Need Help Drafting a Memo on Mobile Usage in the Office – Any Suggestions?

Dear all,

Could you please help me with drafting the policy on mobile usage? I need a memo format to be issued to an employee regarding the usage of mobile devices inside the office. Are there any helping hands available?

Raghavan.

You can draft some policy regarding the usage of mobiles, but don't think you are some person in a fair handing out pamphlets to visitors. If you think of handing a memo to an employee, it's unfair, and your policy should state that the usage of mobiles inside office premises is banned. If anyone receives a call, they can go out and speak. Don't invade the privacy of employees. First, can you stop the top management from taking mobile calls inside their air-conditioned cabins?

If you are so strong, why not install a mobile jammer inside the office so that no one can use their mobile? Though your policy idea seems okay, the memo idea seems not okay. I hope you can tell me what trouble you are facing regarding mobiles. In my company, everyone uses mobiles and speaks, but it does not harm or affect other staff. What if official discussions are done on a mobile? How can you issue a memo for that? Please clarify for me.

Dear HR,

Thank you for your valuable inputs. In our office, we are engaged in e-publishing services. However, during duty hours, the frequency of phone calls tends to increase, leading to nonproductive time in the production area. To mitigate this issue and enhance productivity, we are considering the following idea.

Please assist me.

Best regards,
Raghavan

Hi Raghav,

Dear Team,

The use of a personal cell phone while at work may present a hazard or distraction to the user and/or co-employees. This policy is meant to ensure that cell phone use while at work is both safe and does not disrupt business operations.

No cell phone call is permitted, none whatsoever, during team meetings. All cell phones are to be turned off during the meeting.

No personal calls can be attended inside the office premises. Employees need to go outside the office to attend personal phone calls.

All personal calls should be limited to not more than 5 minutes.

This policy should be followed with high priority. All the staff working at [YOUR COMPANY NAME] are requested to cooperate in implementing this policy without any deviation.

Team leaders are asked to give strict orders to their team members to follow this policy. Those who go beyond the policy should be reported to (CONCERN PERSON'S NAME).

Please let me know if this is okay. :)

Thanks with Regards,

Arunaa

Hi, in my company, people speak on official calls on their mobiles for as long as half an hour. Since you are making the mobiles strict, how would you be in touch with your employees, or if your employees stop giving their personal mobile number to outside clients, stating that it is their personal mobile and they would not like to receive official calls on it, including your own call. 😊

So maybe next time when you call some employee or colleague for urgent work and he tells you that it is his personal mobile and not for official discussion and talks. And if your employees are taking official calls on mobiles, how can you distinguish whether those calls are official or personal, so as to limit the calls to 5 mins.

You have to see the ban on mobiles from all angles and then make a decision. Maybe as you think, it would not be that much useful as you think.

Hi,

For official calls, they can use office landline numbers, right? Maybe I accept that there are real-time problems in following this policy, but we have to be a little bit strict, right? Because I have also faced the problem of staff using mobile phones for even 1 hour continuously for personal calls, which led to a decrease in productive time. Anyway, we can't reduce the time to 5 minutes, maybe around 10-15 minutes. :)

Thanks with Regards,
Arunaa

For official calls, they can use office landline numbers... right?

That depends on whether every employee has an extension number and a landline at their desk, and what their job profile is related to. I have seen some of my friends who have to provide their numbers to clients and individuals outside the office. In many cases, when it is difficult to reach them at their desk, the client or external contact calls them on their mobile to discuss the issues. Additionally, if something needs to be discussed with me while I am working on the computer and I do not have a landline on my desk, then I am not wrong to discuss official matters on the phone.

If the job of your employees is routine and does not require discussions, you may opt for a 100% mobile ban and restrict personal calls unless it's an urgent matter.

:roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:

Dear HR,

I accept, but my center is a Software Development Center, and none of them need to discuss official matters on mobile except for the HR Department and System Admin staff. Therefore, we have implemented this policy for all company staff. I have also requested Raghav to review the policy with regard to his concerns.

Thank you.

Regards,
Arunaa

Well, Aruna. 😱😱😱😱
Don't think anything like that. 😕😕😕😕
I just observed that Raghav plainly accepted your view, but maybe he should have first diagnosed the situation of his company and then followed any of the suggestions. Because here in CiteHR, we are working in a number of industries, a number of profiles, and a number of cultures. So what works for you might not work for me, and what works for me would not necessarily work for you.

If Raghav's work culture is exactly similar to your company's work culture, then he can use your suggestion. We are all here just to express our opinions and nothing to get hurt as such but to properly guide our fellow CiteHR members with a suggestion but leave the decision to them. 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

Dear My Friends Arunaa & Ravi,

Thanks for your valuable suggestions. We are in a similar industry like Arunaa's. Also, there is no need for all people to speak with the clients; only a few, such as team leaders and executives, need to do so. However, here, all employees are using mobile devices, which creates much trouble on the production floor. That's why we have decided on the policy as discussed. Your inputs have helped me a lot.

Thank you very much.

Regards,
Raghavan.

Hi,

Thanks to Ravi and Aruna for the good conversation and professionalism. What I suggest is that the company can provide a Closed User Group (CUG) for team leaders who are dealing with clients, and provide them with a designated place to speak. Additionally, the company should enforce a strict policy of disallowing staff from using mobile phones inside the premises. Executives who use CUG should switch off their mobile phones during meetings.

Regards

That was good, Aruna. In IT companies, only PMs and TLs are given extra perks apart from the regular Finance/HR/IT-Network departments. We should monitor all employees personally and through PMs and TLs.

Regards,
Jyothi