Tag: UK

Royal Mail’s deputy chairman Elmar Toime has quit the company with a GBP775,000 pay-off after a bust-up with chief executive Adam Crozier and the group’s worst service record in history.

After just 18 months in the post, Toime is expected to walk away with GBP775,000. By contrast, postal workers do not receive any severance pay if they take redundancy with less than two year’s service.

Toime’s move comes as Royal Mail nears the end of 30,000 job cuts among its postal workers.

He joined the company in February last year, one month before the arrival of Crozier, and was charged with looking after the letters business and Parcelforce Worldwide. He also chaired the management board.

Headhunters are telling candidates for a Royal Mail boardroom job that the loss-making postal service is likely to be privatised during the term of the next government.

The approach, made this month, is contentious as the government says it has no plans to sell off the Royal Mail. The Department of Trade and Industry said: “Privatisation of Royal Mail is not on the government agenda.”

One private sector executive approached for the post of marketing director said it was made clear that the main appeal of the job was the opportunity to earn large sums during a sale. “It was all about the share options,” said the executive. “They made clear there was a chance to become a millionaire in the next three or four years. The job is to prepare the company for a possible sale.”