To pull a sickie press #1...

I had the misfortune, a couple of weeks ago, to come down with a cold that's been doing the rounds. I could barely speak because of my sore throat. Reaching for the phone I called the absence line to hear things had changed since I last called in sick. "For this team press #1 and for that team press #2" the recording told me. Really? Are you going to put me on hold for five minutes as well just so you can say "Your call is important to us so please continue to hold"? I dutifully pressed the appropriate number and spoke to a random team manager from my floor. After making sure I sounded as ill as I felt I turned my phone off and went back to sleep.

It got me thinking later as I sat on the sofa surrounded by Lemsip and tissues. Watching daytime TV and wondering where Jeremy Kyle dredges his show participants up from leaves you time to ponder other things. Do Sitel really think this will make any difference to their levels of absence? First of all let's ignore the people who always go in to work unless they are properly ill. This is clearly aimed at the people who wake up and see, like this weekend, that the weather is far too nice and decide to replace speaking to people on the phones all day with a spot of sailing or something. Although I'm sure this measure, which has been in place for ages according to a colleague, wont hurt. I really don't see it doing any good either. After all if someone is swinging the lead then surely this isn't going to make any difference to the 'Sunbathing vs Office' equation. It strikes me as changing process and procedure to prove the site is 'doing something' about sick levels. There is sometimes a desperate need for improvements to be visible so that someone somewhere can point to it in a meeting and say "look what we did." The effectiveness of the idea doesn't always hold much sway.

If you have an idea, humorous or sensible, that you think would help improve the levels of absence on the site then drop me a line at sitelblogger@hushmail.com and I'll put any good ones up here in the next week or two. As always I'm as keen to protect your identity as you are. So rest assured you can contact me in absolute confidence with this or any other ideas you might have for this blog.