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Cell Phone Use

6K views 24 replies 17 participants last post by  dayexco 
#1 ·
Do you allow cell phones to be carried for personal use by people on the job site?

Do you allow them to answer their calls while working?
 
#2 ·
I'd like to think that most grown men don't need treated like kindergarteners. Quick call from the wife to say pick up bread and milk on the way home; quick call from their auto mechanic to get authorization to fix the problem he found with their car, etc.... these things are normal and should be generally permitted. It makes for a happy and less-stressed workman. Happy workmen show up for work every day and work hard. Excessive use should be counseled on a case-by-case basis, I say.
 
#7 ·
I'd like to think that most grown men don't need treated like kindergarteners. Quick call from the wife to say pick up bread and milk on the way home; quick call from their auto mechanic to get authorization to fix the problem he found with their car, etc.... these things are normal and should be generally permitted. It makes for a happy and less-stressed workman. Happy workmen show up for work every day and work hard. Excessive use should be counseled on a case-by-case basis, I say.
I agree with this...some guys get excessive, and in my experiences the rest of the crew is vocal enough in their own ways to get the point across.

Cell phones are a distraction, but a two minute conversation on the cell sure beats losing a guy for a couple hours to take care of business, or missing work yourself. We get two 15 min. breaks and lunch. I try to stress to the guys to have their wives call them then, or to use that time for outside business.

You can tell in about 10 seconds how important a call is so when it's a guy lining up plans for Friday night I just say, "hey, get off the phone call him back at breaktime."
 
#5 ·
This is going to be the pet peeve topic of mine at our next monthly meeting. It is out of hand. Everyone takes all calls and its getting dificult to draw lines.

I suply thier phones and I pay for thier time on the job so I figure i have the right to curtail this in any way i want.
 
#6 ·
I allow calls ....as long as there in little abuse ~ there will always be abuse.

IF we were cubicle dwellers....would we be allowed phone calls, bathroom breaks, etc?

Granted, construction is probably the only job where you work yourself out of a job everyday....but people are human and as an owner I understand this.
 
#8 ·
how did we ever do with out the wonderful magical cell phone? Imagine, a whole day working? Wow, what slave drivers the old timers must have been!
 
#9 ·
Welcome to 2007. We've come leaps and bounds in terms of jobsite efficiency since the pre-cell phone days too. A quickie call a couple times a week isn't going to hurt a blessed thing. The net productivity, when compared to pre-cell phone days, is still greater I would have to say.
 
#12 ·
Yes we are allowed cell phones for personnel use and yes we are allowed to take calls while working.
The last time I was working in excavation we had FM band radios and phone booths, cell phones are a big step up.
I've noticed some employees abusing the privilege of having a cell phone but most are good.
It seems to me it is just another thing employers are going to have to constantly monitor.
 
#13 ·
I don't mind them, I keep an eye to what is going on, you can see the abusers and those are the ones that get addressed with either leave it in the vehicle or give it to me and I will take messages for you.

Cell phones have saved the day, makes ordering supplies faster and easier, and I love the Nextel Walkie Talkie, allows greater production when I don't have to always go and give direction or have an employee come to find me, this alone makes the occasional nuisance call alright
 
#14 ·
Do you allow cell phones to be carried for personal use by people on the job site? no

Do you allow them to answer their calls while working?
no

they're allowed to give out my number to family members for emergency calls only. i've gone the route of letting the wife call for bread and milk, the mechanic call......and it has always become an abused issue. they can keep their phones in their vehicles and make/take their calls, messages on their break
 
#18 ·
A lot depends on what they are doing on the jobsite. If I'm sub-cutting and have a dozen or so trucks and my backhoe man stops loading to answer a call.....yep...I've got definite probs with that.....and that has happened. But little things, a quick call is permissible. I leave my personal phone in my vehicle at work so should they, but the company phones are different. Most of the time it's not a problem, but likes its been said, you have to draw the proverbial line in the sand with your workers otherwise they will take advantage of it.
 
#19 ·
I want to hire dayexco and framerman to manage my field staff. They sound like german field marhals. Love it
 
#20 ·
Hey by the way high apex welcome aboard!

I am looking at hiring 1 to 3 more people if I can find them. I am of a mind to set a rule now that cell phones stay in vehicles. I have been observing people everywhere using phones. On job sites I have assessed that they are a crutch and a distraction. There always seems to be one person who gets more calls than others and I have watched the resentment of those who are trying to work. I've watched lead people get calls and three other people stand and watch them because they have no direction. I watch bosses get call after call after call and watched the guys expressions. I see almost a complete destruction of employee initiative, people are always calling to ask how to do something instead using their head and doing it. Planning also seems to be gone because the phone makes up for the lack of it.

This week really watch what's going on on jobs. Gauge the calls you get. How many do you really need to answer right then. Tgeb is right about the ordering of concrete thing it makes that better. If you didn't carry your phone on you but checked it every 2 hours. What difference would it make?

When an operator setting pipe in a tight spot gets a call and automatically reacts to the ring and vibration of his phone crushes a laborer's hand or worse what then. It's already happened so don't think it won't again.

I've only started on the things I've seen.
 
#24 ·
I've made the decission to not allow cell phone use during work hours. Use your phone on your time. Thats the way it's going to be. I have started to limit my use also. The more I pay attention to how phones are used the more I find wasted time.
 
#25 ·
nick, i guess i feel i'm the one handing out the w-2.....and if that means that i need to talk to customers, engineers, etc. etc...or my wife....that's my decision. when i'm on somebody else's payroll, i'll talk when i'm allowed to. i'm fully aware there are emergency's...employees taking calls on my clock requesting them to stop to get a gallon of milk or a box of pads in my opinion doesn't consitute an emergency.
 
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