THOMAS Cook agents who waste head-office time with enquiries
about their holiday entitlement and operator telephone numbers are landing
their branches with fines of £100.
The charge is levied on all calls to the company’s
Peterborough-based headquarters deemed ‘unnecessary’ by helpdesk staff. They inform
agents that the query will attract the fee, which is then deducted from branch
profits.
Wasted calls include those asking for telephone or fax
numbers, questions about annual leave and advice on company personnel issues –
information Thomas Cook says is readily available to all staff through its
intranet system, Travel Information Bank, or from colleagues.
“We get charged for every question we can’t figure out for
ourselves. It’s a complete pain,” said a Wales-based branch manager, who did
not wish to be named.
Thomas Cook UK retail managing director Manny Fontenla-Novoa
said it had not received any complaints since introducing the fee.
The retail chain was unable to reveal exactly how many fines
had been issued since the policy began, but claimed that in the first three
months of this year, only a handful of branches were charged.