Restricting Personal Calls at Work: Is Using Mobile Jammers a Good Idea?

Restricting Personal Calls Using Mobile Jammers

To restrict personal calls using cell phones, is it recommended to use mobile jammers selectively in the office?

Has anyone here used this option to restrict personal calls during office hours? What were the benefits and disadvantages of using this mechanism?

Dear Sandsky, whose idea is it to use mobile jammers in the office? Have you found out the legality of it? What happens if an employee is shut out in the lift or office by mistake at the end of office hours? What happens in case of an emergency like fire, personal attack, or accident? What happens if a female employee needs help? Have you constituted the Internal Complaints Committee under The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act, 2013, and also displayed the penal consequences of sexual harassment and the order constituting the Internal Committee?

According to the above Act, an employer is required to provide a safe working environment at the workplace. Putting a mobile jammer in the office will prevent a woman from getting help in times of distress. They cannot call the police or others for help. Will it make the workplace safe or unsafe for women? The answers to these questions lie entirely with you.

Warm regards.

In addition to what Raj Kumar has mentioned, please consider this link: https://www.citehr.com/458031-legal-...ny-office.html

Thank you.

Instead of using a mobile jammer, the best option is self-discipline and working towards that.

Thank you.

Regards.

Technically, you cannot use a mobile jammer for select calls alone. It is not a good idea to fix a mobile jammer in an office environment, the disadvantages of which have been elaborated by Rajkumar. As Kambar has said, bringing in self-discipline is the key.

Mine is a very small consultancy firm and has 3 employees. I don't restrict my employees from having personal conversations with their friends or family members, as long as their productivity is not affected. Staff members who have elders and children at home tend to make calls and talk to them. I don't see anything wrong with that. Even 5 or 10 minutes of talk with an old friend does no harm. Even in the midst of important discussions, I never stop my staff from taking calls from their home or anywhere. We never know what the urgency of the call is.

Having said that, don't we (that includes me too) expect our employees to pick official calls when they are at home? When we expect them to handle official calls at home, we need to reciprocate by allowing them to take a few personal calls at work. But a sense of self-discipline should be brought out, as another member pointed out.

If you are running a high-security nuclear facility or an Indian prison, I agree you should move forward. However, if you are running a BPO or an IT firm, then I would call it an absolutely funny idea. I am sure that the outcome will show in attrition, and soon you'll be left with only the jammers and no signals to jam.

Instead of considering the installation of mobile jammers, though I am not sure if jammers can be used selectively to restrict outbound calls technically, I would recommend that you prevent the entry of mobile phones inside the office premises and restrict the entry at the security gates, which many companies do now.

The logic for banning mobile phones inside the workplace is that they could distract people working on the shop floor and could also pose a safety hazard to the employees. In some instances, you will find mobile phones ringing during meetings, disrupting the continuity of the meeting and causing attendees to lose precious time while waiting for their colleague to finish their conversation.

A question may arise about how an employee can communicate with their residence in case of an emergency and vice versa. The solution to this problem can be to permit employees to make calls after dialing a secret code. Upon dialing the secret code, they will gain dialing access. Thereafter, they can make either official calls or personal calls from any extension. The calls made, along with their duration against each employee, can be logged using the latest devices available. In the event that we observe an employee making calls to a particular number (personal call) numerous times, we can counsel the employee if they are found misusing the facility. On some occasions, there may be a family emergency that requires frequent calls to a residential number, which should not be considered a violation.

Regards

To my view, we are concentrating on the wrong priorities. When STD calls were restricted to a few numbers, there were many who would make such calls. When STD calls were released to all numbers, there was initially a spurt, but over a period of time, the bills started reducing. Mobile communication is for communication. As one contributor mentioned, over a period of time, individuals themselves shall stop calling and cut incoming personal calls faster. Let us look for efficiency and productivity improvement and not dissipate our energy on such matters.

Warm regards,
Mani
Lt. Col. (Retd) RVS Mani