Tag: Royal Mail

Staff at Royal Mail will each receive a bonus of GBP400 next month for hitting productivity targets. Chairman Allan Leighton made the promise this weekend in a letter to his 180,000 workers. In a two-page letter, he said: “We had a very good Christmas and New Year. Quality of service is the best in the history of the company. If we can keep up this level until the year-end in March and our costs under control, we will hit the magic GBP600 million Share in Success target and pay out a minimum of GBP400 for everyone who has been in the business for this financial year.”

UK Royal Mail says it is still “pushing hard” for government approval to give 20 per cent of its shares to staff, as part of its application for Pounds 2bn of state money. The news comes in spite of an agreement with unions to make basic pay a priority over other benefits. Allan Leighton, the state-owned postal operator’s chairman, yesterday wrote to its 165,000 staff to update them on the “noise around privatisation etc and shares for you all”. The proposed employee share ownership scheme “can be done very simply and we are pushing hard on this”, he wrote. Royal Mail was adamant its championing of the scheme was not undermined by a productivity agreement reached this week with the Communication Workers’ Union, which has opposed the proposal. The agreement – which allocates 40 per cent of cost savings to the next pay round – says Royal Mail recognises staff have clearly prioritised increases in basic pay over other benefits.