Dear Colleagues,

When was the last time, you picked up your cell in a meeting and had to face a bunch of eyes glaring at you ? Yeah, your call might be as important as your meeting was…but then who knew it, except you.

Mobile Phones or Cell phones have been injected into the corporate attire of every employee these days, no doubt, the work gets affected at every stage due to this significant device. But have you heard about any company instilling a policy for usage of cell phones in their HR manual ? I assume very few of them (MNC’s), coz Indian companies are yet to come up to tackle this issue which might affect the productivity if not controlled on time.

GSM, Color, Graphics, Multimedia, Web, Camera…that’s wat it has and to an extent has been also able to describe the class of an employee based on its model make.

With regards to this issue, we shall be observing "Discussion Point - Mobile Phone Restrictions at Work" from Sept 14 - Sept 20 '06.

Let's contribute one and all for the most effective discussion on the most relevant of the topics that defines a part of corporate business etiquettes.

Regards.

chrm

Being a healthcare company, my institution has a policy on cell phones but i see that many of the cell of users lack cell phone etiquette. I started observing this only after i read an article in the local newspaper. Many Indians like to have the loudest tone for their cell phone, many would not turn it off inside the flights, cinema halls etc. It was surprising to note that many people go to important meetings and even interview with their cell phones on.

Regards,

Hrushikesh

Really its high time that our companies also started implementing policies wrt cell phone usage in the office premises.

Regards,

DaNiSh

The use of cellphones and the choice of the loudest tone are part of the fad. People who need attention picks the loudest and most annoying tones. These can be carried on inside corporate and government premises if no policy is enunciated to control its use and remind its users.

We have experienced this also during the initial year of the cellphone introduction in our country. But now, you can rarely hear loud tones in public places. Many would prefer soft tones and beautiful music as their ringtones.

In the government setting, many offices would post reminders about the need for people to "turn off" their phones when attending court hearings and meetings.

In the coporate world, companies have now defined their use. There are companies that would limit cellphones to the lockers (esp for production line workers), and allow employees to access them only during break periods.

In a multinational company where I was asked to review their policies, top management asked me to specifically prohibit bringing of cellphones inside the factory for "safety" reasons. As such, even managers were prohibited from bringing their company issued
cellphones inside the plant.

Cellphones at work is a big cause for productivity loss, especially when there is "text messaging" capability with it. I have seen employees hide their phones inside their office table drawers, and pull them from time to time to check and answer messages.

Text messaging does not only disrupt work. It is also a cause for huge productivity loss.

Best wishes

srini