Most employees know that business telephone policy advises them not to use work time making personal calls. However, knowing the rules and actually following them are two different things.

1. Exact rules for when, and where, cell phone usage in the workplace is allowed;

2. Employee phone policy regarding calls made on office land line phones;

3. Consequences for violating the employee telephone usage policy.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Do some research before drafting your telephone use policy

This is especially important if repeated violation of the employee policy for telephone usage can be grounds for termination. If your policy is not worded correctly, you could have a lawsuit on your hands.

I recommend: View the sample cell phone usage policy on BNet Business Network, operated by CBS Interactive, for some ideas on how to draft yours or check out the template at the InfoTech Research Group's website. Be specific about when employees can make or receive personal calls: on break times, after hours, not at all. Also comment on whether those with company issued cell phones can use them after hours. Once you have your policy drafted, print out copies for each employee to sign and date.

Make sure your telephone policy has exceptions for emergencies

There may be times when employees will need to stray a little from your corporate telephone policy, such as when they're on travel or if they have a sick child at home. These cases, and similar ones, can call for leniency.

I recommend: Tell employees to contact their supervisors if they need exceptions from accepted telephone policy. If you don't want friends and family contacting employees during work hours, at least allow them to leave messages with the receptionist or on the voicemail system. Cornell University has a great exception clause you can use wording from. So does Norwich University.

Enforce your telephone policies

Decide how you would like to handle violations of cell phone usage policy or misuse of the office telephone. It's smart to answer a first offense with a verbal or written warning, especially if the policy is new or has never been widely enforced. But, after that you need to crack down or you are sacrificing productivity.

I recommend: Monitor employee phone usage only if you think a situation warrants it. If you monitor without discretion, employees may see it as spying and it could hurt morale. If you have a serious productivity problem, consider installing a device, such as DigitOne Communication's PrivacyCall, for the office phone and software, like Call Block, from GSM Arena, on company owned cell phones. Both services give you the ability to screen the calls that are allowed in. For outgoing calls, read over your phone bills to find numbers you don't recognize.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Explain to your employees why you're going to begin using employee policy for the telephone. If they know why the rules are in place, there is likely to be less resistance.
• •  Set a good example regarding telephone policy. Don't spend all day making personal calls yourself.

A telephone policy is a necessary part of doing business. Companies rely on telephones and cell phones to conduct business and serve their clients. Failure to design and implement an employee policy for telephone usage leaves your business open to abuses that cost you time and money. Long distance charges unrelated to business and excessive personal calls that eat away at the productive time of your employees will undoubtedly affect your bottom line.

In order for a telephone use policy to be effective, it must be concise and address accountability for violations. Employees should be required to familiarize themselves with the company telephone policy; they should also be held accountable for any violations. Management staff should then be responsible for monitoring and enforcing the telephone polices. What does this involve?

1. Ensure all employees are aware of the telephone use policy.

2. Require all employees to sign acknowledgment forms regarding the company telephone use policy.

3. Review phone bills for unusual calls and investigate items for concern regarding employee phone usage.

4. Enforce disciplinary actions for violations of business telephone policy.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Develop a telephone use policy that includes cell phone usage policy

Although employee cell phone usage should be primarily business-related, you may encounter situations where an employee's personal cell phone calls outnumber business calls. Some companies have banned the use of cell phones entirely - except during established break periods. If employee cell phone usage is required for business reasons, your cell phone usage policy should indicate if and when personal calls are allowed.

I recommend: Info-Tech Research Group, an IT advisory firm, has a sample cellular phone policy template that you can customize for your own business. If you prefer to have a professional draft your telephone policies, Orion Systems supplies reasonably-priced employee handbooks - drafted by an attorney - that include communications policies.

Stress legal liability issues of employee cell phone use while driving

Each year statistics regarding auto accidents resulting from cell phone use get worse. Your company could be held liable for damage or death caused by an employee cell phone use while driving. Additionally, should your worker be injured in an auto accident while driving, you could still be liable for worker's compensation claims.

I recommend: Braun Consulting Group drafted an employer's guide to cell phone liability. The document outlines items that need to be included in your cellular phone policy to protect your business assets; it also discusses the repercussions of omitting these restrictions. Business & Legal Reports provides concise information on how cell phone laws could affect your liability in order to help you draft an effective employee cell phone policy.

Address the monitoring of communications in your telephone use policy

Companies have various reasons for keeping track of employee communications, and your telephone policies need to address those reasons. As a business owner you have a responsibility to protect your company from unauthorized activities; however, your monitoring policies must comply with the law so the rights of your employees are not violated.

I recommend: Nolo, a premier provider of legal information, details the rules for monitoring employee communications while ensuring privacy. Wiley Rein supplies companies with guidance for obtaining employee consent prior to monitoring phone conversations.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Clearly written business and telephone policies are needed to protect your business. Always have your policies reviewed by an attorney familiar with employment law.

