all remaining colleagues receiving their second preference
Member concerns remain with multi-skilling
On the 30th Jan leadership announced changes to ways of working in Transport. The changes required all full-time workers to preference for two shifts patterns out of four available patterns. Those working part time would not need to preference for any of the new working patterns. You can check out Unites previous comms on these changes here - Changes in Transport (uniteinlbg.org)
In addition to this the business announced its intentions to multi skill workers in order to help meet customer demand and flex workers to support with any increased departmental demand. We can report that the multi skilling element has caused a lot of member concerns, with workers asking ‘what does this actually mean in practice, and what will be expected of me?’
Summary of worker concerns since the announcement on the 30th Jan:
concerns that multi skilling is not going to work
no clear plan on how it will work in the different Transport areas
workers reporting that they are over worked as things stand, given the plans to make some redundant, there won’t be enough staff to cover the work that is coming in never-mind more skills
no clarity around what is expected from the multi skilling roles and what this means in practice, so workers know what the end state will look like
when colleagues are asked to support other areas will this be on an ad hoc basis or months at a time? Workers reporting the lack of detail is leading them to feel they won’t know if they are coming or going
pay concerns on the back of multi skilling, more skills should equate to more pay
customer services workers concerned about the removal of requotes to Sales, leading them to feel their core skill will be diluted as they support possibly multiple departments
Your Unite team have raised these concerns with senior management and have been provided with reassurances that the multi skilling element will be moderate and that leadership have carefully looked at the impact of resource and workload removal to get the balance right - acting on the back of the feedback received to ensure no one is overstretched. We note that efforts have been undertaken since we began to flag the above member concerns with leadership, with the business issuing a vlog talking through what the changes in practice will look like and associated expectations - more of these vlogs are to be released in the coming months which will hopefully help ease any concerns. Please get in touch if you have any concerns with multi skilling - LBG.Support@unitetheunion.org
In the meantime, we are concerned by the number of members saying they are stressed with the workload at present and the worry these changes will only serve to add more pressure on them. If you feel you are overworked and it is causing any health and well-being concerns then please get in touch so we can support - LBG.Support@unitetheunion.org
Your Unite team will be launching a stress survey in Transport so we can ensure that workers are not being subject to unmanageable levels of workload. It is our hope to work with senior management to get the right balance and it is important you complete this survey to helps us achieve this.
The stress survey will be launched shortly and we will keep you updated on progress.
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Get in touch - LBG.SUPPORT@UNITETHEUNION.ORG