Buy your staff a phone...no, really

We have a strict no cell phone policy for our employees. If they are caught with their phone on them it is an immediate write-up...BUT....if they ask nicely we'll let them have their phone to take pictures of dogs in their playgroups. We actually ask them to take these pictures, then they email them to us in order to use on our Facebook page. We also want their help keeping our Instagram hopping. Our strict "NO cell phones" policy was becoming a bit too relaxed since we were benefiting from their use. 

Our solution? We bought them an IPhone. (Actually my husband and I used that as an excuse to upgrade ours and we gave them our old ones), add on a bright pink Otter Box and you've got one of the best decisions we ever made. We have a handful of staff that we've granted permission to use the phone and for selected reasons only. They can upload pictures directly to our social media pages, they use the phones to facetime owners who pay for the added perk, and they randomly text clients cute pictures of their dogs. We've made it clear to clients that this number isn't answered or responded to and that's worked out just fine. 

Who would have thought that the best way to keep staff off their phones was to actually buy them one?