What are your ground rules for employee cell phone use?

[LookmaNohands]

Just wondering what other people do. With my stall cleaning help it is not a problem. I think the saving grace is that I don’t have a great signal in the barn. Texts and emails get through though.

I am about to hire additional grooming and training assistant help and am just wondering what other people do about cell phone use. I don’t even have my cell phone in the barn. I work with “problem” horses and I need to stay focused. When I have had employees with kids, I allow them to just check to see if there is any problem with a child but not to really talk.

What do you do? Allow them to keep the cell phone on them but turned off? Put it in the tack room? Oh what?

[enjoytheride]

Since people today expect to stay connected you aren’t going to be able to make your employees keep their phones in the tack room. Especially if my giant company can’t do it. People also use their phones as watches. I have not lived at home in 20 years and my mother had a meltdown when I left my phone at home and almost had SWAT descend on the barn one night.

You can have a no cell phones while working rule but it will be a real struggle to enforce it. Your best bet is to address it when it affects work productivity.

[mht]

My expectation is that phones will only be used during breaks/lunches, but of course, that never seems to be the way things work out.

State your policy at the time of hiring, and hope for the best.

[BuddyRoo]

Let them know that it can’t affect productivity.

I see no reason why I can’t listen to a podcast or even talk to a friend while cleaning stalls. I can do two things at once.

IME, trainers are the WORST at this–taking calls in the middle of a lesson! So tacky. But cleaning stalls? Good gravy. no challenge there!

[gumtree]

Well, this thread should make for some interesting reading.

Personally I think it is FORKING absurd that people I am playing a very good wage think they have the right to answer, check, watch, follow etc anything on their phone when ever they feel like it. Forking absurd.

I expect my employees to to focus 100% on what they are being paid to do. Especially when working with a horse directly. I have had rideea on young horse checking and or talking on their phone while on the horse’s back.

I expect my employees to be on top of everything with no distractions. Distraction means something may or will be over looked. Meds, a cut, empty water bucket, tossing feed in a bucket that a horse has crapped in, a bandage that is coming undone. I could go on and on. I am paid to look after every detail its my reputation on the line not theirs.

I tell my employees they can carry their phone with them. This is a privilege not a right. The ONLY call they are allowed to take MUST be an emergency. Phones are easily set up to alert what is an emergency call and what is not.

If they abuse the privilege they will have to leave their phone in the tack room and or car. If they don’t like it they can find a pay check somewhere else.

I pay and or keep an employee based on work ethic. Those that go beyond the call of duty I have no problem with them doing what they like. They will also get plenty of perks. Those that only do the bare minimum there’s a reason why they don’t see an increase in pay and or perks.

I’ve had a cell phone for over 30 years. 95% of the calls are and have never been important. Kids, family and friends survived just fine long before we could reach in our pocket to make sure.

[2ndyrgal]

Presumably, there is a land line phone in the barn. Make sure that new employees have the number so someone can call them on that phone during working hours. Tell them to leave their cell phone in their car. I have 11 employees. There is an employee form regarding cell phone use, or rather don’t use. There is a sign on the wall. They get one warning. If I walk into an area where an employee is supposed to be working and instead they are sitting on a 5 gallon bucket on their facebook page or texting, they’re fired. Instantly. If you work at a factory, or in a hospital, you don’t get to have your cell phone. There is zero difference. They “expect” to be connected? perhaps they need a different job. I’m not paying someone to listen to a podcast, and I don’t care how low level the job is. If I want to talk to you, or yell help when I hit the ground, I expect that you will be able to hear ME as opposed to the ear buds. I would additionally, not take a second lesson, or finish the first lesson with a trainer that took a call. Unless the next words out of that trainers mouth were “I’ll be right there” and they said they had a horse colicking, game over. It’s rude. Just because the technology exists, does not mean we must be chained to it. I only had to fire one person to let the other 1 know I meant it.

[BuddyRoo]

I’m not talking about sitting down on a bucket. I’m a grown woman, I know how to work. If I were hired to clean stalls for example, I’d damned sure expect to be able to listen to music or a podcast or gasp! talk to my mom while I did chores. I think it’s unreasonable not to expect that. Text breaks? No. Sit down? no. Sorry.

All that said, my phone doesn’t even work in my barn so it’s a moot point I guess if I took up doing chores htere. But the girls who do listen to their music and such and do a lovely job. I don’t think I’d ban phones. too hard to police anyway.

