RESEARCH PROPOSAL-

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
CHALLENGES FACED BY
ROYAL MAIL DURING THE
POST PANDEMIC ERA

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CHAPTER-1

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF COMPANY

International Distributions Services Ltd., formerly Royal Mail plc, is a British worldwide postal
and courier company formed in 1516 as a government agency and currently known as Royal
Mail, Parcel force, and GLS. Royal Mail Group Limited handles letters and parcels, whereas
Parcel force Worldwide handles packages. Royal Mail Group owns GLS Group 100%. The
company was called Consignee in the early 2000s and used Royal Mail until October 2022.

Royal Mail employed over 162,000 people full-time; 143,000 were based in the United
Kingdom, while 90,000 delivered mail. To handle the influx of holiday mail, 18,000 temporary
workers were brought in over the months of November and December. Starting in 2011,
temporary workers were sourced and hired by Royal Mail's in-house staffing agency, Angard
Staffing Solutions(Bourne and Haddon 2009). Despite claims that they were trying to skirt the
Agency Workers Regulations by favoring cost-cutting tactics in their hiring procedures, Royal
Mail strongly denied these claims. The CWU called for a countrywide vote for industrial action
after negotiations for a national agreement on job security, pay, retention, terms, and the
termination of management executive action broke down.

ISSUE ADDRESSED:

Acquiring and Retaining employees

The devastating effects of COVID-19 on Royal mail are becoming more apparent. It seems like
every week brings news of yet another company or industry cutting jobs, hours, or plans to hire.
Royal mail has a stake in the outcome of this. Royal mail may have to hire more contractors than
normal. When no other companies are recruiting, top people may start to wonder how much a
company's reputation really counts. And everyone will be waiting on pins and needles to watch

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how things turn out. It's a stressful moment for Royal mail Mail in the workplace (Pandey and
Chauhan 2014).
Keeping Your Workforce Engaged Remotely
Human resources does more than simply engages and motivates onsite workers. HR monitors
new hires, saving your company thousands in lost man-hours. Motivated teams routinely perform
better. Royal mail can keep this relationship long-distance by reduce telehealth copays and add
mental health consultations to employee health plan. Daily pay or subsidized loans might assist
employee in royal mail with financial issues and simplify the procedure for employee in royal
mail. The headlines is full with corporations "doing the right thing" during COVID-19 and
concentrating on their workers. This makes sense outside HR morality. Loyalty to employees
pays reward, even in stressful times(White 2021).

Labour issues as a challenge

The COVID-19 pandemic challenged Royal Mail. The outbreak caused layoffs, salary cuts,
unpaid absences, and excessive staff turnover in various firms. Royal mail has faced Labour
disputes and strikes which leads to disruptions in its services and negative image in the business
sector which declined operational efficiency and customer satisfaction and labor retention also.
Employee felt undervalued and underappreciated for the work they have done during pandemic
era because pandemic caused inflation which increased cost of living.

Higher flexibility and maintaining work life balance as challenge

Following the COVID-19 outbreak, there has to be more flextime in the workplace. Royal
mail that have downsized or cut staff, for instance, may need to restructure employees' work
hours, which will have repercussions for payroll, vacation, and other benefits. To adapt to the
new needs of the market, other Royal mail may need to alter their reporting structure and
methods of personnel management. Royal mail need to coordinate schedules and payments
across locations to solve the problems associated with remote workers (Pandey and Chauhan
2014).

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LITERATURE REVIEW

The COVID-19 pandemic will require HR managers to reconsider workforce planning,

performance appraisal, and other efforts (Morse, 2020). Thus, Royal Mail must prepare for
change. Human resources specialists help workers adapt to rapid workplace and global changes.
Even in public-facing occupations, firms are changing their interiors to create social isolation.
Thus, worker safety must be a priority. After a trauma, mental health and morale are vital. Thus,
HR must prioritize building a resilient and empathic team. Investing in employee development is
the greatest method for companies to boost productivity and prepare for the future. Flexibility,
work-life balance, and employee needs are prioritized.

Leavitt suggests that an organization may modify its task, technology, structure, and staff.
Hostage thinks that contact persons determine service excellence. Berry and Booms and Bitner
believe that customers evaluate service quality using physical environment aspects since services
are intangible (Ellis 1998). Levitt suggests buyers judge reality by appearances. Berry,
Gronroos, and Gummesson emphasized that management must treat staff well if it wants them
to provide excellent customer service. Customer measurement behaviors determine excellent
service, according to McCleary and Weaver. Lewis and Booms argue that client pleasure
determines service excellence. Beer and others emphasize HRM's role in involving managers in
communicating the company's objective to all workers. Gronroos, Lehtinen and Lehtinen
Defining service quality and its components in a workplace-actionable way is crucial for every
firm. According to Levitt, Gronroos and Gummesson relationship building requires trust,
commitment, ethical practices, promise fulfillment, mutual exchange, emotional bonding,
personalization, and customer orientation(Ellis 2016).
Due to the lockdown's economic losses, Royal mail started to neglect their employees'
psychological requirements, which is hurting employee Retention and wellbeing. To achieve
organizational agility and resilience in Royal mail during pandemics, employees must be
competent and resilient(Ellis 1998).
This study examines the main elements that encourage employees Retention and labour issues in
the workplace in the current health environment, given this unusual situation that affects workers
worldwide.

