Cell phones at work?
Paul Akers discusses the importance of respecting the company and the customers at FastCap.
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Paul Akers is an entrepreneur, business owner, author, speaker, & Lean maniac. He has written several books on Lean and he travels the world to educate & speak about Lean principles, Lean manufacturing and Lean Health. Paul has a weekly podcast called The American Innovator where he shares about Lean & his travel adventures. For more information on Paul Akers and Lean, visit his website. http://paulakers.net/
He is the founder and president of FastCap, based in Ferndale, WA. FastCap is an international product development company founded in 1997 with over 2000 distributors worldwide. At its core, FastCap is a Lean company, determined to continuously improve everything, everyday. FastCap’s products reflect the idea that everything can be improved and the best ideas come from the shop floor.
For more information on FastCap, visit FastCap’s website. http://www.fastcap.com/ or Blog http://blog.fastcap.com/ For Spanish videos, visit our FastCap Spanish YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCipvDj1A9LvOlJkLL12is4Q
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Great to see that you a traveling in Germany. Are you at any public event?
Fantastic.
Paul, so damn simple it hurts.
(Faux) Emergencies.
Very well put Paul.
The guy is either dumb or he cheats Because: no, he doesn’t pay me for every second of my job – he pays me for the job well and efficiently dune, dumbo. And studies show a person is more effective if he relaxes ab bit every now and then. Therefore, it is good policy to allow people to surf a little and to use their smartphones a little. He didn’t know that?? hey.. it’s his responsibility as a boss to know. So, he cheats 🙂
Of course the employee should work for every second he is paid. But I disagree that China has taken so many of our jobs because we don’t respect the customer. They took our jobs because we can’t live on the low wages they get. It feels like unfair competition but it’s not. They are humans too so who’s to say they don’t deserve to win the labor game if they are willing to work for less. Oh wait, China is a dictatorship. Well then, it’s like any competition in life. Whatever you do for a living you need to do something that can’t be farmed out to China. (Or any number of other third world countries.)
So when one of your team is at home AFTER HOURS thinking about a really cool idea for your business, does some research, studies something, learns how to do something better, solves a work problem, all AFTER HOURS, who is paying for that? Should they bring that to work the next day?
BOOM! If leaders took two minutes with their new hires to create this clarity and set the High standards…then held everyone accountable to the high standards, business would be transformed as we know it. Paul– Can I share this with the business leaders I work with?
People hear what they want to hear
We are very reasonable company and we act with common sense on the way we apply what I’m speaking about here.
Of course, if there’s an emergency, a call can be made in or outbound. But this comment is just a smokescreen for not being willing to address the real issue…the abuse of personal interruptions when we were here to produce quality for the customer at a reasonable price.
People come up to us all the time and say I need to make a call real quick because I have an issue I have to deal with in which we reply, "no problem". They act with respect towards our company time and we with respect towards them. This is all common sense. It does not require every little iteration to be spelled out. It does require for people to understand what is really going on and deal with things from a philosophical standpoint…the answers will be very clear.
I love the way he stated this.
Bob I respect your opinion on this however your approach is very dictatorial this video was not your best. I agree the use of cell phones , text messaging and social media is way out of control and sometimes a zero policy is needed. If job safety is an issue than that’s a zero. I feel if an employee respects the employer and uses the electronic device as an adult (breaks lunches ) than the occasional use would be acceptable. Sometimes a employee goes the extra mile or puts in time without remuneration to advance the company these small perks really don’t matter. Fast caps success is a result of the employees see Richard Branson’s take. Keep up the videos Taylor Guitars was awesome.
I think the bit missing here is what you said in the comments, the difference between an hourly employee and a salaried one. For an hourly employee this makes sense, for a salaried employee you aren’t paying for their time, you are paying for them to deliver a result
The irony of him taking this position whilst in Germany is, in and of itself, the funniest part. If you’re salaried (i.e. NOT paid by the hour) then Paul is completely wrong – he doesn’t pay you for every second of your work "day". If I got a "welcome" like this on my first day in a new job, I’d flip a u-turn and head out.
Paid break time or paid lunch break? If yes to either, I guess you’re paying them for more than 100% ?
Lean is a very japanese asian culture, everything you said makes sense to a person coming from an asian backgroundb
Greetings. A big fan of your company, products and philosophy. Amazing how hooked people are to their devices! It’s a very serious addiction an a big drain on productivity in many workplaces.
The greatest benefits of working for your company, that I see from the viewpoint of an individual with a bit of age related wisdom is…the life skills, time management skills, business skills, organizational skills that any employee should obviously carry forward to his life, family, education, finaces and business endeavors.
Like playing for a great college coach!
And getting paid!!!
Many Blessings to you, your family and team
Whilst this may have seemed harsh to the older generation because we don’t use our phones that much, it is 100% needed for an addicted generation who don’t even realise how many hours they waste every day on their phones.
At break at work (30min) the older guys relax and chat. The young guys spent every minute of the 30 on their phones.
This is like invading personal spaces of employees .. my take on this ! As long as they give you " productive" 8 hours the flexibility shall be allowed
All I can say is this is common sense on steroids. The pilot is not taking a call from his wife as he’s getting ready to take off, the surgeon is not taking a call as she’s performing heart surgery.
We are not asking for anything unreasonable. We are asking people to focus on what we are paying them to do. There is plenty of time for them to work on personal things during break and lunch. You do not see cell phones on the Toyota production line or people answering your phones and talking on Facebook…quality and the customer is the reason we come to work.
That people don’t understand this is why our world is so screwed up. We are so focused on ourselves instead of the people who we are here to serve. It is shameful that people don’t understand the simple concept.
The truth of the matter is, it’s really an indication of management unwilling to speak with clarity because they want to be liked instead of respected.
I prefer the approach of Paul Levy, when he was CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital… that "goofing off" is a managerial problem, not a technology issue. Banning use of technology doesn’t mean you’re going to get value from an employee every single second of the working day. If somebody is wasting a ton of time, that should be addressed… but I agree with another commenter that this seems a bit extreme. But hey, it’s your company.
Love it Paul thanks!
How do you deal with smoke break?
Simple and effective.
For some reason, I did not like this video.