delivery driver

mail sorter

mail carrier

customer service representative

driver

ANGARD STAFFING

I put that title because zero hour contract staff just scrape by but amazingly Angard Staffing's publicly listed 2017 turnover was at just over £63 million!

Angard Staffing only exist as a front company and they franchise out their payroll & booking.

I've worked in the 'blue collar' section of the company for 3-4 years and aside from zero hour contract workers I've never met or spoken to an Angard Staffing manager. They never come to visit us or hold meetings. 

There's no health and safety training from Angard Staffing; Royal Mail do a minimum amount of H&S training once, which is videos, and there are no updates on H&S. 

Angard don't operate employee performance reviews or staff well being programs. The company policy as far as pay is concerned is that when a worker has done 12 weeks they get AWR pay, but Angard Staffing add small change to the hourly rate to make up for the fact that Angard workers get less break time and don't get other Royal Mail benefits. AWR is taken away after absences of over 6 weeks, but if one has worked for a company for over a year one would think they'd waive the right to pay people less for extended absences, especially as people are still on their books and they can afford it given their multi million pound turnover, which must largely go to the listed shareholders. 

Holiday pay is sometimes paid at lower than the minimum wage and after putting in a grievance about this which took 2 months for a reply and it was admitted to me that holiday pay wasn't being calculated according to contract, but nothing changed.

Recently Angard have been booking people for shifts from 4 a.m to 9 a.m and people are booked for 4 hour shifts a lot of the time. These are exploitative employer actions which have no consideration for the health & well being of workers. 

They call people who've been on night shift during the day whilst they would obviously be sleeping with no thought for well being. 

They blatantly lie about distribution of shifts, hours available and shifts available and I've put in a grievance about a recent situation, again, and I've been lied to for 9 weeks and I've only just got the grievance to the point of being investigated. It's appalling treatment of working people.

There's a high turn over of staff at the booking office which suggests that people working there don't want to do the job.

Every Christmas Angard send out an e-mail saying that Angard staff needn't sign up for Royal Mail Christmas casual contracts, as they are entitled to do, and they say Angard staff will be booked before Royal Mail hire Christmas casuals and that doesn't happen and then Angard cancel shifts booked 2 months in advance on a day to day basis, meaning casual staff can lose as much as £2K over the Christmas season and not be able to get other work having committed to hours for Angard over the holiday season. (2 years in a row that has happened). 

Somewhat hypocritically Angard send out e-mails and texts berating Angard Zero Hour workers for cancelling at short notice and yet do that very thing themselves.

Royal Mail managers frequently do direct booking in direct contradiction to company policy and nothing is done about it. This also is done on the basis of favoritism as is the so called 'seniority' system used to hire Angard staff to become Royal Mail workers.

Most Royal Mail workers are good folk, but it's a 2 tier system and so Royal Mail staff aren't subject to being 'pushed' and 'verbally reminded' to work quickly or efficiently at frequent intervals by managers the way Angard staff are. Angard staff are treated differently. 

Overall it is a job either for people with other income or for people with no other option.

This company needs investigating and though it's not a poisoned chalice it leaves a nasty taste that's for sure...

Zero hours contract. Worked for 2 weeks, then "escorted" off the site because Angard Staffing claimed to have never heard of me despite my having emails from them regarding my application. I had been asked by a Manager on the Sorting Floor to come in as she knew me and knew my application was in progress - an application I would add which was prompted by Angard after my stint at Christmas. Apparently, it was because I wasn't insured. I would just add that I had worked here for the previous 3 Christmases and my partner has worked for RM for 19 years. It took Angard weeks to sort out my 2nd application during which time I had to resubmit my ID and application form 3 times. After 5 weeks of chasing and chasing which had to be done by email because they weren't taking calls during lockdown, they finally accepted me and surprise, surprise gave me the same Staff ID number as my first application which they claimed never to have received. It then took a further 5 weeks to pay me for the 2 weeks I had worked prior to them saying they had no record of me. The work itself is physical with a lot of standing, pushing yorks about and walking and the first couple of shifts I went home with backache but you get used to it. The RM staff are on the whole great but that might have something to do with the fact they know my partner so I don't get any attitude or hassle but I have witnessed it against other Angard staff. And if there is a job to do which the permanent staff don't like, you can guarantee it'll be given to the Angard temps. Breaks are unpaid and often the Managers will tell you to go for 30 minutes and then you are deducted 40 minutes on your payslip, for example. You will never get this time back or paid - emails go unanswered and they really don't care. I was owed just under 2 hours and I've given up trying to get it. Shifts are really difficult to get and there isn't any fairness regarding allocation. A small number of people seem to get a full week with 5 or 6 shifts but most don't. Even with my "connection" I have only averaged 2 shifts a week ranging from 4 to 7 hours; out of the past 10 weeks I have had 1 week with 5 shifts, 2 weeks I got 1 and 1 week I didn't have any - the other weeks have been 2 or 3. I know by talking to other Angard temps that everyone is frustrated by the lack of work and the fact that they are still recruiting and holding inductions! I've heard that they do this because after 12 weeks your hourly rate increases significantly and you get paid breaks so they recruit new people and give them the work as they don't want the higher costs. Sometimes instead of asking if you are available for a shift, they will just book you on which is mostly great except when an hour later they cancel it with no explanation. One temp I spoke to had 3 shifts in one week cancelled but then a different person at Angard sent out emails asking if anyone was available for the same shifts! He's now looking for another job. A real case of the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. Also, even though I have advised them that I need at least 30 minutes to drive to the Mail Centre, I am given a shift to start 40 minutes later and if you dare decline it or suggest a slightly later start time, it will be cancelled and you won't hear from them for the rest of the week or longer. Don't rely on this for your main income. Personally, I can't wait until things get back to some kind of normal and I can get a proper job.