[2ndyrgal]

It isn’t for the people who “know” how to work that this rule is in effect at our place. And I came from the race track, we all had radios. But… that little hand held device is addictive and it’s just to easy to go from talking to mom, to checking emails, to checking facebook and time gets wasted. If it’s your lunch break or your I’m done with stalls before I dump water buckets I’m going to sit on this tack trunk for a minute and check on mom while I drink my tea? No problem. Problem is, there are too many who abuse the privilege. My theory is, I managed to run a 20 horse stable back in the day with nothing but land line phones, there usually isn’t anything that can’t wait. We tried to let them police themselves, but the younger they were, the worse it was. Finally just said No more cell phones. If there is an emergency situation, sick relative, something totally important that someone might really need them instantly, by all means, keep it with you until the situation is resolved, but they must get permission.

[Dutchmare433]

I don’t see any issue with people listening to music/pod cast/etc while mucking stalls or similar. At my current barn, 90% of the time I’m doing chores, I’m the only one on the farm. In the event that I get hurt or one of the horses is seriously hurt, I want to be able to have my phone in my pocket so I can call for help immediately. And I have at least once, found a horse in a situation where I was absolutely not leaving, lest it panic and do more damage, cell phone was only way to get the help the horse needed.

I had a fall when I was a working student. I was riding alone in the ring while the barn owner had gone inside to have lunch. I was knocked out for several minutes, and unable to move much–back was also injured. I could have been laying there with a loose horse for an hour before she came back to the barn had I not been able to call her.

Sitting down, playing on phone/texting/talking on phone during non break time is not acceptable.

[gumtree]

[QUOTE=BuddyRoo;8604765]
I’m not talking about sitting down on a bucket. I’m a grown woman, I know how to work. If I were hired to clean stalls for example, I’d damned sure expect to be able to listen to music or a podcast or gasp! talk to my mom while I did chores. I think it’s unreasonable not to expect that. Text breaks? No. Sit down? no. Sorry.

All that said, my phone doesn’t even work in my barn so it’s a moot point I guess if I took up doing chores htere. But the girls who do listen to their music and such and do a lovely job. I don’t think I’d ban phones. too hard to police anyway.[/QUOTE]

Listen to music, pod cast etc with ear phones/buds what ever is even a bigger issue with me. Why, because you can’t hear what’s going on in other parts of the barn, or in the surrounding area.

I have walked into the barn when a horse was cast several stalls down and the employee doing a stall had no idea what was going on because they couldn’t HEAR what was going on. Either deal with it and or get me.

Plenty of other times horses on limited turn out were going bonkers just outside the barn I had to run down to get the horse when an employee was only a matter of feet from the situation. Why, because they had ear phones/buds on and couldn’t hear what was happening.

There have been times I needed someone to help me with a difficult situation just out side the barn. I’m screaming for help and it fell on deaf ears. Why, because they had ear phones on.

I always have music playing in the barn. But is is not so loud that a person can’t hear what is needed to hear. What they are being paid to hear. This is a VERY important part of the job. At least it is with my operation.

Cell phones are a great work tool when used for work. An employee can call me where ever I am on the farm to ask a question and or scream “come quick”. I can do the same.

[LookmaNohands]

To be clear, the person I want to hire will not be doing stalls. My stall cleaners do not use their phones while working or listen to music on them of their own accord.

There is a land line of course which is what I usually use since the cell signal is not great here.

The person I need to hire will need to take direction from me and will not have ear buds in!!!

[Displaced_Yankee]

FWIW my cell phone (as a working student) has come in handy many times when on the far (or wrong) side of our 50 acre farm. Once when I found a down horse in the pasture I was able to call the farm manager while staying with said horse. Second time I was filling pasture water tanks and we had an emergency in the barn. Stuff happens with horses and its worth being accessible.

I sometimes carry my phone while hacking on the farm or the neighbors farm to be reachable or (knock on wood) if I fall off. But I never just use it to listen to music etc. Communication with the rest of barn staff only. Often it is nice to get a group text that says “Checked on Dobbin, filled up his water bucket, he drank 3/4 of it” or whatever is pertinent to the days tasks.

[DancingArabian]

I’m okay with listening to music or a podcast while mucking stalls or moving hay or something like that. I’m NOT okay with texting or talking on the phone while handling a horse, riding, or teaching a lesson. I’m not okay with earbuds/earphones while on the property. I also feel cell phones should be silenced when working with or near horses - sometimes a ringtone can turn a horse into a kite.

[shea_smom]

I had one employee that became addicted to her phone. Everytime she slowed down a bit, filling water buckets, sitting on the tractor(!) she pulled out her phone and didn’t even realize it. Luckily, she quit and left on good terms before I had to let her go. So then, I started telling all new employees that they could not be on their phones and just have them for emergencies or if I needed them. It doesn’t seem to last long, next thing you know, they are pulling out the phone. Filling water buckets seems to set them off.
Unsuprisingly, they occassionally drop them in the buckets. Oh well.
I would not want to be told I can not have my phone, so I don’t do that to them.
I think the answer is to have employees who care about doing a good job.

