Using Cell Phones At Work – Work Means Work, Not Chat

Since cell phone use is so prevalent in today's society, employers are now faced with the dilemma of employees using cell phones at work for personal use, lowering company productivity. Employers have realized that employees using cell phones at work, and behind the wheel, can directly impact everything from employee morale and productivity, to company liability.

According to a survey of office workers who work in a cubicle environment, one of the biggest distractions and annoyances of cell phone use in the office, was the cell phone ring tones. While using a personal cell phone keeps business lines open for incoming calls, some companies are now asking employees to shut off personal cell phones to reduce distractions to other workers and to increase work productivity. Some employers, however, are reluctant to do disallow using cell phones at work since they know that personal cell phone use allows employees to stay in contact with family, especially children.

One concern that employers are also facing is that they may be liable for employees who have traffic accidents while driving and talking on a company-owned cellular phone. In this instance, employers are concerned that they could be held partly responsible for an injury to the employee in the event of an accident.

In 1999, Smith Barney chose to settle a lawsuit after a stockbroker was involved in a fatal accident while using his cell phone. Even though the accident occurred outside of business hours, the stockbroker was using his personal phone to make “cold calls”. In the wake of the settlement more companies have set policies to limit employee cell phone use while driving.

Some companies are going so far as to require employees to sign a statement saying that they will not use company cell phones while driving or placing stickers on company phones saying that cell phone use while driving is prohibited. Offering employees hands-free cell phone equipment for their cars may be a viable solution for some companies.

Also see; cell phone courtesy.

Author Notes:

Jack Adams contributes and publishes news editorial to http://www.cell-phones-n-plans.com. A cellular phone industry resource that features service plan comparisons, cellular phone reviews and articles.