Lesson learned:
In the future, request to see the final contract, plus any employee manual or any rules and regulations you'll have to abide by, before you're willing to sign anything or make any kind of commitment. There is a reason they waited this long before telling you about this.
And don't expect for this nonsense to stop, even if you do sign this paperwork. If they've hidden this from you, they've hidden other things.
An employee must NOT use their cell phone during work hours, or a
"disciplinary action" will be imposed, such as taking the "cell phone
privilege" away, or termination.
Note the wording used in this clause. It sounds like they're talking to a petulant child.
It's not that I love cell phones at work either. I don't.
But if you're going to create such a policy and hope to hire anyone semi-competent who's not a teenager or who's not desperate for a job. You'll need to craft such a policy more respectfully, and also mention that you reserve a room for making personal calls or for posting on Facebook during breaks or lunch.
I would like to know your opinion, especially if you're also in the
software engineering field. To be clear, this is a retail company.
I understand companies need to take precautions and I'm completely on board with that. As software developers, we actually have a lot of power. Also, I understand that as a retail establishment, you want the same rules to apply to all employees, not just low-level workers. There may also be legal reasons. And there may be issues of IP theft or issues of very high-value items going missing. I understand all of that.
With that said, this is absolute nonsense written by a person with authority who has the emotional maturity of a 10-year-old.
And it's not that these kinds of individuals don't exist in companies. Those kinds of people are everywhere. What scares me, in this case, is that no one else in this company has been able to convince this person that they could still achieve the same objectives without needing to talk down to the new people they're hiring.
After all, having good employees is a "privilege" too. If they don't treat their employees with respect, that "privilege" can be taken away from them also.
And with that said, please post some snippets of that paperwork on glassdoor. Other job-hunters need to know what they're getting themselves into before they invest too much time interviewing for such a company.
It's not that I believe everything I read on Glassdoor, but if I were to read such a thing on Glassdoor about a company I'm interviewing with. This would be the first question I ask during my phone screen.