Smart-phone apps keeps track of feds' sick days

My head is spinning. I am having trouble actually seeing the keys on the keyboard of my laptop as I type this entry. It is March, the seasons are changing and that means that people are getting sick and might need to take a day or two off of work so as not to infect the entire federal workforce.

There is an app for that.

InsuranceNewsNet.com is reporting that Geico has released an application for smart phones that serves as a digital version of the free paper leave cards that the company has provided to federal employees since 1960. It tracks your leave time via BlackBerry, Android and iPhone devices, letting you know what type of accrual you have and what you can presumably expect.

This is not going to help me in any way, shape or form. I tend to keep track of my sick days by putting a stick in the mud in January and using binomial astrological calculations in accordance to the angle of tilt of the Earth on its axis on years that end in an odd number. So, it is March, 2011. I think I am OK to take a day off if I get smallpox. I would hope so at least.

Geico looks like it made it much easier.

Thing is, I am not a federal employee and I have no nifty paper leave card-like thing. I do not even know if I am allowed to be sick right now; I will have to check with my editor. I was able to finagle the second half of Monday off to telework, but I was also cashing in on the fact that I worked on Presidents Day to do some reporting while all of you government folks were taking the day off jet skiing or something.

Here is how Geico describes the app: “Simply download the app, enter your current sick and annual leave balances and accrual rates, and the app automatically calculates your annual sick leave. You have the ability to account for days out of the office and add credit and comp time in order to keep your leave record up to date.”

If you visit the Geico app site you can download the application by scanning a QR code directly from your phone, if your device supports mobile barcode scanning. QR codes are what all the cools kids are doing, so I would go check it out