What are your ground rules for employee cell phone use?

[Fig]

It really depends on the job and the work they are presently doing. I teach now and would NEVER answer a call while in the lesson. However, I carry my phone for safety if I need to call my boss or (God forbid) an ambulance. As a working student who had the entire barn to themselves for many mornings mucking out alone I always listened to a podcast or iTunes university and have never been more productive. I have a mind that goes a mile a minute and meaningless tasks like mucking (is that enough “m” words?) without horses in the barn is enough to make me quit from dreading work each day. I had no problem once I began listening to podcasts. It benefits the employer as well because I completed my work very efficiently. I didn’t ever have headphones on while doing anything other than mucking or cleaning and both horses and people were gone.

When I was doing training rides full time I would carry a phone on silent as I’ve heard horror stories of people going down and being stranded in an arena for hours or even days and unable to move. It’s just not feasible for me to have only ridden when others were present.

[Boo]

Personally i’d allow the phone but make it clear its for emergencies only and non emergency is for breaks only. Have a written policy and warning system in place etc that they sign as part of their employment conditions/induction.

I know several companies that have a “no mobiles” policy when working with livestock/horses/animals. All mobiles are to be left in the office so they can be checked during breaks and staff are advised on employment to give the office number to those who might need to contact them in an emergency. They have documents they sign on employment and are allowed several warnings and then fired. It is just too dangerous to have staff not paying 100% when working with large and potentially dangerous animals (and its not ususlly “they” who get hurt but their collegues).

[Tory]

Again, hire the right person. I’m a nurse and I keep my phone in my pocket on vibrate. The owner/physician actually perfers this so personal calls don’t come through the main lines that have to be answered.

All of us are professionals, so it is really a non-issue. I know that there are younger people that don’t know when to stop, but it is all about setting out the rules and expectations first. Not after the fact.

[JustTheTicket]

There is no way I’d work in a barn that would make me put my phone in some common area to be picked up at the end of the day. I would want my employees to have a phone in case a horse they’re riding dumps them, there’s an emergency in a far pasture, a client unexpectedly shows up while I’m on my lunch break. They want to talk on the phone or listen to music while they clean stalls? Fine. I listened to music when I was a working student when I did chores and no one ever said a word to me.

If you don’t want them using phones, fine, but the issue you should be addressing is hiring people who want to do the job. Then the phone becomes a moot point and you don’t have to micromanage your employees like they’re elementary school children.

[Beck]

I like Boo’s response.

Emergencies only. Or on break time. Working around the animals you need to be alert and undistracted.

[meupatdoes]

[QUOTE=JustTheTicket;8605098]
There is no way I’d work in a barn that would make me put my phone in some common area to be picked up at the end of the day. I would want my employees to have a phone in case a horse they’re riding dumps them, there’s an emergency in a far pasture, a client unexpectedly shows up while I’m on my lunch break. They want to talk on the phone or listen to music while they clean stalls? Fine. I listened to music when I was a working student when I did chores and no one ever said a word to me.

If you don’t want them using phones, fine, but the issue you should be addressing is hiring people who want to do the job. Then the phone becomes a moot point and you don’t have to micromanage your employees like they’re elementary school children.[/QUOTE]

This.

I am perfectly capable of spending a 12 hour day hustling my heinie to clean stalls, do all the turnouts, feed three meals, ride 5 or 6, manage other employees, teach, and have your barn more immaculate than it was when I found it.

I’ll add “figuring out my own phone use” to that list.

The employers who don’t know how to hire and retain good employees who are capable of managing their own phone use (among other things) are probably only capable of attracting a lower class group of employees. Probably due to a lack of a truly high caliber training program or decent interpersonal skills on their part (or some combo of the two). I mean, if you honestly need to tell someone not to sit on a backet and spend 30 minutes texting, what kind of people are coming down your driveway? And if you dont need to tell them because they work hard, but you still treat them as if they need to be told, then your interpersonal skills are a little lacklustre.

It is the same reason I won’t board at a place that feels the need to post a giant list of arena rules, safety rules, clean up after yourself rules, etc. If it’s not ALREADY part of the culture…

…the problem isn’t the phones.

[BeeHoney]

I’m finding this thread interesting reading as this is something I myself have struggled with with employees. I require that employees carry a cellphone on them at all times, because I communicate with them via that phone and texts. If they are out in a pasture and find a problem with a horse or get kicked or a horse gets loose, they need to be able to call me or one of the other workers for help immediately. If I need help with a task, or I get a message that the vet is coming NOW instead of in an hour, I need to be able to relay that info to the appropriate worker.

I provide a cell phone that I expect the employee to carry during work hours instead of their own. But, I don’t have one for each and every employee. My ground rules are occasional necessary phone calls, no prolonged conversations, and no texting anyone but me or another employee. They are free to talk on their own cell phone and check/return their own messages at lunch time. I don’t allow earbuds, but if someone wants to play some background music on a radio or phone without using earbuds that’s fine by me.

Since I receive the bill for these cell phones, I get to see exactly how much time employees are spending on them, and I’ve had a few shockers, even from employees whom I considered “good employees” who were very careful not to use their phone when I was around. I respect that even a good worker might need to answer an occasional call from the school about a kid, from the auto shop that is fixing their car, etc. But in these cases there were, seriously, HOURS of conversations during work hours at times when I was not there immediately supervising. Obviously, I had to talk to the employees in question, but honestly, I think that all that changed was that they started discreetly carrying their personal phones when I wasn’t around. Obviously, few workers are foolish enough to yap on a cell phone in front of their employer, but sometimes I’m away at shows for days at a time and there is less supervision, making cell phone use hard to monitor during those times.

