Good lord, this makes me think of the dumb reason that it looks professional to have employees in certain jobs STAND for hours on end, and not sit down. Evaluation of the effects of gabapentin on the physiologic and Oh, and one of our newer hires has decided the lab is a good place to chew gum as loudly as possible. no headphones at work policy sample Doc Template | pdfFiller Retaliation is your word. This is incredibly unreasonable. I often say that if Im the smartest, most knowledgeable person in the room who has all the answers to everything, Ive done a terrible job of hiring my team. 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Yeah, 99.99% of people are going to assume its for an old wrist injury or something, even if we know about the pelvic floor therapy. This seems like a normal/fast timeline. So Im very appreciative of having a little music to offset all that booming going on. Opt for music without lyrics or very familiar music when you need to concentrate. This is a fantastic phrase, and you seem like a great boss. Its polite. that is not cool and frankly extremely rude. Instead, we promise a fun weekly roundup of our latest blog posts and great finds from across the web. Speak to your manager about moving desks if you feel it will . I dont care if someone is listening with headphones or not, I just start talking. I cant imagine any appreciable difference in the time needed to remove them, and the looks bad part is just ridiculous. q(NF7^Mi>JR$C/}vfUOO)9Q o}N/iovF=.o$V )#o}}j5]"WbcK"hW7QX`>^vsZg^cc7[Jzj.b;$ss)$]4V/ZIXJ}my$l/bx(N}\C'n:,n1{g4|jonv/Ndt*^oU\\o`8Jy!m_)1?,oY>\nX8l7F|Q+ bJ|QVs,Er7;MbNMZ8 ^rjv,N>mqKjE5+:DBt1*e8u{sNzf6c[k9.\&]A! If theyre allowed to wear earphones, they should be allowed to wear headphones. Theres a reason librarians shush you! Admin in AK, I think youve missed my point. my company decided to close for 2 weeks last year and charged me a chunk of this years PTO for it, what admin assistants really want from their coworkers, should my spouse have to be background checked for my job, one-way video interviews, and more, my boss keeps asking me to do things that aggravate our community partners, update: my employee wastes a huge amount of everyones time with helpful suggestions and questioning, 8 horror stories for Administrative Professionals Day, HR jokes about firing people, I want to stop giving reasons for my time-off requests, and more. HR is always the right place to go for this kind of issue. Based on what we do know Bad rule boss, uncommunicative employee both acted poorly and could have avoided such drama. And doubling down on what you said- people who come to IT peoples desks to interrupt them jump the queue-i was doing a business critical task for a VP yesterday that i had to stop to attend to someone who had an urgent luxury problem at my desk. If you are going to make this silly rule, at least give your employees a few days to, you know, actually get new headphones. Earbuds just irritate my ear and make it itchy. Itsnot hard. Theres nothing reasonable about any of that. If youre fine with people wearing earbuds, you should be fine with them wearing headphones. It was the manager asking the employee why they werent complying with the rule that they had just spoken about. Apparently there was a lot of misunderstanding in how the PM perceived my work performance. if Im the smartest, most knowledgeable person in the room who has all the answers to everything, Ive done a terrible job of hiring my team. And that it appears there is a sufficient lack of communication between boss and employee. (Which again, we have no information about). Theyre supposed to use the ticketing system (for prioritizing, for tracking, for management visibility). The fib is the price they pay for prying into your business (if they ask). If theyre used to using headphones, and you walk in one day and say theyre no longer allowed to with no warning and minimal explanation, you really have to expect blowback and be prepared to defend a significant rule change that will significantly affect the day-to-day work of your staff. I get butterflies in my stomach and can feel my heart race a little, its more like that weird anticipation feeling when youre waiting for a package to arrive, does that make sense? I think it is the visual of headphones, they are more obvious and some people see them as sending out a do not disturb vibe. They probably dony have them at work. I think this a problem generally in corporate America today: We see the boss as the person who has to have all the answers and make all the decisions, and their team members as the worker bees who get told what to do. Youll make him faint right there. )o~61_3U ~UW"_3U1_o"_3U1_TI&1_3M~o)-'M~o~8d~i| If I have to block out everything on my own (without the earbuds), then I really DO block out EVERYTHING. People were expected to do so in order for us to track inquiries and keep appropriate staffing levels. She had a business justification, which is IT support needs to appear approachable. That often requires you to have intense concentration and having the noise canceling headphones assists greatly in making it faster and more efficient. No, its like if you told them not to use a stapler, and then *didnt provide clips*. If they banned headphones at my boyfriends IT office, people would definitely push back hard. If they say Actually, sometimes its a bad time, if its not urgent, can you do it this other way instead? Others are not. Dont let headphones interfere with natural collaboration in the workplace. Additionally, I