How to Address Personal Call Misuse at Work: Need Help Drafting a Warning Letter

Hi everybody,

In our office, a few staff members are misusing the office telephone lines by making personal calls. Additionally, they receive personal calls frequently on their mobile phones. This misuse of communication channels is affecting their ability to concentrate on their job tasks.

My boss has requested that I prepare a warning letter addressing this issue. I would appreciate any guidance or assistance you can provide in drafting this letter.

Thanks & Regards,
Neetha

Dear Neetha,

Warning letter for long-duration telephone calls may work initially, but the situation is likely to revert to normal soon. The underlying issue is the lack of work pressure. Even if an office notice is issued, will you be able to monitor and catch the offenders? How much time will be consumed in proving whether a call was personal and determining the culpability of the caller or receiver?

You can establish performance measures for each position and delineate the distinctions between "poor," "good," "very good," and "excellent" job ratings. Begin evaluating the work output against the time spent on activities. This approach will gradually increase the pressure on employees. For underperformers, issue improvement notices, and if there is no progress, consider terminating the employment of at least 1-2 individuals. This action will send a clear message to all employees.

Does your EPABX system have the capability to trace the extension from which calls were made? If so, identify the department responsible for the calls and request an explanation from the Head of the Department. Pressure from the HODs will deter further misconduct.

Regarding incoming calls on mobile phones, the problem may escalate with the introduction of 3G services, as video calls could become more prevalent alongside audio calls.

You requested a draft of the letter, and I have provided all this information. However, I firmly believe that augmenting work pressure through performance metrics will be effective. As for the draft notice, it could be structured as follows:

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Office Circular/Notice No ____/2010

1. Numerous non-official telephone calls have been observed, and these practices must be promptly addressed.

2. Each extension will now be monitored for call frequency, and HODs must justify the necessity of each call.

3. Excessive chatting on telephones, including incoming calls, has been noted among some staff members. This behavior should cease immediately.

4. While telephone and mobile phone usage is essential, employees should refrain from prolonged calls. HODs are responsible for enforcing this notice, and disciplinary action will be taken for violations.


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Your feedback and input from other senior members are appreciated.

Dinesh V Divekar

Dear Neetha,

I am in total agreement with Mr. Dinesh's views.

Warning letters don't work.

EPABX systems will certainly be able to track calls made extension number-wise, and if you further want to investigate, you can assign a unique code to each employee. The employee must keep this code confidential and dial it before getting the ringing tone. By tracking this unique code, you can even pinpoint how many calls are made by each employee, the purpose, and the duration of the calls.

Recover the call charges due from the employee, and this will put the defaulters in place.

Regarding incoming calls, ask the EPABX operator to keep track of incoming calls and report to you on a daily basis.

If you have provided sufficient extensions in the workplace with a paging facility to reach the employee if they are not in their workplace, then why should employees be permitted to use mobile phones? Ban the entry of mobile phones.

I also endorse the statement made by Mr. Dinesh that private calls are made by people who are not otherwise engaged. This exercise will also expose people who are underutilized.

Best regards,

M.V. Kannan

Hello, Ms. Neetha,

In addition to Mr. Dinesh's suggestions, you can block the facility of outcalling from all the extensions, meaning extensions would be used for internal purposes. The password of the extension to unlock STD can be given to those employees who actually need the official telephones for outcalling.

Thanks & Regards,
Raj

Hi Neetha,

As HR professionals, we should understand that employees can feel isolated without their families and friends. Such situations are bound to occur, and issuing warnings may further impact their productivity. Implementing changes to the system is the most effective way to address these challenges.

Hope for the best.

Regards,
Jacky Christian

Hi, This is a good suggestion because issuing a warning letter will not be a good idea. At the end of the day through EPABX, we can review the outgoing calls and take further steps. I am also facing the same problem in our company; employees are carrying mobile phones inside the office premises, which is strictly banned in our company, especially during the night shift. This is really a big headache for us.

Just a small addition: you can restrict outgoing calls from the extensions. However, if there is any emergency or work-related call, please ask them to call the operator to connect them.

Regards,
Chanda Patel

Hi,

According to my experience, I am giving some suggestions. Please look into this:

1) First, segregate official and personal calls as per the phone bill.
2) Second, contact individuals who made personal calls, warn them personally, and advise them not to repeat the behavior. If they continue, we will need to take serious action.
3) Provide strict instructions to security not to allow mobile phones inside; this measure will address the issue.
4) Finally, allocate break time for phone conversations.