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According to Vince's (2014) definitions, power relations are "the variety of forces or dynamics
that are integral to people's experiences and to organizing processes for retention," while
emotions are "an emphasis on how development is shaped and avoided by ongoing relations" (p.
411). While he agrees that fostering employees' personal growth is important to an organization's
success, he warns that focusing too much on employees' personal growth can backfire by
fostering an environment where compliance, rather than growth, prevails due to factors such as
employees' emotions and managers' power dynamics. For instance, Vince (2014) observes that
executives in businesses are often tasked with supporting change for retention while also
ensuring operational continuity. Unfortunately, HRD scholars frequently overlook the fact that
this sort of intrinsic contradiction produces friction with regard to power relations and emotions
inside both the person and the organization. Therefore, he argues, modern HRD studies should
not shy away from but instead confront such friction in order to more properly reflect the reality
of HRD difficulties(Ripamonti et al. 2020).

A literature evaluation by levvit has been compiled to help with the identification and
comprehension of these aspects and their management. Consequently, our study proposes a
model to increase employee Retention and labour issues during the pandemic era by focusing on
five key drivers: conciliation, cultivation, confidence, compensation, and communication. Before
the pandemic, Royal mail recognized the importance of this, but today it is seen as a crucial
instrument for the health and welfare of employees(Royal Mail to cut jobs amid ongoing postal
delays, 2022).

METHODOLOGY

A systematic assessment of the relevant published research was conducted to examine employee
retention and labour issues. A systematic SWOT analysis is will be used to review the HR issues
that is both selective and critical in nature, with the goal of analyzing and integrating key
findings from primary secondary research papers on a given topic. Evaluations need to be
conducted with objectivity, rigor, and precision. Using bibliographic databases to find relevant

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research, critically appraising those studies, and then synthesizing the data they provide are all
necessary steps in doing a systematic review.

This review attempts to provide a broad overview of the secondary sources which includes
literature on the effects of COVID-19 on HRM and the HRM issues that have arisen in the wake
of the pandemic. The researchers selected some keywords related to COVID-19 management,
HRM, post-pandemic, and HRM issues faces by royal mail, and then searched for relevant
publications in Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar, DOAJ, JSTOR, and other relevant
websites (Zoller 2018).
SWOT analysis will be employed in CSA as a tool. Royal mail opportunities, threats, and
internal strengths may all be evaluated using the SWOT framework, which is a technique for
strategic analysis. The results of a SWOT analysis may be used in meaningful ways. In
particular, when upper-level management has the results of a SWOT analysis in hand, they may
focus on building up the Royal mail's strengths while also exploring and removing any risks to
its viability(White 2021). Therefore, high level management may benefit greatly from using
SWOT analysis to craft the best possible corporate plan. Human Resources has to take a hard
look at where they can improve. When assessing HR's performance, it's important to look not
only at how it stacks up to competitors but also to the organization's stated goals. Even if HR at a
company is operating at or above the national average on a certain metric, the Royal mail may
still need to discover methods to improve its performance. A terrible reputation in the job
market, a benefits package that doesn't do enough to attract and retain employees, or a dearth of
available training resources are all examples of weaknesses.
This technique provides thorough, transparent, and repeatable literature synthesis. A search
process was used to (1) identify existing studies, (2) evaluate their usefulness and relevance in a
specific research topic, and (3) gather several independent, sometimes conflicting studies and
synthesize their implications.

WoS was used for information search. We performed a literature keyword search for the
systematic review. The WoS database included peer-reviewed publications and reviews.
"Employee retention" and "Labor issues" were searched(Webber, 2021).

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

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Confidentiality

Research data must be protected at all times. Contributors' right to privacy is enhanced when
their information is kept secret. As an added bonus, this method prevents any outsiders from
gaining access to personal details(Ripamonti et al. 2020).
Dangerousness possible

When considering whether or not to go forward with a research project, the potential for damage
is an important consideration. injury may come in many forms, including but not limited to the
following: psychological injury social harm physical harm and legal harm. Determine the
potential for damage by doing an ethical analysis(Corbetta et al. 2022).
Information originating from a place that calls for further guarantees or clearances

An application for ethical review might be made if the data source needs to be assured that the
project has been reviewed ethically or that the use of the data is lawful.

Identifiable person-reconciling data

Consider the pieces of data you will be dealing with and whether or not re-identification is a
danger to determine whether an ethical review application is necessary(Ripamonti et al. 2020).
For instance:

A person may be re-identified if two datasets are combined and then connected at the individual
level via matching unique reference numbers or data points.

Data that is rare, unique, or in low quantity, such as information on uncommon traits or medical
issues that affect a small percentage of the population, might be challenging to anonymize.

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CONCLUSION:

This research identified important HR challenges for Royal mail in the future. Royal Mail has a
significant issue in staff retention, particularly in the post-pandemic environment. Every business
has its own unique management and branding objectives and methods. But the wonderful thing
about obstacles is that they make us stronger and more prepared for whatever the future may
hold(White 2021).

Indicators are offered for gauging the success of the suggested employee Retention model, which
takes into account Conciliation, Cultivation, Confidence, Compensation, and Communication as
variables that support organizational health and wellness in the present situation. Here are some
suggestions on how Royal mail might better connect with their staff in the workplace: Set an
example that your team can follow. Facilitate virtual team building activities to help employees
get to know one another. Invest in your employees by listening to them and helping them out.
Act as a leader in resolving labor problems, The six-day workweek should be shortened to five.

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