physically cant wear earbuds and if my boss suddenly demanded that I wear earbuds and not headphones I wouldnt know what to do. They are a tool for productivity. Telling employees not to wear headphones I have two IT employees who like to wear headphones, not earbuds, at their desks during business hours. Probably anyone deaf in one ear would still either have to wear one earbud or just go without. Forget the headphones, I want to know what the expectations are if the employee is working on support issues A, B, and C and someone approaches them about support issue D. Are they expected to drop A, B, and C and start working on D? ), so they sometimes dont come to me with questions I do actually have time to answer. When a new male manager questioned me about it in front of literally everyone including the male head of the department I said its about my period very even and deadpan. I think LCL is saying the strong negative reaction to seeing someone in headphones may be generational, not the choice to wear headphones over earbuds itself. I mean, I hate open offices as much as the next person, but this is a bit of a silly response. Its obnoxious to wear them. The reasons for introducing the ban are: * Wearing headphones make employees seem unapproachable. She is the boss. Refer to Duties of workers . I dont think that at all. Headphone use has been banned, how should I challenge this? My issue with DCers comment is that its strongly reinforcing LWs worry and essentially telling them Yep, if you dont provide any details your manager will immediately jump to assuming its about your uterus. Which Im pretty sure is exactly what the LW does not want to hear! The unspoken rule was obviously to be respectful by not turning it up to 11 and to take headphones out when someone came up to your cube or called. That should not be happening! I cant do that without a tool. Set the rule either they can wear neither, or either, but choosing which style someone else should use is ridiculous. Driving and other activities. Does the company has a support ticketing system, IM, phones, anything other than physically walking in on a support person when you have an issue? But buds definitely dont work for my stupid ear holes at all. But they are also more difficult for the visitor to notice when s/he walks up and starts talking. Granted that this has some to do with that Im definitely autistic and possibly also ADHD, but nonetheless I am a person who exists and has a job and a sort of person that one can reasonably expect to encounter in the work environment, particularly in my industry. I work around a few people who will, in lieu of saying something to a persons face, choose to stage a conversation that they intend to be overheard instead. Umdid you even read my post? Instead, we promise a fun weeklyroundup of our latest blog posts and greatfinds from across the web. Headphones are the best way to opt out of this game. Im usually Jennifer in the situation! Making the break involves so much more not to mention completely re-wiring a learned behavior. But they also genuinely need to be concentrating on what can be fairly complicated tasks without distractions. Well, I dont have any earbuds and Ive got that conference call later today or I cant wear earphones and its really distracting in there. Its about being open to the needs of your employees, who then become much better employees. While headphones provide an escape and a chance to get into deep work, they can present safety concerns. Please interrupt for emergencies only., How to Manage Office Scents for Employees Sensitive to Smell. Which is to say that the bosss rule is silly. I cant compare them to the more expensive/better known ones as I have not used those. Appearance? JENNIFER!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! In a 1987 letter, OSHA directed that the use of earphones constituted a violation of OSHA hearing protection standards when: 1. Also add me to the list of people who find earbuds painful. The no headphones rule seems like a case of can vs. should. Sure, you can enforce a rule like that, but it seems like it runs the risk of alienating employees for little payoff. It just wasnt one he agreed with. If you cant point to a serious, concrete reason for this rule, itll appear arbitrary and youll burn up any goodwill you had with those employees and be in danger of losing them quickly. There are a ton of ways to get your point that you clearly feel her comments tend to be rude across without being rude to someone who doesnt agree with you. Frankly many of the at-home exercises are the same as what I used to do for my lower back. if youre an AP-phile).). I work in a very small office and no HR. I dont think the manager really has room to get mad about insubordination unless he was still wearing the headphones the NEXT day. Headphones and earbuds both have pros and cons, but in general, over-ear headphones are better for office environments. Ive also had them then need to devote time to intense data entry and the noise of the phones someone else is picking up and the chatter in the office is very distracting, we dont have an office to move them to, so to make their lives easier, they use headphones for that kind of product. Ugh, yes it can be so hard to wear headphones when you also wear glasses. The difference between earbuds and headphones is fairly small. You have no idea what she is doing, and what she is going through, or how much of a dangerous situation she is in. Technically Ive been wearing headphones at work a lot lately but Im not