A fellow groomer with a small business send me this message the other day: “Do you have policies in place at your work place about employees using cell phones on the job? My assistant got a cell phone last fall and I am having a problem with the constant interruptions. He is constantly taking out his phone and stopping to either read a text, return one, take a call, etc. it is not the time so much, as it probably doesn’t add up to 30-40 minutes per day, but it is the break in concentration. How can you give your work full concentration when your personal life is intruding every few minutes? He does not go an hour without being on his phone.
It got really bad this past Saturday when there was a relationship crisis going on. I know I don’t have a right or any means to control what goes on in my employee’s mind while he is at work. But Saturday he was stressing over personal stuff to the point that it affected his work. He ended the day with a near melt down. What kind of rules have you experienced about cell phone use on the job? What did you feel about the rules?
This was and is my response:
You may not have any right to control what goes on in someone’s head, but you have every right to expect your employee to actually WORK for the money you are paying them! My solution is usually to hit them in the wallet- “Suzie, this is the third personal phone call you’ve taken in the last 10 minutes. Why don’t you clock out, and take all the time you need to get everything settled so that you can focus on your work?” or “Billy, you seem pretty distracted today, why don’t you just take the rest of the day off to take care of things. We’ll see you tomorrow when you are more focused.”
Everyone has emergencies that must be dealt with, and if this is the case, they may appreciate your understanding. However, when it is coming out of their paycheck, they may discover that the matter isn’t quite as important as they first thought!!