Excess Mobile Usage

Hi all,

My concern consists of nearly 170-190 employees, and now we are facing the problem of excessive mobile usage and online chatting. We have extension phones at all desks for official purposes, and personal calls cannot be made using those phones. Despite posting a notice on the mobile usage policy, the issue persists. Issuing memos and warnings may not be effective. I am seeking good and positive suggestions from you to address this problem.

Thank you.

Dear Brindha,

If employees get time to talk on mobile or chat, then it appears that they have some amount of disposable time with them. Therefore, rather than chasing them for not talking on the mobile phone, you may do the workload analysis and find out whether they have sufficient work.

In your company, you face a challenge of people talking excessively on mobile. In a few companies, the opposite happens. People in some companies are (in)famous for not attending or returning calls.

Secondly, do top management officials prefer "phone" as a medium of communication? Does the top boss have the habit of picking up the phone and starting to talk? Is he reluctant to write emails? In the modern workplace, one should use all types of media for communication, i.e., email, SMS, telephone, WhatsApp messages, and so on. When to use what medium of communication is an individual's discretion. However, a lopsided emphasis on any one of the media obviously impacts the work. In your company's case, it is telephonic communication.

Thirdly, do employees work beyond their specified working hours? Is working late a custom in your company? Do top-level officials like people to work late in the office? In that case, make a rule that all employees must leave their workplace exactly on time. For working extra, they should take permission.

Fourthly, about socialization. While socialization at the workplace is important, has your company promoted a culture of over-socialization?

Lastly, about the concept of organizational communication. Possibly, your company has given too much importance to personal communication. Now personal communication has started overriding organizational communication.

In view of the above, I recommend you take a look at the organizational culture of the company. Discuss the issue with the managers. Find out what their problems are. Talking on the phone could be a job requirement also. For example, an average Purchase Manager talks on the phone for at least 4-6 hours per day. But then, this is what the nature of his job is. