More, I love Microsoft

[Dan]

Nope.

The outfits who intitute these boiler rooms see their people as costs. If a couple come in sick and are sent home, productivity drops an itty bitty bit.

Now let's say that sick time is unpaid (which it is in more boilerplate call centers than you think). A couple out sick means costs drop an itty bitty bit.

A flu epidemic can send nearly the entire call center home. Costs drop considerably for a few days. The manager is a hero.

Customer support goes down the toilet for a few days? Who'll notice business as usual?

[codger]

Quote:When I stayed home once for three days with the flu, I got the impression that I was considered to be slacking.

I've worked in places where if you were off, sick for three days, a note from a Dr. was required before you could return to work. HR's rule.

It's evidently okay to come to work and infect everyone, but if you take three days off and don't infect everyone (act as a responsible adult), you are presumed to either be slacking or virulently ill. (Only the Dr.'s word can be trusted on this. Your word and your judgement doesn't mean $hit.)

[John Masterson]

Quote:they come into the office when they are sick. We would have flu epidemics during the winter.

I guess if everyone is expected to come in and work even when they are feeling horrible, then the overseers don't care.... since work appears to get done.

I'd suggest puking outside the bathroom (couldn't make it in time...!) a few times to make your point...and be sent home!

[JBB]

I agree, it was necessary and I think it would behoove the software market if Microsoft followed suit, or rather the government with Microsoft.

[codger]

Quote:I'd suggest puking outside the bathroom (couldn't make it in time...!) a few times to make your point...and be sent home!

At what point are we allowed to exercise adult judgement in the workplace? Being "sent home" sounds like something that the high school nurse would handle.

[John Masterson]

codger,

I agree.

I just thought that given their mindset, if they ask you to stay home, you'll not be "penalized".

It's a sad state of affairs no matter how you cut it, though.

[I D Shukhov]

This is probably complicated.  You have to take into account the infectivity of the illness and likely loss of productivity due  to the severity of the illness.  

Also, illnesses usually strike the community at large.  You get them at stores, from family members, at church, etc.  

Another possibility would be to have isolation offices for people that want to come into work sick.  Or allow them to telecommute, which companies should be doing anyway to reduce road congestion and greenhouse gases.

[TRexx]

Quote:At what point are we allowed to exercise adult judgement in the workplace? Being "sent home" sounds like something that the high school nurse would handle.

When I worked for small consulting company we had a very simple sick time policy. (all our troops were on salary)

"If you are sick, stay home. If  you are absent so much it becomes a problem, (like the guy who was "sick" every Monday)  we will address it."

We figured that the on average each person took 1.7 sick days per year. That includes the guy who was out for almost 6 months recovering from a car accident.  

Then we got swallowed by a Fortune 10 company. The new HR chief went ballistic. He was convinced people were cheating, so we adopted their policy -- 5 non accruable sick days  per year, doctor's note required after 3 consecutive days, after 10 days you had to go on short term disability etc.

At the end of the year the average number of sick days per person was 4.8.
   

[katyt]

Recently, I worked in a development group. The big boss there were burnt before because of a large percent of his people got sick at the same time. So for this project, he strickly enforced a "work from home if you are sick" policy. You have to work from home one more day if you had a fever and back to normal. The sick leave time really dropped for the whole group.

[The Gorn]

*Every* sector of the economy has been impacted by pricing pressure. After all, gas stations used to have guys in uniforms come out to fill your car.

Self service wasn't even an option in the 1960s in many types of purchases. Now self service is almost mandatory unless you are super rich.

Yes, phone service has gone from a highly customer service centric model to basically setting everything up yourself.

I'm simply pointing out that AT&T's divestiture is hardly unique. It's part of an economic and social trend toward squeezing everything in the economy down to "cost".

The twist with phone service is that what we consider "basic phone service" today seems like science fiction compared to what was available in 1980. DSL at the residence? That kind of bandwidth wasn't an option even for major corporation branches in 1980. Wireless has gone from a luxury for the rich to a "necessity".

Personally, I would rather see health care fixed in this country than worry overly much about lack of personalized service.

[TRexx]

Quote:Self service wasn't even an option in the 1960s in many types of purchases. Now self service is almost mandatory unless you are super rich.

Or live in New Jersey where we have the cheapest gasoline in the US and they pump it for you.

[The Gorn]

>> Or live in New Jersey where we have the cheapest gasoline in the US and they pump it for you.

Yes. Nice system you got there!

[David Cressey]

Quote:I'm simply pointing out that AT&T's divestiture is hardly unique. It's part of an economic and social trend toward squeezing everything in the economy down to "cost".

The twist with phone service is that what we consider "basic phone service" today seems like science fiction compared to what was available in 1980. DSL at the residence? That kind of bandwidth wasn't an option even for major corporation branches in 1980. Wireless has gone from a luxury for the rich to a "necessity".

Both of these phenomena are par for the course in a market economy.  A market economy is always on the lookout for a cheaper way to get the same result.  

When I visited the Soviet Union in 1978, my translator was struck by one thing about the Americans she had met.  The most surprising thing about Americans was that were were all so ordinary.  "How is it that a nation made up of ordinary people has managed to achieve such extraordinary results?" she asked.  

I chose my words carefully in my reply:  "I think we have been remarkably successful at avoiding creating problems for ourselves"  was what I said.  This was an extremely tactful way of saying,  "we're doing better because we aren't communists."  I wasn't about to get into that debate.  

The down side is that when your livelihood depends on the existing cost structure,  there is always somebody working real hard on eating your lunch.

At the other end,  things that are reserved for the rich  gradually find their way into the mass market,  and become commodities, and even necessities for ordinary people.  My favorite example is automobiles.  

Quote:Personally, I would rather see health care fixed in this country than worry overly much about lack of personalized service.

The reason that "fixing health care"  has been so intractable a problem is that, down deep,  most uf us have not come to terms with the fact that health care is rationed.  The US rationing mechanism forces many of the poor to forego needed health care.

But any of the alternatives touted as "better" by their fans,  like the Canadian system,  or the UK system,  also ration health care.  They just use a different rationing mechanism.