Use of phone in office job

jcon1913

We have a fairly relaxed attitude to mobiles in the place I work, meaning you can do the odd text/whatsapp/whatever during work hours and of course check facebook/whatever on lunch. Most people are fairly discreet and while not childishly hiding their phone they are not waving it under the management's noses either so they put them away for most of the day.

A new person has started and she has the phone in front of her constantly and is never off it some days. Her productivity is pretty poor, and you can see shes distracted at times, sometimes if you ask her about stuff shes supposed to be working on you can see shes in the middle of doing her text/whatsapp/whatever.

I really couldnt care what she does or how it works out for her but I'm thinking management, who have copped on what she is doing in work hours, may decide a 'no personal phones in work' policy.

My questions are:
1.Can they do that?
2.Can they discipline this person or anyone else if they dont have the policy formally in place before now?
3.Any experience of what management will try to do in this situation?

Like I said I have no issue but this girl is taking the p*** and the rest of us may suffer as a consequence. I'm not in her direct section but I'd say the productivity is not what it shold be as a result of her dossing half the day.

OMM 0000

1. Can they do that?

Yes, but it would be foolish, assuming they care about staff turnover.

2. Can they discipline this person or anyone else if they dont have the policy formally in place before now?

Sure. Being on your phone all the time is definitely a problem.

3. Any experience of what management will try to do in this situation?

They'll tell her to stop being on the phone all the time.

jcon1913

OMM 0000 wrote: »

1. Can they do that?

Yes, but it would be foolish, assuming they care about staff turnover.

2. Can they discipline this person or anyone else if they dont have the policy formally in place before now?

Sure. Being on your phone all the time is definitely a problem.

3. Any experience of what management will try to do in this situation?

They'll tell her to stop being on the phone all the time.

They are not worried about staff turnover, for reasons I wont go into, but it is not an issue.
Not altogether clear on the discipline from your reply, I guess a few verbal warnings, a few written warnings and you're dismissed and all that?
Like I said mgt fairly relaxed up to now so it would be a pain if they sytart watching everybody.

Del2005

jcon1913 wrote: »

They are not worried about staff turnover, for reasons I wont go into, but it is not an issue.
Not altogether clear on the discipline from your reply, I guess a few verbal warnings, a few written warnings and you're dismissed and all that?
Like I said mgt fairly relaxed up to now so it would be a pain if they sytart watching everybody.

If she's just started thees no need for verbal or any type of warning they can let her go with zero issues.

But as with most large organisations they will certainly be a policy change as a result. There's always one who ruins it for everyone else.

Strumms

It depends on the quality of the management. If they are a lazy bunch of scum sucking leech bags they’ll probably just have a ‘no phone’ for everyone policy unless you are on break...

If on the other hand the management are fair, proactive and responsive they will address the overuse of the phone with the individual, say they need an improvement in their quality and productivity and remind them its not professional or fair to colleagues to be almost constantly engaged in conversation on their phone...

OMM 0000

jcon1913 wrote: »

Not altogether clear on the discipline from your reply, I guess a few verbal warnings, a few written warnings and you're dismissed and all that?

Warnings will go something like this:

Casual comment to your colleague: Hey, just watch the amount of phone use.

Then stern comment to your colleague: I've noticed you're using your phone a lot. Please try to keep the phone use for breaks or emergencies.

Then telling her privately in an office.

Then a more formal discipline route will start.

Strumms

OMM 0000 wrote: »

Warnings will go something like this:

Casual comment to your colleague: Hey, just watch the amount of phone use.

Then stern comment to your colleague: I've noticed you're using your phone a lot. Please try to keep the phone use for breaks or emergencies.

Then telling her privately in an office.

Then a more formal discipline route will start.

Yep, the best way to handle it

machaseh

Whether your colleague is using her phone or not is none of your business, as I take it that you are not the manager. At least that is my personal policy. It is better to focus on doing your own work properly rather than meddle with someone else's business. Of course, if she is messing up a lot of things in her work or simply not doing her fair share of the work causing you extra work, then you can mention THAT to her and eventually your manager. But it should be focused on her work and not on her using her phone just because you're afraid they might ban phone usage on the floor.

I have had colleagues that call in late or sick all the time. I'm not going to mention it to the manager, it is absolutely none of my business and the manager is aware of it, not me.

I have also had a colleague messing a lot of things up, all I did was to try and help them get better. They never got better and eventually didnt pass their probation and were booted out. Manager said to me he was grateful that I tried to help but this person was simply beyond salvation.

I also have had colleagues who lift 5 minutes before end of shift. I am also not going to mention it to the manager, she can see it on the system and it's up to her to take action or not.

jcon1913

machaseh wrote: »

Whether your colleague is using her phone or not is none of your business, as I take it that you are not the manager. At least that is my personal policy. It is better to focus on doing your own work properly rather than meddle with someone else's business. Of course, if she is messing up a lot of things in her work or simply not doing her fair share of the work causing you extra work, then you can mention THAT to her and eventually your manager. But it should be focused on her work and not on her using her phone just because you're afraid they might ban phone usage on the floor.

I have had colleagues that call in late or sick all the time. I'm not going to mention it to the manager, it is absolutely none of my business and the manager is aware of it, not me.

I have also had a colleague messing a lot of things up, all I did was to try and help them get better. They never got better and eventually didnt pass their probation and were booted out. Manager said to me he was grateful that I tried to help but this person was simply beyond salvation.

I also have had colleagues who lift 5 minutes before end of shift. I am also not going to mention it to the manager, she can see it on the system and it's up to her to take action or not.

Yeah I hear you, I'm having all those thoughts.



Ultimately her productivity or lack of it is going to be felt by someone. I know it is the managers job to deal with all that, I'm just selfishly thinking about my own ( hopefully discreet ) phone use compared to hers. and the restrictions we'll all have if there is a ''no personal phones in the office'' policy.



Fair play to you for coaching your colleague in the way that you did, that's definately the way to go in these situations. I'll give her a dig out if needs be and a quiet word about the phone along the lines of keep it a bit more discreet etc so that she gets the idea.

gandalf

Tbh I'd steer clear of the argument. If her phone use is so bad that's it impacting her work quality and quantity that's the angle any competent manager will approach the discussion. It would be lazy and misguided for management to clamp down on everyone's use because of one person's behaviour especially if the usage has been reasonable before the latest addition to the workforce.

If her job impacts on yours then yes then you should approach it. Mention it to her and if she has cop on she should amend her behaviour. If she doesn't then discuss it with your manager and leave it in their hands.

Diceicle

From my experience, unless management are pretty pro-active and big-picture types then yeah, I think a phone ban is the likely outcome.
You know the style of management better than anyone here - are they more likely to take the easy route of phone-ban or the type to treat people like adults and deal with it on a case by case basis?

Would it be possible to have a friendly word with the newbie about excessive phone use?

jcon1913

Diceicle wrote: »

From my experience, unless management are pretty pro-active and big-picture types then yeah, I think a phone ban is the likely outcome.
You know the style of management better than anyone here - are they more likely to take the easy route of phone-ban or the type to treat people like adults and deal with it on a case by case basis?

Would it be possible to have a friendly word with the newbie about excessive phone use?

Already done on a very friendly basis so hint has been taken and crisis averted. Mgt are possibly too lazy to go case-by-case and would poss introduce a company-wide ban which would be a pain in the rear end.


Thanks everyone.