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Corporations Hiring Hooky Hunters

Posted by samzenpus on from the taking-a-personal-detective-day dept.

No longer satisfied with your crinkled doctor's note, a growing number of corporations are hiring "Hooky Detectives." Private investigator Rick Raymond says he's staked out bowling alleys, pro football games, weddings and even funerals looking for people using sick days. From the article: "Such techniques have become permissible at a time when workers are more likely to play hooky. Kronos, a workforce productivity firm in Chelmsford, Mass., recently found that 57 percent of salaried employees take sick days when they're not sick — almost a 20 percent increase from statistics gathered between 2006 and 2008."

7 of 610 comments (clear)

  1. Why should your employer govern your behavior? by elucido · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Why are we allowing employers to put us into neo-feudalism? Can't you see these employers are doing what government wants to do but can't get away with?

  2. Re:Vacation time by emj · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This is a list of the amount of paid days you are required to give your employees:

    Finland 30
    Frankrike 30
    Förenade Arab Emiraten 30
    Estland 28
    Litauen 28
    Polen 26
    Danmark 25
    Grekland 25
    Luxemburg 25
    Sverige 25
    Österrike 25
    Israel 24
    Malta 24
    Tyskland 24
    Ungern 23
    Portugal 22
    Spanien 22
    Cypern 21
    Egypten 21
    Marocko 21
    Rumänien 21
    Sydafrika 21
    Australien 20
    Belgien 20
    Bulgarien 20
    Irland 20
    Italien 20
    Japan 20
    Lettland 20
    Nederländerna 20
    Nya Zeeland 20
    Slovakien 20
    Slovenien 20
    Storbritannien 20
    Tjeckien 20
    Sydkorea 19
    Malaysia 16
    Libanon 15
    Hong Kong 14
    Pakistan 14
    Singapore 14
    Taiwan 14
    Vietnamn 14
    Indien 12
    Indonesien 12
    Kanada 10
    Thailand 6
    Filipinerna 5
    USA 0

    from unt.se

  3. Re:Perhaps a structural solution would be better by epiphani · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Yeah, except that you get sick and you spend your entire time "off" in bed. I had that once and I hated it.

    If I'm sick, I'm told to stay home, and I'll happily try to do some work from there. If you tell me that I'll lose vacation time by staying home, I'm gonna come into the office short being unable to walk. Take your pick, which do you prefer?

    --
    .
  4. Keep up with the times by dazedNconfuzed · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Employee longevity has dropped from 30-some years to about 3. Maybe corporate hiring policy should take that into account when doling out vacation time. I may not have been with the company for long, but I do have 20 years behind me and would like a new position to start out with something more than 2 weeks off.

    --
    Can we get a "-1 Wrong" moderation option?
  5. Hopefully they'll be there... by marcsiry · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...on the Sunday morning when I'm on an eight hour outage call starting at 4AM...

    or the Monday night when I stay at the office until 10 working on a time sensitive launch...

    do they turn the "hooky" clock backwards in that case?

    --
    Marc Siry || interactive media professional, motorcycle enthusiast ||
    1. Re:Hopefully they'll be there... by PRMan · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Seriously. I worked as an Assistant MIS Director at a university. I worked my way up from student worker.

      My boss complained when I came in at 8:05 AM after staying until 10:00 PM the night before, and I didn't get overtime!

      I told her, "Fine, but be careful of what you wish for. From now on, I will come in at 8:00 on the dot every morning. But I will take a break from 10 AM to 10:15 AM, no matter who is here, what they want or what's on fire. I will leave for lunch at noon exactly and I will come back at 1. I will leave at 5 on the dot, and don't expect me to stay a minute later. If you want to count time, that's what we'll do."

      Sure enough, since we were hopelessly understaffed, there was a line in my cubicle at 10 AM. Too bad. I put up a pre-printed sign that said, "On Break" and made them wait. There was a major problem right before lunch the same day, but I went ahead and left it. (The network admin had to struggle through it, but he applauded me for doing the right thing.) When I came back at 1, she brought me into her office and told me that she had rethought it and that I was right!

      --
      Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
  6. Re:Everyone has skeletons. by RollingThunder · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Sick days are for being sick.

    I agree.

    I get sick days, personal well-being days, and vacation days.

    Sick days are for legitimate illness, short-notice.
    PWB is for "I am in a mental state where I can't see my ass coming in to work and being productive", short-notice.
    Vacation days are scheduled in advance.

    It works well. We're happy because we don't feel shackled to the desks, and the company's happy because it has predictability in who will be available, and both sides are happier because there's no falsehoods being perpetrated.