Typical day on the actual job will involve a combination of walking and driving mail, parcels and oversized deliveries. At busy times, like Christmas, you might only be doing oversized deliveries for multiple routes, creating optimised adhoc routes on the PDA. You might return to the delivery office to pick up more multiple times in a day.
You might also be required to fill the frames with door to door sales leaflets if the delivery office is behind on their schedule.
Everything you need to know should be taught to you and if you don't know something, just ask the postie you're paired with or the manager. One thing they do not appreciate is you just standing around, doing nothing. Can't always be helped at the start, if it's your first time.

Always sign in and out, whether with your id or on the PDA, because you'll loose out on pay if you don't. It is vital to keep a record of your days and hours worked independently of the siso software in case there are days missing. Angard will contact the manager on your behalf to query any days/hours missed but only if you ask them.
If you don't get a response from Angard, keep calling or sending emails, otherwise things won't get done.
The best part of the job is different for everyone but for me it was the exercise and getting outside more often. The flexibility is also a plus. Rainy days aren't as fun but if you're prepared for it, it's not the worst thing. The delivery offices will have dry rooms, so you can leave a spare pair of dry shoes/clothes there when the weather gets really heavy.

I could talk about how dire my experience was all day but I will try to keep it brief.

The work in itself was draining, the pay was poor and the hours were few. But that was fine, I only planned on working here as a stopgap after all. Even 4-8 hours a week is better than nothing!

The problem lied in the Managers. I can only assume they took a dislike to me, so they stopped giving me work after 4 days! I understand that I wasn't the fastest worker and deadlines have to be met etc, but if they were unhappy with my performance, they should have had a word with me or even fired me. At least then I know where I'm at.

Instead they used bullying tactics, such as assigning me shifts only to cancel them at the last minute. Each time they cancelled a shift it would come with a delightful message saying how rubbish they thought I was.  They would also do things like only offer me shifts on the days where I put myself as unavailable! I put myself as fully free for 6 days and busy for 1, and sure enough thats the ONLY shift they give me.

If you don't want me, thats fine! Just have the decency to tell me, don't play games! I realised I was being played for a fool quite quickly so called it a day. I imagine they would still be messing me around to this day if I didn't tell them to stop messaging me.

Don't waste your time folks, I've worked bad jobs before but at least they had SOME hours. This was just a humiliation.


This involves some manual labour but it is easy to learn and there is an extremely diverse workforce. As long as you stick to the rules and do your job, it's very good. The salary will gradually increase with loyalty - it starts on minimum wage for 12 weeks, then goes to around £12 or £13 per hour, then possibly more with further time, making it worthwhile.

Being zero hour contract can be a double edged sword, if one is looking for lots of work it is not likely to be enough, but one has the full flexibility to ignore shifts if one would rather have free time. Also, there are times when competition for shifts is high so it's a bit random whether one is successful at those times. Just keep calling and hope you get through one of the gaps.

The management is usually great, as long as you do the work. Don't get caught idling, and it's OK to ask them what to do if you are unsure, they will tell you. Also, be sure to put the correct packages in the correct places (double check), because mis-sorting is not a good thing.

There are many different tasks you could be assigned, some are more or less boring than others. People have different preferences. My least favourite is doing the upside-down empty trays, because it's really boring. My favourite is sorting packages on the main tracking machine (Track 48), especially in the fast-paced sections, because it's more of a thrill... but some people don't like that, so I can understand.

