What do you all have in the lines of policies concerning the use of phones (both restaurant and cell) by your employees? I am trying to define some rules for my employees, so I was interested in any input. What I have so far is the following:
No personal phone conversations while you are working–only on your break.
Absolutely no personal phone conversations in the dining areaâ€â€even emergencies.
No personal phone conversations while you are operating any equipment in the kitchen.
I dont think you need to go into that much detail. If you say no Personal calls while on duty you have covered it. Also dont say they can have their phone on vibrate just tell them all Cell phones must be left in the staff room, purse, locker, car whatever you decide that way they are not tempted to use them when they think no one is looking. Write out the policy and have them sign it.
We have a NO CELL PHONE policy. There is no reason for them to have their cell phone in the restaurant at all. If you have teenagers working and you allow them to carry their cell phones with them, the temptation to text message will eventually do them in. They can’t help themselves.
We tell all of our employees that their parents, spouses, familty, etc, should have the restaurant’s phone number in case of emergency.
phone calls at work have been a pet peeve of mine for some time. I tell my friends and family NOT to call me at work unless it’s an emergency. My policy is no cell phones, no phone calls (unless it’s an emergency) and you must ask for permission before using the phone for personal use. I let my drivers carry and use cell phones because it makes their job much easier.
SaraH,
Here’s one rule that we can’t seem to enforce: " No personal calls while on deliveries". We provide a cell phone in the delivery car for when it’s needed, and tell them that their cell phones are prohibited in the car, but we constantly bust them driving down the road yacking with their friends on their own cell phone. I would definitely remind them that on duty INCLUDES delivering.
Tom R
I don’t regulate drivers with their own cell phones while on deliveries. We also provide drivers without their own with one to use for the shift. Inevitably, a driver that requires one of our cell phones every shift they work will get fired for using it for their personal calls. We make it extremely clear that it is to be used for business purposes only and that other drivers have been fired for using it for personal use, but nobody listens. We use a checkout sheet that we can track the #'s called on whatever dates to the specific driver that checked out that phone that day. No matter how much I warn them, they can’t do without using it for personal use!
I can see your point very clearly, but. I have quite a bit of experience delivering pizzas and I’ve done it with and without cell phones. The biggest thing for me is the time it saves having a cell phone. Lets say the address is wrong on the order or you don’t know where it is. You pull over flip open the cell and dial the number. OR you drive around find a pay phone, dig up some change and call OR you go back to the store to call. The quicker your drivers can deliver orders, the more orders they can deliver.
I agree. All my delivery people have cell phones and are encouraged to use them if it will help them find an address. Can I stop them from using them for personal use? No! I used to have store phones but they knew they were not allowed to use them for personal use so they would take their own phones so I got rid of the store phones and save myself 1500.00 a year. Yup they use their phones for personal use but not in the store if they are not on their break.
Obviously, cell phone are extremely valuable while delivering, but adding a couple of them to my family plan for $10 apiece per month is a lot easier to control than letting drivers pack their own phone, and cheaper than paying for a car wreck.
Example: 21 yr old delivery girl was constantly on her phone. We warned her. One night, her husband is sitting in the parking lot waiting for her to get off work, talking on his cell phone. After about ten minutes, my wife goes out to her car, and overhears him saying " Here comes your boss…"
When asked “are you still using your phone on the job?” “No, not me boss!”
Later on, yeah, she wrecked the car! $2,000 damage. Was she talking on her cell when she did it? What do you think?
NO PERSONAL CELL PHONES IN THE CAR!!!
Tom R