Do as I say.

... not as I do.

Now here's a subject that may appeal to one or two of you. Double standards. I was reminded of this a short while ago when I was the lucky recipient of a late form. Let not make any bones about it. I was late and I couldn't really put my finger on why I was late so I  made up something vague about transport issues. If I fail to turn up to work on time just a handful of times in six months my manager will probably invite me to a disciplinary hearing where I run the risk of a verbal warning. This is all very well and good and I must say that in general I approve of the companies late policy.

What rankles is the way it's not enforced across all employees. I have personally observed a team manager being late around 10 days in a month and this was by no means an exceptional month for him. Thus if this lateness persists (and it did) then he should find himself up for dismissal in less than six months. Actually what I suspect would have happened is that on receipt of his first written warning he would have started setting his alarm clock fifteen minutes earlier and thus the disciplinary process would have achieved it's aim.

Similar stories can be told about absence and quality/quantity of work etc. right down to the mundane questions like 'just how many smoke breaks have you been out for today?'

Some people might like to jump to their defence and say management deserve a bit of slack because of the extra responsibility they have. That doesn't wash with me I'm afraid. They take the extra pay and thus they should be expected to live up to the same standards they set for us. Leading by example is one of the first principles of management in my opinion.

Charity Stuff

So here at Sitel Exeter we have just handed a big cheque to Hospiscare. This year we're raising money for the Devon Air Ambulance. Now there's a charity you hope you never see in action. :-) Both worthy causes I'm sure.

We also took part in Comic Relief as one one of the callcentres taking donations for the live fundraiser show. Apparently people at all levels from agent to ops manager were involved and it was a good night.

It's nice to see the company getting involved in this sort of thing.

Suggestions please

I need some suggestions for something to go on my hat to make it taste better. You might ask why I'm eating my hat? Well it's because I was wrong about Phil. Despite my prediction that Phil had fallen on his sword (voluntarily or otherwise) for the problems they've had down on the second floor it seems he is back.

It looks like I put two and two together and made seven.

The agent forum returns

So the agent forum is to be revived.

The meetings are a good idea in principle. If the Site Director or someone on his behalf is prepared to listen to the concerns of the staff that is a good thing. The idea falls flat when nothing comes of the meetings and they become just a talking shop. I got a real sense that under the old SD they had become just that.

Obviously there are times when the management at the agent forum will be quite within their rights to nod politely and note down agents comments then do nothing. A good example of this is when some agents complained that Redbull had been withdrawn from the cold drinks machines. This is not a big deal when there are around 5 shops within five minutes walk that sell energy drinks if that's your preference.

On the other hand there are some very real agent concerns at the moment that might get lost in the day to day running of the site. An example might be why on earth is it so hard to keep toilet roll in the toilets and paper towel in the kitchen areas?

I'm looking forward to seeing if anything comes of this round of the forum.

It's Saturday and I have a hangover.

Well not me personally but as all employers do Sitel Exeter from time to time has a lot of people call in sick on a Saturday morning. Usually just after pay day. You employ a lot of 20-somethings and this is all but inevitable. The problem is that Sitel do not make this any easier for themselves when some of the management are out in the same bar as the agents and are partying as hard as anyone.

Take Keith for example. Keith is getting quite a reputation as the biggest party animal in the building. This is an eyebrow raising revelation when you consider in the office he is a pretty quietly spoken person. I can personally vouch for Keith being a hard drinker. A good example is when the company attended the South West Contact Centre Awards and he had been far too hungover the next day to work. To be fair to Keith almost all the Sitel attendees got pretty well smashed the last two years.

Stories that persist around the office:

• Keith getting falling down drunk regularly.
• Keith vomiting on an agent on account of how much booze he had drunk.
• Keith missing buses back home
• Keith taking a female agent to the Jurys Inn for sex.
• Keith spending huge amounts of money (I heard around £300 in one night once) in the watering holes of Exeter. 

Keith you're my new hero :-) I hope your woman doesn't mind your drunken antics.

Back to the original point then i.e. Agents calling in sick after going out and drinking. It's a bit hard for the company to call foul and take an agent into a disciplinary hearing when one or two of the rising stars in management are showing less restraint than the people they are trying to straighten out. This is not what management experts like to refer to as leading by example.

Work harder slaves!

Our managements demands for more work continue. Some agents are to be rewarded for their current hard work by being cross-skilled from computer support to supporting TVs and DVD players as well.

There are rumours that as we approach the end of the financial year the budget may be a bit screwed.

Isn't that nice.

I'm guessing he jumped

Something tells me that Phil has left the building. Official line is that Phil is on sick leave and we all wish him a speedy recovery etc. The funny thing is Phil went around a lot of people in the building on Friday and shook their hands and wished them well in life. Not really the behavior of someone expecting to be back in a few weeks. Looks like he's falling on his sword for the screw ups down on the second floor. I predict four to six weeks of sick notes for stress. Then he'll hand his resignation in and be placed on gardening leave for his notice period.

Is that sound I hear the wind of change at Sitel Exeter? Time will tell.