Скачать или смотреть ‘Unstainable’ absenteeism has become a significant risk to An Post’s future, annual report outlines

“Unsustainable levels of absenteeism” are cited in An Post’s annual report as one of the principal risks and uncertainties facing the semi-state company.
The “risk of continuation of current levels of absenteeism and the resultant extra cost and customer service quality impact” are cited in the report, which was published yesterday after a controversy erupted about the state of the company’s finances.

“There are a number of attendance management processes and employee assistance programmes in place to manage staff availability,” the report says. “The effectiveness of these processes and programmes to meet the challenges is currently under review.”

The level of absenteeism in An Post is seen as a natural consequence of an ageing workforce, and the shift from delivery of letters to heavier parcels.

An Post earned €64.5m last year from delivering polling cards and candidate literature for three sets of elections, the annual report reveals.

It delivered over 50m items relating to the local and European elections in June, and the general election in November. Despite these, overall mail volumes were down by 7.6pc in the year.

David McRedmond, An Post chief executive, has denied claims that without those three elections, the firm would have made an overall loss last year – but he admitted that it did give the company a financial boost. It finished the year with a net profit of €10m.

An Post is also being boosted by extra parcel deliveries, with a spokeswoman saying there has been a 26pc rise in the number of parcels coming into the system this year alone.

However, other traditional sources of An Post income are being squeezed. The number of TV licences it issued last year stood at 792,000, down from 824,000 in 2023. The figure was over 1m in 2019.

There is no breakdown in the report of how much An Post was paid by the Government, but it is usually about €10 per licence sold.

A spokeswoman said: “The TV licence contract (sales, administration and detection) was worth €9m in 2024.”

Read John Burns full story here: https://www.independent.ie/business/i...