Mobile phone use at work

Debbie, you just brought back fond memories of that old block phone (showing my age now) had to take weight lifting exercises to carry the thing

I don't think anyone at work should be using mobile phones for anything more than business purposes, unless during break periods and emergencies/compassionate. If you have a potential compasionate issue then you should inform your line manager and agree a protocol for checking your phone or informing relevant parties how to contact you in an emergency.

From a H&S perspective I would conduct a Risk Assessment in the workplace. I can guarantee almost 100% of the time the control measure would be to restrict their private use unless necessary. There is no reason to change or amend a person's contract if you have identified their uncontrolled use can be a hazard; this is a beahvioural safety issue and employees have a legal requirement to assist employers with discharging their H&S responsibilities - the thread below refering to the pregnant lady is a classic example. She got away with it this time but what about the next time? The employer has a duty of care not ony to this person but to others who may be affected by her activities. There are places where you explicity cannot use a mobile phone or have it turned on - certain areas in hospiatls for starters.

personal Mobiles should be on silent or even better switched off

I'm off my soap-box now :)

Mutts,

Agree that a kitchen is not a place to be running around with a phone to ones ear.

In such a situation, where a potentially important call comes through, the employee ought to step out of the hazardous workplace.

Though obviously with hot pans cooking, you will have other concerns to be addressed.

I'd suggest that in your environment you need a clear policy over phone use and emergency calls - potentially something like giving a landline number out, then when a call comes through, allowing that staff member into a quiet room to take the call in private.

Along with a policy around mobile phones which for your hygiene reasons, could reasonably be "locker" in my view, this should suit everybody.

Hi Rhiannon,

(a) A change in conditions of employment can be unilateral and does not necessitate consultation. So prohibiting the use of any electronic device which has the ability to capture data from your computer could well be placed as either misconduct or gross misconduct on your non-exhaustive list of misconducts.

(b) Do your contracts of employment enclose a restraint of trade clause?

For the attention of James Fairchild

Your comment in regarding taking a step back can offend lead to accidents, one of my team heavily pregnant at the time of receiving a call on her mobile rushed by me with her head down and chatting away! I’ll inform you at this point I run a kitchen cooking for 1200. At no time do I or the employer wish to see anyone with a mobile to their ear during working hours.

Right so, she rushed passed while I was removing hot food containers from a steamer, blind corner and her near to running!! Not good, safe working practice is the best way forward, why! Because if I was burned who’s to pay?

Also, what possible action could she take at that point in time apart from talk, what did we do before the mobile? So if there’s a clear understanding of what the employer requires of you while at work, then best that advice is taken. Landline has good reception and is free to use, my office door is open if there’s a real need to be contacted by family member or other.

If a child is unwell at school they are more than likely to be well looked after, how quick you get there is of no consequence, they will still be unwell by the time you take them home, and as a first aider who works with students I see all to offend that they cry wolf as they don’t wish to attend class or sport. If we treat everyone with the “I don’t care” syndrome, then we are looking at a compensation state.

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Where I work it is a case of data theft security we need to secure. It is expected that no one member of staff should use a mobile phone in the office area. This should not be plugged in on charge, left unattended, laid on a desk. It should at all times be in ones pocket. There are no exceptional circumstances where this infringes on anyone. If it rings, then stand up from your desk, walk to the lobby, stairwell, reception, meeting room or other suitable space. It is your phone call, therefor private, treat it that way and move yourself to an appropriate place. We do not police this as we don't need to. All staff are of a professional nature and know the difference between business and pleasure. Anyone with an issue with this is blindly selfish. How can we tell cleaners/clients/etc to put there mobile phones away if we don't practice what we preach?

Further to this, as an FM it really grates on me when I see customer service people gassing away on their mobile, often in disregard for the company business. Go to a pub and ask for a pint, if you can get the bar person of their mobile! What service is that? Same applies to security guards, office workers, store staff. Your private time is not business time. Your personal business is yours and speaking to the school about your sons broken arm or worse, is for you to take a private space away from colleagues. Highly sensitive work business is conducted in the same way. HR doesn't sit in an open plan area discussing your iminent redundancy, so don't deal with your bank/school/etc in a flipant way that you wouldn't conduct business. Surely it is simply mutual respect and professionalism. Simply wrote guidelines signed by a senior manager should suffice where respect is not natural in your organisation. Where it is natural in your organisation, there's no negative impact of having a written guideline or policy. Boils down to good management structure and information, promoting your organisational culture. Where I worked before, a senior ICT Manager would sit in meetings, sprawled nearly prone, chewing gum with a wide open mouthed 'smacking' action. Personally, I see that as a lack of pride, professionalism, respect for others - would you take calls, chew gum, act inapropriately with a customer or stakeholder? No, so expect others to follow an organisational culture.

