Cellphone Policies

[Peppergirl]

Just chiming in with my 2 cents.

I work in a call center, and it's a bit different. We are strictly forbidden to have personal calls on the call center line, emergency or not. Therefore, management takes a pretty lenient stance on cell phones.

We split shifts and work about 2/3 from home and 1/3 in a small office environment. The vast majority have cell phones out and on our desks, set on vibrate. This is my only way of having anyone reach me should they need me.

However, there is one person (why is there one in every crowd) who consistently keeps it on ring or an obnoxious beeping when it rings. Everyone else keeps it on silent or a very low beep or vibrate.

Unfortunately, when management decided to address this specific person, it was sent out to ALL of us as a general email - reminding us to behave, or we'd face losing privledges as a whole.

Now, this is where I had a problem. We cant have our people call on the res line, which is completely understandable. But it was common knowledge that 95 percent of us kept our cell phones out for emergencies, and behaved very respectfully and professionally with them. But ONE person was the problem, yet they REFUSED to address that ONE person...instead, we had to all bear the email and the subsequent lectures...as if we ALL were mistreating and abusing the privledge.

For the record, I feel that phones have no place in retail or food service or any place where you deal with customers one-on-one. But, I also feel that there should be other ways of dealing with people who abuse the rules besides confiscating the phone. That should be a last resort, or only done after considerable warnings.

Again, just my 2 cents, for what it's worth.

[the_std]

Peppergirl, I completely agree with you. Different jobs require different cell phone policies, and confiscation should definitely be used as a last resort or in an extreme situation.

[Cats]

Unfortunately, when management decided to address this specific person, it was sent out to ALL of us as a general email - reminding us to behave, or we'd face losing privledges as a whole.

There could be a semi-legit reasoning for that though. While addressing the offender seems to be the best solution, if you yell at EVERYONE, then the person who is truely being targeted cannot come back and say "but so-and-so isn't getting in trouble for it!" or a "I didn't know!" Even if you took away said privlidge from single offender, again, you face the "so-and-so gets away with it" bullcrap.

It depends on the management and the offender. Some offenders will bring on way to much bullshit to make it worthwhile to tell them to knock it off, so management just lets them get away with it since it's the lesser of the two evils. Sucks for everyone else, but if it comes to screwing everyone else small time or big time, most of the time the small is easier to deal with.

This is what we get for living in such a sue-happy world....

[Boozy]

There could be a semi-legit reasoning for that though. While addressing the offender seems to be the best solution, if you yell at EVERYONE, then the person who is truely being targeted cannot come back and say "but so-and-so isn't getting in trouble for it!" or a "I didn't know!" Even if you took away said privlidge from single offender, again, you face the "so-and-so gets away with it" bullcrap.

But you also end up with a "tragedy of the commons" situation, where no one feels individually responsible, and everyone feels protected by being part of a large group. In my experience, company directives that are addressed to everyone are addressed to no one. The good employees are probably already behaving. The bad ones are able to say, "Meh, that was addressed to 200 people. Surely they weren't talking about me."

My manager lets me keep my phone under the till or in my pocket because I don't use it while there are customers in the store, and I also get ten times the work done in a day as anyone else. She doesn't allow my co-worker to have his phone with him because he seems incapable of turning it off and letting it go to voicemail if he's with a customer or has other work to do. It's not a double standard. The phones are not the issue; our behaviour with them is.

[Pedersen]

I recently had an issue at my workplace with someone using an iPod on the salesfloor (which was posted as not allowed. In the backroom, the boss doesn't care, so merely having one in your pocket was NOT an offense). When I finally brought it up to the boss, one of the things I DID ask was if I was within my rights to take it away from him should he refuse to keep it off after repeatedly asking him. She told me I was, however, she suggested I not do that, mainly for liability reasons, and instead, ask HIM to put it in an agreed upon safe place with me supervising said placement. I think that works fine. However, a friend of mine who heard the story disagreed with me saying that TOO counts as confiscating someone's property without permission, even if I never touch the object itself or make them keep it in a place unavailable to them at the end of their shift.

Your boss is correct about what should happen, though incorrect about whether or not you would be within your rights to take the device. Furthermore, your friend is wrong. Confiscation involves you actually taking the phone. If you do not touch it, then you can not be said to have taken it.

As a manager, you can enact and enforce a policy that states that personal items are to be stored in a designated location, or in a place that is not easily accessible during working time. The storage location must, of course, be secured properly to prevent theft. I'll not get into the number of ways that security could be approached, because that doesn't matter.

