This is the latest post to update members with feedback from the latest correspondence with Senior DCPU Management on 4th March 2009. The "missing points" are the ones that Senior Management declined to respond to.
Senior Management’s response is as follows:
“I have attached a response to the points that you raised following your meeting with staff. I have not answered any points which I felt were not directly related to Lean……
Having now looked at the points raised during the meeting you held with staff from C222 and B307 on the 18th February 09 regarding Lean, I am now in a position to respond to the Lean specific points from my area.
a) Team Leaders are under no additional pressure as a result of Lean although they are understandably very busy getting to grips with the Lean tools and techniques. Team Leaders are not undertaking AO work however I can confirm in my area they were assisting AOs in a BF trawl as a one off exercise as WARS had been missed at the start of Lean.
c) DMs have not been told they have to do X number of decisions per day, what has taken place is a discussion around expectations which we would hold for any member of staff.
d) Staff are not being taken into rooms by the HEO because they have expressed their negative views, there was an incident where a member of staff had used inappropriate language during a training session and this was dealt with by the HEO.
e) Information centres are designed to take approx 10 mins each morning; any ideas/concerns raised are taken outside of the information area each day and progressed by a designated member of staff until resolved.
f) We do have a rota in place for staff to attend the Information Centre each morning; this is to ensure everyone is given the opportunity to get involved. Staff are also encouraged to pop into the information centre throughout the day at their own convenience.
k) What the SEO said to staff during a meeting prior to Lean was that anyone who was still unsure or had negative feelings about Lean that they were to raise their concerns with the managers so we could help.
m) There is no change to the way DMs are managed in Lean in terms of outputs, what we have recognised is that whilst staff are in a learning curve and still consolidating their training that their outputs will be lower for a period of time.
o) Concern strips are a means of staff being able to raise any concerns they have in an anonymous way if they prefer, by having the concern on a strip it is absolutely guaranteed to be taken forward and progressed until resolved. Discussions do take place once the concern is taken outside of the information centre.
w) The reason we advised not mentioning the word Lean to the public is because this would have no meaning to the majority of customers and could confuse them, Lean is not a new process in terms of how we decide on benefit merely a way of controlling the flow of work and improving the way we deliver our business.
y) The workstep manual has been formulated following all the Lean training and the best practices being highlighted by staff within the Lean rooms. It is the work in progress that can be amended should it prove beneficial. Pending trays are not required because we do not expect staff to be taking work in such big numbers that they would be leaving cases on their desks unactioned. This process was designed following the staff feedback to ensure that they do not feel overloaded, and that T/Ls are able to monitor the flow of work more clearly.
aa) Lean works on a two tray system i.e. in and out and therefore staff should not have any additional trays on their desks.
hh & ii) A/L and how it is managed has not changed with Lean, as with any area it is dependant on business needs, with Lean the system however is more visual.
ll) In terms of staff accessing the racking, staff have all been advised that if there are any problems with people accessing the racking that it must be flagged up with their manager and the normal procedures in terms of Health and Safety will be followed.”
We will continue to meet Senior DCS Management on Lean and raise the issues you raise with us.
We have no intention of stopping raising points regardless of whether or not an individual manager believes that points are or are not relevant. (They did say that some of the Health and Safety points we raised were “petty” in the meeting, we do not agree).
PCS will continue to speak to members in the areas that have rolled out to establish your views.
Please also let Dean Rhodes, Jim Marsh or Grant McClure have any concerns as they arise.
If you have not yet joined PCS then please print, complete return the application form here.