As a general overview, a mobile phone policy should reflect the legal situation i.e. that using mobile phones while driving is illegal. It should give advice as to the safe use of mobile phones and that it is safer to stop completely to take a call. A policy should also give guidance about the company's stance on personal use of a 'work' mobile phone. If you need further advice on this policy or any other policies please call into the office to discuss how we can help you.

does anyone have a workplace mobile phone policy or mobile phone code of conduct usage? please contact beckyred@btinternet.com

If the data is really sensitive, it would be better to use some data protection techniques. If you expect data theft using camera phones and ban them in your office, it could occur in another way. So it would be better, if you prefer data protection system.

Phill - that really is a horrible circumstance.

Surely if some mobile phone/ipod use during work house is already established as custom and practice then a consultation needs to be undertaken to change this implied term?

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I didnt explain that the cleaner had overheard the call.

Seems that all the boxes are ticked, although not sure about how well office staff are trained at possibly receiving sensitive phone calls; I bring this matter up because when I was working on the shop floor of a factory the office received a phone call from my distraught mum, 20 minutes passed before I happened to walk past a jig and someone called out "Phill, did you get the message that your Dad has died?"
The lady that had taken the call didn't know where I was working, and as there was no set protocol she told a cleaner to tell someone to get me, she didn't say it was urgent, and the message entered the works grapevine.

It wasn't my Dad but my Step Dad who had died, which caused more anguish.

I'm not saying that your office staff would do the same, but having that protocol set up, may make this transition easier.

Other than that all boxes seem to be ticked.

I noticed that jean is implying a change of contract, maybe I'm wrong but I dont think it is, unless of course you either imply or state that currently people are contractually obliged to bring their phone into work.

As far as I can see its merely an update to a procedure.

our business is laboratory analysis and we've banned both mobile phones and i-pods. we did it by sending out a memo to all staff saying how much of a distraction they were and because we deal with chemicals we couldn't allow concentration levels to to be distracted both from a H&S and Quality viewpoint, we also attached a real life example of a laboratory which had caught fire and the first a lab technician knew (he was wearing an i-pod) was when a fireman picked him up and carried him out. staff are allowed to use mobiles outside of the labs on their breaks, we had a few complaints to start with but everyone accepts it now

We have had lockers for a while now and each member of staff has their own locker and key. We don't want to stop people bringing them in and don't mind as long as they are either in their locker or in the main office during work time. They can use them freely during breaks when they are outside of work areas.

They are welcome to receive any calls on the work number and we have done in the past, both emergancy and personal, this is not a problem. They are also welcome to use the work phone when they need to without hassle and in private. We don't want to stop them communicating with the outside world, just not have phones in the lab or the assembly area where our sensitive data is available.

Rhiannon, I work in a school.

Camera phones are simply not allowed, and if you handle sensitive material I cant see that any tribunal would uphold their complaint....

As long as you carry the change out properly.

a few questions:

Are you going to have a secure area where phones can be left, or individual lockers? or are you going to stop them bringing phones on to the premises?

Is there a system in place where any individual could be contacted should they need to be? And are the office staffed briefed on how to deal with an emergency incoming (and often confidential) phone call?

Is there a private area where they could make outgoing phone calls (even if only emergency use)?

look up employment law that explians that contracts can not be changed without consultantion and agreement. It should never be tweeked as this would not be the contract that person signed in the first place and adding anything after that person signed would cannot be added but ignored.

when I say consultation this does not mean that you tell one worker and all others follow.

Will although I agree of what you are saying it is not only the mother who has parental resposibilities. Both need to be contactable just in case.