But confiscating, even if it will be returned later, is outside the scope of what you may do.

But, I also feel that there should be other ways of dealing with people who abuse the rules besides confiscating the phone.

Peppergirl, I completely agree with you. Different jobs require different cell phone policies, and confiscation should definitely be used as a last resort or in an extreme situation.

Unfortunately, Peppergirl and the_std, confiscation is not even an option in extreme circumstances. The phone is not the property of the manager, nor is the employee the property of the manager. Confiscating is not a valid option.

Require the phone to be stored elsewhere. If need be, escort the person to that location and watch the phone get stored away. But it may not be confiscated.

[powerboy]

Finally, a voice of reason. It's really refreshing to see someone stand up for their rights.

So thank you Pedersen, you have renewed some of my faith in people.

Yes another voice of reason. No one has a right to touch another persons property without permission.

[bigred]

Can i say I hate mobile phones, and I carry two (one work, one personal).

Define an emergency - 99.9% of the calls people get aren't about emergencies. And if someone in your family is hit by a car, a call to your work will get to you (even though what would you be able to do about it?). Most peoples calls are about random stuff that can be handled better with an SMS - we're going here, meet you there,etc.

Can I also put a hate call out to stupid ring tones?

[DrFaroohk]

Regarding the legality of taking a cellphone - what if, in the hiring paperwork, you had to sign something that said "I agree that my cellphone is not to be with me on the sales floor, and that if I am caught using it while on duty, I agree that my boss has all rights to confiscate it until the end of the shift".

[katie kaboom]

Regarding the legality of taking a cellphone - what if, in the hiring paperwork, you had to sign something that said "I agree that my cellphone is not to be with me on the sales floor, and that if I am caught using it while on duty, I agree that my boss has all rights to confiscate it until the end of the shift".

I would refuse to sign that. Which i'm sure will only serve to make me even more unpopular aound here.

[DrFaroohk]

Well then you don't get hired. If that's not legal, perhaps a policy like this: No cellphones allowed on store property, EXCEPT for people who have signed the above agreement.

Again, its like...only a problem if you're chatting with your buddies on the phone instead of doing work. It's not "I'm gonna take your phone cuz I can!" kind of a thing.

[protege]

Well then you don't get hired. If that's not legal, perhaps a policy like this: No cellphones allowed on store property, EXCEPT for people who have signed the above agreement.

That's how my employer is. We don't have an agreement, but the boss *has* reprimanded people for texting and messing with their phones. The occasional call is OK, but when you're spending an entire shift on your phone...he has a problem with that. He pays us to work, not discuss last weekend's party.

In fact, he's actually fired people for their cell habits. The most recent one, was a girl who was constantly on her phone. She would spend most of the day texting or calling her boyfriend, and neglecting her work. She was told a few times to knock it off--the last time, she screamed at my boss...who told her to "get the fuck out."

Oh, and it's not like she "didn't know" about the policy. Not only is it in the employee manual (page 10, IIRC), but she signed that she'd read it, and had been warned numerous times. She chose to ignore those warnings, and was dealt with accordingly.

[boringscreenname]

I haven't read the entire thread but here are my thoughts. I don't own a cell phone and neither does my husband, and we also have a young child. We have a landline and that's it.

Work is another story. I work as a Security Guard at a hospital, so the hospital provides us with Nextel phones and that's how we communicate. I'm required to carry it, because I need to be reachable at all times, in case someone needs me or something happens. Also everyone in Security shares one phone, except my boss who has his own, and the cell phone is left at work.

Basically the Nextel is to be used for work only, none of our family members are supposed to call it and we're not supposed to make personal calls on it. However some of my co-workers have problems with this and are making and receiving personal calls on the cell phone. My boss keeps a close eye on the bill and if you make or receive personal calls on the cell phone you get charged for it.

We do have a landline in the office, which we're allowed to use for personal calls within reason.

[Pedersen]

Regarding the legality of taking a cellphone - what if, in the hiring paperwork, you had to sign something that said "I agree that my cellphone is not to be with me on the sales floor, and that if I am caught using it while on duty, I agree that my boss has all rights to confiscate it until the end of the shift".

Legal. Kind of sucky, but legal. I'm with katie kaboom, though: I wouldn't accept those terms of employment. And that means I'd accept a lack of getting hired there.