Ryanair Employees Banned From Charging Cell Phones At Work

from the assistant-TO-the-regional-manager dept

Europe’s high flying discount airline, Ryanair, has decided to ban cell phone charging at work. Though the company spokesperson claims that “nobody has batted an eyelid” in reference to the new policy, it could be that the employees are too incredulous to comment. Whether this policy is meant to be a cost savings or to reinforce a “good work ethic,” it is simply silly. Ryanair workers will now have to rely on hand-crank generators to charge their phones, which I’m sure will have a much bigger affect on productivity.


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Comments on “Ryanair Employees Banned From Charging Cell Phones At Work”

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10 Comments
wip says:

Re: Re: or maybe employees will get the hint

If your job requires a phone, you have already got one on your desk. If not, you should be working and not using your personal phone.

Banning employees from using company electricity to charge their personal equipment seems like a sensible thing to do. How is that any different from banning people from charging their model airplane batteries or their camera batteries at work?

If the company thinks you need a cellphone to do your job (not likely for anyone that works behind a desk), then more than likely they issued one to you and this story is not about you.

Mike (profile) says:

Re: Re: Re: or maybe employees will get the hint

Of course, these are the same “personal phones” that the bosses have no problem calling you on to reach you during your personal time.

How is that any different from banning people from charging their model airplane batteries or their camera batteries at work?

First of all, I had no idea work places did ban that sort of thing. Everywhere I’ve worked I doubt anyone would have cared if you were charging those things at work. You haven’t explained why it’s “sensible” at all. The electricity “cost” is tiny — and the benefit from keeping workers happy and not worried about rushing out of the office to do something at home more than pays up for the tiny electricity charge.

wip says:

Re: Re: Re:2 or maybe employees will get the hint

arguing that a company should foot the bill for charging your personal stuff because it reduces productivity is not sensible. arguing that employees will need to leave work to charge their personal stuff as a result is not sensible either.

Just because cell phones are ubiquitous does not mean they are productivity enhancers. The point that I am making is that these things are mostly non-work distractions and it is a sensible thing for a company to remove non-work distractions from the workplace. Especially when the company is a barebones low cost company that prides itself on low priced service. Why squander price on a non-essential distraction?

Most jobs do not require cell phones. On call people, on the road people obviously do require cell phones, but that is the minority. The rest are people talking to their friends, because business associates call your work number not your private personal number.

If business people are calling you on your personal phone, that is your fault. The company provides a phone that you could use, that is available during work hours. If you choose to give out your personal number instead of your work number, it is your fault that you get business calls during personal time.

Mr S Hasier says:

Re: Re: Re:4 or maybe employees will get the hint

1./ Negligible electricity savings.
2./ Not all their staff have mobiles at work.
3./ Arrogant & Ignorant PR dept.
4./ The main issue is time saved from hourly payed staff( don’t fabricate bull about electricity )
5./ Only allow mobiles to be used if associated with the tasks to hand
6./ Read the internet

e.g. http://www.ryan-be-fair.org/
ps. google gave a plentyfull supply of hits bad mouthing you, wonder what that means 😉 or is it coincidence?
pps I can’t believe someone registered a paid domain name to slag you off. LOL

Site quote –>

Norwegian unions block Ryanair recruitment

Belgian tribunal finds against Ryanair

ITF supplies personal flightlog for cabin and flightdeck crew

Judge rules injunction against Ryanair disciplinary action

Union pressure successful in Spain

Pilots win major court victory over Ryanair!

Oliver Wendell Jones (profile) says:

It might be for security

My cell phone, a PalmOne Treo 600 is also a PDA with a SD memory card. My charger is also a USB Sync cable and draws power from the PC. By clicking a couple times on the scren of my phone I can activate an application that makes my SD card show up as a removable drive on the PC and allows me to copy data back and forth.

If I were the wrong type of person, I could easily add a virus to the PC or smuggle information out of the computer and onto my phone.

If the company has a similar no iPods, no flash drives, etc. policy, this new policy would make more sense.

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