Thank you,
Anuradha S.
9663376729

Dear Neeta,

See if you can implement the following action points:

A. Change the inter-calling facility of the PBEX system.
B. Implement a 30- or 45-second dialer tone to minimize specific call durations.
C. Implement zero dialing facility for outgoing calls.
D. Implement an employee code requirement before dialing any numbers. This will ensure tracking of calls made by employees.
E. Circulate these details monthly to the employees for monitoring purposes.

If your organization has provided corporate connections to employees, adjust the credit limit for usage. Make group or organizational calling free or charge minimally.

Thank you.

Dear Neetha,

Mr. Dinesh has provided a good draft circular. You may proceed with it, making suitable modifications as necessary.

1. You should post a circular as he has suggested.
2. You may request your boss to convene a meeting and communicate the concern to everyone.
3. If individuals do not respond to the circular/meeting, issue warning letters.
4. If the behavior persists, you may proceed with deductions for personal calls (a monitoring system needs to be implemented).
5. Additionally, consider the impact on the team.

Regards,

K. Ramachandra
Bangalore

Dear Simmy,

In your reply, I beg to differ with the following:

Implementing employee codes before dialing any numbers - This will ensure you have a blueprint of the calls made by the employees.

Is it that difficult to dial someone else's employee code and then dial the number? The best thing that smart people would do is to dial an employee code of an employee who is not on duty. So that employee cannot be held guilty. However, the defaulter will not get traced as well.

Ok...

Dinesh V Divekar

Dinesh has provided the right way of handling things. The circular posted on the notice board will keep employees alert, and it will automatically reduce the misuse.

Dear Neetha,

I agree with a lot of good points provided by our forum members. Do not analyze whether it will work or not. Follow the cause and effect principle. Start with one and study the effects. Go for course correction. Everything works well if they feel themselves responsible and important.

The majority of the new joiners may not be aware of the policies; they blindly follow the seniors in the system. Along with the circular, please do circulate/attach points on Do's and Don'ts like Telephone etiquette. Thus, you are providing them a chance to learn and follow in the workplace.

You can find a lot of connected resources at our forum itself. For this issue, you can try the following:
Thread: Telephone Etiquette and Manners (Including Cell Phone Etiquette) at: Management Universe and Telephone Etiquette (Telephone Etiquette) more at #ixzz16MP6ueTm

All the Best!

I don't know what your company does, but I'm sure it is not in the telephone monitoring business. Why would you want to tie up your staff and managers in trying to monitor telephone calls?

The focus should be on getting the important work done.

If a staff member has a piece of work to do and they take 8 hours to do it, or take 7 hours and then spend 1 hour taking personal calls, what difference does it make to the company?

If your company is not managing and motivating the employees correctly, then trying to control their use of phones will just make employees angry and more unmotivated. Focus on performance management and setting targets for the staff, and the number of personal calls will reduce automatically.

If the issue is cost, then create an incentive system to reduce costs. For example, if you estimate that Rs. 50,000 extra is being spent on personal calls, then offer a Rs. 25,000 bonus to be shared among the staff if they can save that Rs. 50,000. Otherwise, tell staff to keep all personal calls on their mobiles so that the cost is not on the company.

Sending such general letters like "it has been noticed" to the whole office is a BAD idea. It is insulting to the staff that are not making personal calls. The people that are not working and are making calls will not pay attention to it because they will think it is about other people and not them since no one mentioned them by name.

In my office, the same problem has arisen. However, that particular employee was referred by superiors. At that time, they were not heeding my words, and my superiors did not believe me. Nevertheless, I am aware of what he is doing in the office.

Centralized Outgoing Facility and Call Monitoring

Blocking the outgoing facility to individual extensions and implementing a centralized outgoing facility through the main telephone operator can help monitor personal calls made via landlines. Additionally, consider installing mobile jammers to regulate incoming calls within the office premises.

Regards,
Krishnamurthe

To add, being HR means that we also have to understand what it means to the staff to be able to make or receive these calls. My suggestion is that instead of simply employing penalty measures like a warning letter or other such things, also make suggestions of when they can handle personal calls. Make it a clear statement that they cannot handle personal calls except at lunchtime or whenever they have a break. Also, guidelines can be set about ringtones so that others in the office are not disturbed.