These “forking” cellphones are such a part of our culture I think that there is a large percentage of the population that are addicted to them. My latest policy has been this–when I hire someone, I usually consider them “on trial” for the first two weeks. I don’t say too much about cell phones other than my basic policy, but I pay a LOT of attention to that person’s cell phone habits during that time. If they appear to be a phone addict, I let them go.

[clanter]

[QUOTE=BuddyRoo;8604723]
.

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![/QUOTE]

not until horsey kicks the hell out of dude while they are distracted taking about what kind of beer they think they need

[Mia_Sorella]

As other people have mentioned, hire the right people and cell phone use shouldn’t be a problem.

Personally, I like to be able to have my phone with me for safety and also as a scheduling tool.

One time I actually got my hand caught in one of the old-style metal grate feeders and was basically stuck out in the field calling for help. Would’ve been really nice to have just called someone who could’ve come out and helped me. Instead, I had to do some crazy contortion/yoga moves (my hand got stuck as I reached across the feeder so I was literally laying across it with my butt up in the air) to free myself. I shudder to think what would have happened if I wasn’t that flexible…

I also worked for someone who was very ermm “precise” in the way they wanted things done. Horses fed at exact times, hand-walking for exactly 30 mins, etc. So I used to set alarms on my phone to make sure I stayed on schedule.

[Scribbler]

If I were making rules, I would say:

No texting, no ear buds, no cellphone use, when handling horses, including grooming, handwalking, groundwork, and riding. Period.

No social media or personal calls on the job. But it’s worth remembering that before cell-phones, slack employees hung around chit-chatting to each other or reading magazines in the bathroom, so while cell phones make it easier and more tempting to skive off, they aren’t the root cause.

Also, one thing that teens and young adults often need to learn is, how to do a job. It’s more common now for teens to have part time jobs than it was when I was a kid. But the jobs they get tend to be in the most poorly-paid, poorly-managed sectors of retail and fast food, where they are not properly trained, learn bad habits, and usually don’t last long. So “how to do an honest day’s work” might be one of the things you need to teach kids, in addition to the other aspects of the task.

I’m not sure how I feel about ear-buds while cleaning stalls. The only time I consistently used a walkman (old old tech, I know) was when I traveled a lot, and used it to block out the hideousness of airports and airplanes. I would never go jogging or walking with earbuds; it’s just not safe.

When people are doing a menial job, I am hesitant to remove anything that makes it more pleasant. On the other hand, when I watch friends work with earbuds, they definitely are slower and more distracted. More importantly, they are shut off to everything going on around them, and to the community of the barn and the horses. They are not entirely grounded in the place they are in, which is dangerous.

I would say: no ear buds ever, but supply a radio, maybe one with a usb slot so people could bring their own playlists. I find commercial radio with all its advertisements a bit jarring in the barn.

But I would expect people to have their cellphones on themselves at all times, for emergency contact. They can program a special ring tone for barn manager, etc.

If you want to become good at horses, you need to accept and value the silence and the space to observe and be in the moment. That means not being distracted by other people or by phones.

Of course the barn managers and trainers have to set a good example. If you have the young trainer riding or handwalking horses and on her phone constantly, no one else will see why they need to do it.

The other aspect of phones and social media is that a good deal of the content, especially for younger people, is personal drama. And it isn’t good for the barn atmosphere for people to have to overhear all kinds of heated conversations and excitement in other people’s phone chats.

But then, I’m kind of into … silence.

[sublimequine]

I wouldn’t work in a barn that would not allow me to have my phone on me at all times. There’s been too many times where I stumbled across an emergency (dead lame horse in middle of pasture, cast horse in stall, colicking horse, horse broke into feed room… Etc) for me to not have a method of calling for help immediately.

[Ruth0552]

[QUOTE=meupatdoes;8605128]
This.

I am perfectly capable of spending a 12 hour day hustling my heinie to clean stalls, do all the turnouts, feed three meals, ride 5 or 6, manage other employees, teach, and have your barn more immaculate than it was when I found it.

I’ll add “figuring out my own phone use” to that list.

The employers who don’t know how to hire and retain good employees who are capable of managing their own phone use (among other things) are probably only capable of attracting a lower class group of employees. Probably due to a lack of a truly high caliber training program or decent interpersonal skills on their part (or some combo of the two). I mean, if you honestly need to tell someone not to sit on a backet and spend 30 minutes texting, what kind of people are coming down your driveway? And if you dont need to tell them because they work hard, but you still treat them as if they need to be told, then your interpersonal skills are a little lacklustre.

It is the same reason I won’t board at a place that feels the need to post a giant list of arena rules, safety rules, clean up after yourself rules, etc. If it’s not ALREADY part of the culture…

…the problem isn’t the phones.[/QUOTE]

Indeed.

Additionally, most earbuds have a microphone on them now, and I can’t see why you can’t have a quick convo with your hubby or listen to music while mucking. If you have employees that are listening to music so loud they can’t hear the outside world at all while at work, they belong in that lower class employee category. The rest of us are smart enough to not listen to loud music while working, and can answer a call from hubby about what’s for dinner without skipping a beat at the mucking.

[mswillie]

I’d go with “Please limit cell phone use to breaks and emergencies”. Then trust the people you hire to abide the rules. If they don’t, then address it as you see fit.

I would ask, as a courtesy, that if any employee had a personal situation that might require being on the phone more frequently they give me a heads up. I wouldn’t necessarily need to know details but that way I wouldn’t jump to conclusions if I saw them on the phone. It doesn’t take long to separate the people who have a temporary need from chronic slackers.