Using Employee Policy for the Telephone
A proper telephone policy can save your business from lots of unproductive talk time
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.
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.
Try: 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.
Try: 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.
Try: 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.
- 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.
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