Employee Policy for the Telephone Basics

Setting up telephone policies to keep employees as productive as possible
By Kate Esposito 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.

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.
Try:  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.
Try:  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.
Try:  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.