Thanks for all the feedback. It was very helpful. I think we are going to
leave the policy as is and address it on case by case basis.
However, there is one additional question that I wished I had asked - the age
of the responder.
I grew up with a party line and only one phone on our farm. Not with a phone
up or uh plugged into you ear. Also, I used the slide rule, logarithms, and
manual drafting (of which I still do). The only thing that I can some what
successfully do is plot a drawing with AutoCAD. I have a cell phone that I
use when out of the office (it is a pain because my big fingers typically hit
two buttons at once) and no I do not do text messaging. If clients can not
get me on the cell they leave a message and then call the line phone to the
office or at night call at home on the line phone. It seems this generation
(my son and daughter who are 18 and 24) can not live without the cell and
text messaging. Whole different generation. Whole different set of
problems.
We decided we needed a policy manual to get things down in writing and make
sure everybody is on the same page. If there is a discipline problem then we
have something in writing that we can go back to. Each person is required to
read and sign a form letter saying they read it. The policy covers vacation,
sick time, working hours, internet usage, dress code, sexual harassment,
smoking, drugs, telephone, moonlighting, etc. and this year we are adding
client confidentiality and security. The previous owner was very loose -
people were coming to work when they felt it was convenient, dress was
whatever, etc. From a legal position we felt we needed something in writing.
When there is a problem they can not say well the boss said I could do it, or
I did not know, or any other excuse. Some of our clients have drug polices
and expect us to have similar polices. We do work with DOE and need to
address security issues. Also, when people interview we can provide a policy
manual that provides all the details. We have not had any complaints or
people leave because of it. I think most people want to know where the
boundaries are.
This is already to long. Thank you again for your input and may you have a
successful 2008.
Gary Loomis, PE
My office is pretty laid back. No dress code, almost everyone listens to
music thru I-tunes on their computer and headphones. Cell phones are going
off all the time, from my Curb Your Enthusiam ring tone to a wide array
(haven't heard Eye of the Tiger yet - Da - Da Du Da) No one gives a damn and
we all usually put our phones on silent or vibrate when in meetings and
almost all of our guests do as well when in the conference room.
If it becomes a problem because of an annoying, loud, or too frequent, justs
bring it up verbally on the side with the employee one on one, why write it
into a manual or memo (did you put a cover sheet on the TPS reports?)
-g
On Dec 28, 2007 10:36 AM, Daryl Richardson <h.d.richardson@shaw.ca> wrote:
Gary, Jim,
Most of us are responsible adults. If there are repeat
offenders who don't know when they are over doing it they can usually be
spoken to privately and asked to "keep it to a minimum".
On the other hand, there are situations where the phone must
take priority. Back in the 1980s when I was taking MBA courses, there was
one lady whose pager went off in every class (sometimes more than once) and
she got up and left the class. I thought it was quite rude of her until I
came to know her. I was then made aware that she was a very nice lady; and
that she was Director of Pharmacy at Children's Hospital, on call 24 hours a
day. When that pager went a sick child needed medicine; and she responded.
Her pager interrupting the classes no longer seemed to be of any importance
at all!
Regards,
H. Daryl Richardson
----- Original Message -----
From: Jim Getaz <mailto:jgetaz@shockeyprecast.com>
To: seaint@seaint.org <mailto:seaint@seaint.org>
Sent: Friday, December 28, 2007 6:28 AM
Subject: Re: Procedures
Gary,
We have over three hundred employees,
of whom about forty work in the office. We have a Personnel Manual. We have a
large number of company and personal cell phones. There is a wide range here
in cell phone use. It is the employee's discretion how to use them. Most of
our Superintendents and Project Managers have their ringers turned on loud so
they can hear them while on jobsites, which is very disruptive when in
meetings. When our President is running the meeting, most are off or vibrate,
though, and no one takes a call. Just ask your folks to remember where they
are.
Jim Getaz
--
-gm