You just need to keep on saying the same thing and be consistent. It’s the only thing I’ve found over the years that has any effect. Well since we had the things we had at our disposal as cadets removed. There are no real sanctions you can impose that have any real meaning anymore. I would stop them flying/gliding, but pointless now.
Do NCO courses cover how to handle low level disruption?
Something I throw at our NCOs if they complain about being fed up with newer/younger cadets is, what were you like? I can point out their failings when they were cadets, this gives them some perspective and appreciation of the situation.
As for phones in a box in the office until the end of the night and staff leave their phones in the office when doing instructing etc. Nothing worse the some banal ringtone/buzz/ping during a lesson, summoning them to obey.
So what about those staff with an on-call commitment and it’s not their phone but their companies? I certainly would not let any company phone out of my posession unles it was to another company member.
I have an on call commitment and a contract I had to laugh at and sign about keeping my phone on me. It still sits in my jacket or in the office when I’m at the squadron. If it goes off I hear it and all my cadets know what it is.
Are you really saying you wouldn’t trust a staff team you have potentially known for a long time not to steal your phone? That’s deeply concerning.
How many jobs are there where you have a respond immediately to the phone every single time it makes a noise and every single time they are on something to do with air cadets. I’m sure plenty will say “I do”. Which begs other questions like how do they go through their daily lives.
No, when you are on call it means exactly that, you get paid your on call allowance on the expectation that you will answer the phone when called, not “I’ll pick it up on a voicemail in 30 minutes”
My work doesn’t phone me because they want to talk to my voicemail, they call me because they need to speak to me and I would be expected to take that call at the earliest opportunity, which might well be immediately.
I’d say that if you do not answer your telephone, you do not really count as “contactable”!
The specifics will rely on your employer and contract.
I also know people with a requirement to be within a certain travel time of x location during on call periods.
An engineering/maintenance/etc company has a contracted obligation to its customers.
An emergency planner for emergency services has to be able to react to emergencies and other unexpected organisational requirements.
On-call firefighters, social workers, community response volunteers, plumbers, electricians, IT and telecoms engineers, alarm response…
Our very own WExOs (as per discussions you’ve been involved with)…
I do not believe that someone of your age and experience is genuinely not aware of and exposed to the reality of on call requirements across many industries and roles.
Seriously… You do little but embarrass yourself sometimes.
If you are in a job like that would you commit to things outside your job and if you did would it be something as demanding as the ATC, ie 2 nights a week and numerous weekends? If you did and expected to drop everything at the behest of a device then don’t attend the squadron or commit to an activity, if you are required to do that. If you didn’t do the adult thing, how does anyone plan for you to do anything.
A nice list of jobs there, but how many (not just a few people might know) are staff in the ATC. I am more than aware of people with some of the jobs as listed and they are not “on call” all the time as seems to be the implication of some responses here. I also know and have known enough who flaunt pagers and now phones to make themselves appear more important. To be frank I couldn’t be paid enough of a premium to lose that amount of personal freedom. It’s bad enough having to go to work, let alone being tied to it once you’ve gone home.
If you choose to do a job like that, that’s your choice.
Having met RNLI and MR they seem to live local to the ‘base’, many seem to be self-employed or where they work are OK with it, given to not would be bad press.
If I were in a job that required me to be on call, I would not go out while I was on call as I would consider that as being at work, on the basis that when I am work I don’t just ‘go out’. Being on call should be regarded as a working a shift.
What I have said is that I expect staff to not have their phone on them while involved in an activity at the squadron, so they don’t get distracted and IMO if cadets aren’t allowed why should staff be. Then loads of you can’t say that with loads of ifs and ands about being on call and I need my phone with me all or I’ll be sacked. So as a member of ATC staff on call for their job, it is OK for them to go to the sqn get a phone call and go, leaving others to carry on, when they may be doing their own activity.
Would that member of ATC staff while on call for their paying job, go out with family or friends etc? I think not, as you couldn’t be half way through a family trip, meal, film etc and then have to go.
Do not confuse this with the voluntary things people do like RNLI, which even then I can’t imagine all people involved are available for it 24/7 for 52 weeks, as they would not be able to have a life.
People on here will bang on about setting a good example to cadets, I would say that coming doing cadet activities when they directly conflict with paid employment, is not a good example.