playing anything on them. You couldnt normally tell that Im autistic, for instance, and I have the legal right to the accommodation of headphones without it being obvious that they are medically required. Even if your music is off, you will appear as if you arent paying attention. For any business, it pays to look for situations where listening to earbuds or headphones may be acceptable and others where an open ears policy should be in place. Can workers listen to music safely? | Health & Safety Handbook He probably thought it was okay to wear them for the rest of the day until he could go out and get a pair of earbuds; thats what I would have done. Literal Emergency Responders, for example. Again, the manager really should have addressed the why before asking you to do it, but since they didnt you really need to ask them. Did she just expect all of her workers to be walking around with a variety of different kinds of headphones/earbuds just in case someone complained about their normal headphones? They help people get into a groove, and they send a clear sign to others that youre busy. Working to the Beat - Society for Human Resource Management I do get the last word, and sometimes Ill override a decision a team member has made based on information I had which they didnt have when they made the call, of course. Headphones have been a natural part of the office in every job Ive held. The Substance Use Disorder Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery Act will be proposed . Shortly after my promotion last year, I started wearing headphones specifically so people (read: new boss) would actually see that Im listening to something. This headphone rule seems entirely capricious and based on nothing more than the managers personal preference. Not a single adult in the world. When family gatherings got too loud for him, hed turn them off. This Employee Cell Phone Policy is ready to be tailored to your company's needs and should beconsidered a starting point for setting up your employment policies. I dont even think you need to specify what the physical therapy is for. One the employee wants to keep confidential. Youre there to do a job, and if you cant concentrate because Bob across the aisle cant be bothered to wear headphones while listening to music, its worse than two people standing directly behind you yapping away about every topic under the sun except work. tl;dr headphones arent the issue, the fact that theres a line of people at ITs desks is. There is a reason I wear these spendy little devices, and its not because I just adore having a hunk of plastic wedged into each ear for most of my waking hours!). And then consult an audiologist to find out if wearing headphones is even a safe solution. is it time to put my employee on a formal improvement plan? Personally, Id loathe having to request permission to speak every time, but only if they are in turn otherwise able to shout at and interrupt me (because I just do not ever wear headphones). But for high focus tasks where I need to block out noise? Im just pointing out that the employees behavior was highly unlikely to be linked to an accommodation considering the conversation leading up to the employee going to HR, and this doesnt at all read to me like a legit reason to go to HR. And unless the rule encouraged bullying, harrassment, discrimination (which it might have, but we have no information to support that) hightailing it to HR seems VERY extreme for this situation UNLESS, theres a history of difficulty between these two. Its just basically never a good idea to assume that someone owes you their immediate attention. I do, however, think that LW is probably wrong in that worry? Some people find that listening to music can help to minimize outside distractions such as other employee conversations, which helps them stay productive. And yes, I am at Work and were all Adults At Work, and something Adults At Work get to decide is if their earbuds/headphones are crippling enough to not use them At Work. Im also not bluffing. Earbuds are uncomfortable for me, but people in my office think that headphones = do not disturb (rightly! Id be in defiance over such a stupid and petty rule too. But is it a good idea? All are excellent points. Dont discourage others from making sure theyre not being bullied or unfairly treated by a boss. Huh, count me as another one who would think that the point of a ticket system is that it routes through the system so you DONT have to go down to IT and chat with the IT guy. Its also entirely possible that Im being a brat about not being allowed to wear headphones yet am still held to the same productivity standards as those that can. It could definitely be a case of the employee needing time to concentrate on something specific, or time to go out and purchase earbuds We just dont know what the managers rationale for attempting to insist on earbuds is and I think most people would be annoyed to be confronted with a standard that smacks of being micromanaged. This is a pretty clear case of a manager shifting the onus for their uncomfortable feelings to their employee instead of handling it themselves. Based on the note (and I might be wrong) it seems, manager had a conversation with employee. But, I feel both are wrong in this scenario (while also believing the scenario should never exist in the first place). Theres no company anything about it. Unless the idea is that they can always hear you through earbuds, it is unreasonable to insist on them when the issue is getting their attention and wait time.