[BrookdaleBay]

My barn doesn’t have a land line, but has excellent cell phone reception, and the trainer requires that all staff have their cell phone on them, as her preferred method of communication is texting. If I’m working alone in the barn, I use a Bluetooth speaker to listen to music, and I’ll scroll through Facebook while filling water buckets. My phone is always in my pocket when I’m handling a horse.

[rothmpp]

I guess when it comes to the mundane tasks - cleaning stalls, scrubbing buckets or tanks, etc… I don’t have a problem with music on the phone. And honestly - I’d prefer a single earbud. That way there is no excess noise, but with only one earbud the worker can still be cognizant of stuff around them. I hate when I see people in the warmup ring at a show with two headphones. You need to be somewhat aware of what is going on around you, including behind you.

A responsible employee will do their job. As I essetntially said on the millenial groom thread - time wasters have existed long before cellphones were a thing. Conscientious workers are conscentious, music and phones or not.

[Chimera]

I haven’t worked in a barn in many years and when I did cell phones weren’t a thing…but the cell phone policy that I use for students in my lab (grad students) is simply this: Don’t let it affect your work, and if it does, make sure you either fix it or make sure that it’s yours to ruin in the first place. It’s a little different in that no one is being paid by the hour. That being said, I like to check Facebook during the day, and often a mental break for a few moments can help me to refocus. I also use my phone as a stop watch so it’s fairly often in a biohazard bag on the bench, and my students do the same. If they want to pop in earbuds and have a conversation with someone while they clean glassware, etc. thats totally fine…people can do more than one thing at a time. I have never seen anyone try to do something super important while texting.

[SuzieQNutter]

I am not an employee. I take lessons and look after my own horses.

I now have a smart watch. I am capable of taking phone calls while doing almost anything.

I took a phone call in my last group riding lesson. I was in walk in the middle of warm up so let him continue to walk. I don’t need to take my hands off the reins to talk. It was a call about work and it took less than 2 minutes and didn’t make any difference to the rest of the group riding. If I had missed that call I would have missed out on that job.

I can talk and listen to the watch while grooming or doing gardening or cleaning stables. The watch doesn’t need to be near my face to be heard.

I am quite capable of multi tasking. I am female. Hear me roar.

[Tory]

[QUOTE=BrookdaleBay;8604892]
My barn doesn’t have a land line, but has excellent cell phone reception, and the trainer requires that all staff have their cell phone on them, as her preferred method of communication is texting. If I’m working alone in the barn, I use a Bluetooth speaker to listen to music, and I’ll scroll through Facebook while filling water buckets. My phone is always in my pocket when I’m handling a horse.[/QUOTE]

This is a great post.

To add to this, I am a big fan of having your cell phone on you at all times on a farm. Why?

My husband had a tractor flip on him while he was using the backhoe. The only way he could alert anyone to his predicament was by his phone. I wouldn’t have known that he was trapped for probably hours.

Hire the right person and the phone becomes a non-issue.

[nu2u]

[QUOTE=2ndyrgal;8604752]
Presumably, there is a land line phone in the barn. Make sure that new employees have the number so someone can call them on that phone during working hours. Tell them to leave their cell phone in their car. I have 11 employees. There is an employee form regarding cell phone use, or rather don’t use. There is a sign on the wall. They get one warning. If I walk into an area where an employee is supposed to be working and instead they are sitting on a 5 gallon bucket on their facebook page or texting, they’re fired. Instantly. If you work at a factory, or in a hospital, you don’t get to have your cell phone. There is zero difference. They “expect” to be connected? perhaps they need a different job. I’m not paying someone to listen to a podcast, and I don’t care how low level the job is. If I want to talk to you, or yell help when I hit the ground, I expect that you will be able to hear ME as opposed to the ear buds. I would additionally, not take a second lesson, or finish the first lesson with a trainer that took a call. Unless the next words out of that trainers mouth were “I’ll be right there” and they said they had a horse colicking, game over. It’s rude. Just because the technology exists, does not mean we must be chained to it. I only had to fire one person to let the other 1 know I meant it.[/QUOTE]

I have not seen a barn with a land line in it for decades, sure there maybe some with an office somewhere on the property but there would need to be someone sitting there to answer it and able to go find the employee…and to be honest most BOs use cell phones to communicate with employees and employees use them in emergencies. I agree it should not be used for personal reasons but it absolutely is a productive, if not flat out necessary, asset when used with a bit of professional courtesy and safety…perhaps a very basic cell phone could be provided by the barn so it could be used for work reasons and by family child care etc in case of emergency, but no social media etc…