Telephone policy is a vital part of keeping any workplace organized and professional. No matter the business or its size, training employees in your company's employee policy for telephone usage is important to keep the business functioning smoothly.

A telephone use policy should apply to all employees regardless of their position. All employees should be trained to answer the phone correctly, maintain good phone etiquette, be able to handle problems on the phone and follow the company's rules for employee cell phone use. Your company's employee policy for the telephone education and training should include:

1. Learning proper business telephone policy for etiquette and language.

2. Training in telephone policies that create proper and respectful business telephone communication.

3. An education in appropriate employee telephone and cell phone usage during business hours.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Learn telephone policies for proper telephone etiquette

All employees should receive training about the company's employee phone policy. Training should include proper phone greeting, customer courtesy, language and phone etiquette.

I recommend: Phone Pro offers customized on-site training or online courses to teach employees good phone communication skills and proper telephone policy. The Phone Coach has a phone etiquette training video to teach employees proper employee phone usage.

Be educated about communication through the employee telephone usage policy

Employees needs to be educated to communicate with clients and customers articulately, politely, patiently and efficiently. This includes being respectful when needing to place someone on hold or transfer them and when leaving a voice mail message. Learning efficient and respectful phone communication is key to successful business practices.

I recommend: Use this guide from Shawna Schuh of Business Graces to learn basics of phone etiquette, including the correct way to answer the phone, customer courtesy and sounding sincere to the person on the other end. Learn voice mail message etiquette with the online training course from Business Training Works, which will teach you how to properly identify yourself and your business and leave an articulate, informative voice mail message.

Get business cell phone usage policy training

Employee cell phone usage is often necessary in the workplace. It's important to learn proper etiquette and appropriate cell phone usage methods in the workplace. Educate yourself and employees about the proper way to use a cell phone in the workplace, as well as good cell phone etiquette and usage techniques. Train employees how to handle confidential information on cell phone calls and the appropriate use of voice mail, instant messaging and cell phone email in the workplace.

I recommend: Enterprise People Solutions offers a quick online training session to teach employees business cell phone etiquette, including appropriate voice mail, email and instant messaging use, as well as handling confidentiality issues. A course from Emily Post Business Seminars will teach employees about proper business cell phone usage.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Hold refresher courses for employees that have been with the company awhile to keep them updated on telephone policy changes.

In these days where everyone is constantly connected, a business telephone policy is a very important thing to have. It helps you restrict employee phone usage during work hours so that your employees have more time to get their work done.

Strict — but fair — comes into play because you don't want your employees gabbing on the phone all day, but you don't want them to quit en masse either. It's best to provide a little leniency for emergency situations and quick check-ins with the family. Three things that can help you develop an appropriate employee telephone usage policy are:

1. Taking a look at some existing employee phone usage policies;

2. Determining how to discipline employees that violate the policies;

3. Considering purchasing phone use monitoring software, if needed.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Look at some examples of employee policy for telephone usage

If you've never written a telephone use policy before, you may not know either what it should contain or how to put it into words. Looking at examples that other business owners have in place can give you a good head start. Don't copy one word for word. You need to think about exactly how you want to apply the policy to your individual company.

I recommend: Two official telephone policies you should look at are the University of Wisconsin Madison's comprehensive policy and Willamette University's workplace cell phone usage agreement. Both are extensive and detailed, which is what makes them work. They are not open to multiple interpretations.

Determine how to discipline people that violate the employee phone policy

Your employee phone policy is going to be pretty useless if you don't determine a good way to enforce it. It's common to begin with a verbal warning and then progress to more strict discipline when employees violate either the landline or cell phone usage policy. If you have an employee who continues to violate the policy after several reprimands, it may become grounds for dismissal.

I recommend: Consider purchasing KeyGroup's e-book on employee discipline. It provides counsel on how to try to turn policy violators into model employees and also on when you have to let them go. Another good resource is Entrepreneur Media's article on how to discipline, and if needed, fire employees. Just remember not to fire in haste unless there is an extreme breach, such as a person using the company phone to steal clients for their own startup. Rehiring can be a lot more hassle and can cost more than retraining.

Decide if you want to use software to monitor employee phone usage

If you're only interested in employee policy for the telephone basics that are general for any company, you may not want to spend the money on call monitoring software. However, if your business requires employees to interact with customers on the phone on a regular basis, it could be a good investment. That way you can make sure to maintain a high level of service and ensure employees aren't wasting company call time.

I recommend: Check out Voice Print International's software package to determine if you want this type of monitoring included in your employee telephone usage policy. If you decide you need it, make sure to check out Privacy Rights Clearinghouse's article before you put it into practice. If you don't implement it the right way, you could end up with legal troubles due to privacy laws. It's smart to consult a lawyer as well to keep all bases covered.