I think that all new employees are told that they can't use the mobile in work time unless its an emergency that would be fair. (your works not unionised then i expect)

I agree with the majority in this case, yes i would like my mobile on me at all times in case of emergencies, the users could tell their partners to call them at specific times unless its an emergency, if its the school then make sure the mother is the contact, some phones can have different ring tones for specific people so maybe you could have one for the partner and school etc, some of the modern phones actually say who the caller is before you look at the screen. I o sympathise with the poster of the thread as I recently did some research im my place of work, that being a factory with 6 production lines, we banned phones for 5 days, and the output actually went up 37%. On building sites phones are already banned by most companies as advised ny the HSE. So im all for only using phones during your own time and away from your place of work, whether that be the desk or a machine. I would plan a health and safety training meeting with the staff, an update if you like and drop in the use of phones, you could then introduce new amendments to contracts at this time. if the person refused to sign the contract then disciplinary action would follow, the normal way i.e. verbal, written, action. anyone who was dismissed on these actions would not have any case to answer as you have given them time to make alternative arrangements, only the special circumstances could you defer any action if the operative was to inform you of an expected call, the partner is pregnant etc. Hope this helps, as it has worked in my place of work. we reiterised to the staff that it was a tough time, and we needed to keep customers happy by delivering their expectations on time, only acheiving that their jobs were secure from redundancies.

Ian Thomas;

Just trying to add a paragraph on my company's contract of employment to include "usage of mobile phones within the workplace". After studying this site and other forms of information, one of the easiest ways of controlling mobile phone usage legally in the workplace is to "Risk Assess" the employees role to include mobile phone usage, assessing ANY safety implications not matter how small. Once you have risked assessed the employees role it is then down to them to act accordingly, or otherwise face any consequences for falling to act upon the "risk assessment". It should also cover your obligations as an employer/manager.

What can I say - we have a wide range of people on this forum, which is of course a good thing. I would be lost without my BlackBerry though.

What I will say is that (for the sort of work I do) being able to be in social contact with friends during the day is (to me, and my clients) a fair trade off for business contact well into the evening, and contact with the middle east that often starts at 7am our time.

But obviously someone working in a warehouse doesn't have that.

Rhiannon - a lot will turn on reasonableness. If an employee fails to sign this document and obey the new procedure, you should follow the usual three step disciplinary procedure.

Thanks Bruce, that helped a lot.

We are now looking at writing a document about the new phone policy but are unsure of what happens if the refuse to sign it, where do we stand as we cannot hold the pen for them and physically force them to sign.

We have disabled the USB ports on the computers and they are aware of the consequences of any data theft. Preferably of course we don't want it happening at all rather than have to take someone to court.

Any further advice on what to do if the refuse to sign the new documents would be gratefully received.

It's interesting how we allow technology to take control; I'm sure it should be the other way around. I (just) remember my first "mobile" phone, the size (and weight) of a car battery, with a coily cord to the handset. Coverage was very patchy, and it was only just about useful. Then came one-piece phones (the Motorola brick), and they got smaller while the coverage got better. Now children represent the biggest market, which is why they are packed with street-cred features that old fogeys like me never use. Strangely, they have gone a long way backwards in one sense, you can't read the display in sunlight, never a problem with the old monochrome reflective screens.
However, what I find really odd is the way we (sorry, some people) have become completely dependent on them, and in some cases (see above) actually feel threatened if temporarily deprived. It's actually quite easy to redirect your calls and/or leave a message on your voicemail to tell people how to contact you in emergency, but for some reason people either don't know or don't want to do this.

I completely agree with the principle that, where it can be justified, mobiles are turned off or handed in at reception. the first time I encountered that was at the American Embassy in Grosvenor Square; an armed guard politely removes your phone and any other electronics as you enter the building, puts it in an explosion proof box with your name on it; only then are you allowed through the metal detector and past the internal steel gate. I guess they have their reasons, and I wouldn't want that to happen everywhere, but I do think people should try to consider other people's perspectives more. We've become a "me" society, but in fact we are just not that important.

Getting back to Rhiannon's question, a simple solution is practiced by one of my clients. The employment contract says, quite reasonably, (a) mobile phones must not interfere with your work and (b) theft of company property (which includes data) ..... may result in instant dismissal. These are reasonable clauses which no employee should have a problem with, but they allow the employer to use discretion in dealing with offenders.

I've used another ploy effectively; write a short document which explains that Company information (procedures and processes) is valuable business knowledge owned exclusively by the Company. Any actual or attempted duplication, corruption or removal of this information is theft and punishable in law; the Company will vigorously prosecute offenders. Ask each employee to read and sign the document, so you can be sure they all understand, but you don't need to go through the drudge of amending everyone's contract.

One final point; the weapon of choice of the data thief is the usb memory stick; several gigabytes of data can be removed in seconds, they are cheap, compatible with almost all PCs, and can be very easily concealed. If you are worried enough to disable the "print screen" function, you may be missing a more obvious problem.

Hope this helps, no doubt there will be many more posts on this one.....