|
Tilted Cat Head
Administrator
Location: Manhattan, NY
|
Cellphone Banned at work?
Quote:
More companies ban cell phones at work
Those jingling ring tones are the No. 1 pet peeve for many office workers, newspaper says.
June 20, 2006: 12:50 PM EDT
LINK
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - The use of cell phones at work is being limited by many companies as more workers object to the noisy beeps and ring tones from personal calls at work, a newspaper reported Tuesday.
USA Today reported that 30 percent of employees cited cell phones ringing at work as their No. 1 pet peeve at the office.
The report, quoting a survey by Ranstad USA, a staffing company, and the Society for Human Resource Management, said that more than a third of companies contacted have put in place policies to address the issue.
The biggest reason for the limits include the noise and distraction, the newspaper said. Many workers have complained that some people seem to require surgical removal of cell phones in order to put them down.
More than half of workers surveyed said they get impatient or angry when a coworker stops a conversation because of an incoming wireless call, according to a Sprint survey cited in the article.
An employment lawyer in Dallas, Audrey Mross, was quoted as saying that more employers are expected to ban or limit cell phones as more workers get fancier models with the ability to take pictures or watch video clips, which could hurt productivity.
Lack of productivity and annoyance aren't the only reasons for a cell phone ban, according to the article. Safety is also a factor. In the article, Mross explained that employers may be liable in an accident even if an employee is using his or her own phone and doing business outside normal working hours.
Meanwhile, there's also been a move to ban cell phones in New York City public schools, Reuters reported. The news agency said Detroit and Philadelphia have barred cell phones from schools, while Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago and Las Vegas allow them in the schools but prohibit their use during classes.
|
We hear about cellphones being banned at schools, laws against them during driving (IIRC California just added themselves to the list of those states that ban cellphone use unless using hands free option,) but what about during working hours? NYC bans taxi cab drivers from using cellphones while driving passengers.
If you are at work do you have the right or should you be allowed to use your cellphone?
When I worked at Saatchi and Saatchi I was asked by my manager to monitor my direct reports landline phone usage. So people used their cellphones to skirt around the tracking. I had to make a policy that cellphone use during working hours was not allowed. I did not want to make this policy because I felt it unfair, but nevertheless had to otherwise it was my own ass.
I happen to work within a company now where technology is pervasive. Meetings that should take only 30 minutes take over an hour because people have no concept of respect of anothers time any longer. People show up late, answer cellphones, peck away at blackberry messages, and other distractions instead of the task at hand in front of them.
Personally I have no issue with not being allowed to be on the phone if your job does not require you to be on the phone. I feel the same way with any corporate resource from phones to internet access. The company pays you to be present and perform your work to 100% utilization but are satisfied for the most part if workers are at 75-80% utilization.
__________________
I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.
|