As a casual mail shorter, your work day starts with a text message announcing available shifts, and you need to act fast and call the booking at once. There are many shift patterns, but because I have child care the only patterns that suited me were late evening and night shift. Of course the latter were like gold dust I only did them in my first year, then they stopped sending shifts. When I was doing late evening shifts, I was spotting the same faces starting the night shift every time. Then Angard stopped sending for shift all together. When you get the shift, you go to the warehouse, get signed in on a sheet normally days where your duty is and start working. The hardest bit here was I couldn't master any position. I worked couple of times on Manchester section for instance, and when I got the hang of it and started sorting mails fast, they stopped sending me to Manchester but to the roads. So I forgot the postcodes order in Manchester. And so on. Of course we talk about equality between men and women in the workplace but when it comes to tipping 11kg bags for 4 hours, it doesn't apply. 
As for wages, you start with the minimum, then after working for 12 weeks, here I mean working at least one shift a week for 12 weeks you will get promoted and the wage will be 12 quids or so. Again the problem here was, I couldn't keep the promotion, as you you have not to have 5 week gap between any two consecutive shifts.

You are purely there as a number. The Post Office 'managers' (supervisors) on the shop floor treat you like dirt. No training is given and you learn by mistake. Any mistake is met with by bad attitude of Royal Mail workers and supervisors. There is no team spirit and most workers ignore each other. No one wants to help each other incase they lose shifts or cushy job allocation. Good work is not encouraged as friends and family always take priority for shifts bypassing the system. Shifts are quite easy to get when you start but dry up when your wage increases in time increments. Some weeks you are lucky to get one shift whilst others get one every day plus the lucrative weekend work. Shifts are cancelled at short notice often within a few hours of the start time. If you manage to get night shifts allocated on 2 consecutive nights they cancel the second late afternoon when you get up and check your phone. The staff at Angard head office have no interest in you getting shifts or site issues, purely that shifts are full. There is no on site Angard presence, you have to work things out yourself. A truly shocking set up which you only do as an extra or you are desperate for some cash (and don't they know it). Avoid unless you are desperate or have friends and family working there. 

Not a bad place to work if you can manage to get a shift. Shifts allocated daily often with no fair allocation with the same people getting preference over others. Angard constantly recruiting despite no work for the existing workforce...how they can get away with this is beyond me.

The  hourly pay rate is very good after initial 12 week qualifying period. However, that means nothing if you're only getting 6-10 hours work a week which has been the average for me over the last 2 months.

Pay is weekly but check payslips carefully. Shifts are regularly not paid due to Royal Mail managers not sending hours in correctly which can take weeks & a succession of e mails to resolve.

There is a divisive and discriminatory attitude towards Angard agency staff from Royal Mail staff and a number of Royal Mail employees. Agency staff expected to work flat out for the whole shift and watched like hawks by management. Royal Mail employees seem to get away with whatever they like without the fear of management disciplining them.

Don't work here if you need a guaranteed income. If you want a bit of extra cash and are prepared to be flexible & occasionally messed about, then it's perfect.

Had been with Angard/Royal Mail for a couple years and can honestly say 'Equality' is not a word that can be used to describe the employment/working practices that I've observed over the last couple of years.
Unless you are favoured by RM management/Angard, or have a relative working there, your chances of getting regular shifts were virtually zero.
I was quite shocked at the blatant unfairness that was is in operation and had intended taking a grievance out regarding these practices.
Some of the Angard telephone staff were extremely rude and dismissive; as well dealing with the arrogance, discourtesy and disrespect from some of the RM management was really quite appalling and demoralizing, which made the whole experience of working for Angard/RM a truly shocking experience, especially for those who were not in favour or liked by Angard and RM managers.

If you see a post for Angard Royal Mail vacancies here are some things to consider. You are essentially on the equivalent of a zero hours contract so there is no guarantee of shifts/income. During seasonal periods like Easter & Christmas this job is great, as Royal Mail have the volumes to offer shifts & overtime. But the rest of the year work can fall volumes fall of a cliff & there can be no shift for months at a time. But once you work the probationary period, the pay is amazing & when the hours are there, make the most of them as they will not be there forever. If you can get on the Sunday shift, do it, as they pay is usually £20-£25 & for the work involved the pay is insanely good.
Angard are a terrible company to work for though. They have no respect for staff & you are just another number. They over recruit during recruitment drives just to ensure they have cover for shifts & when shifts come through, they are first come, first served so you need to be quick to respond & confirm your shifts. Royal Mail likewise will exploit you during the seasonal periods & whilst the pay is good, when you consider they don't pay you holiday or sick & other benefits, they're making huge returns on your labour. 

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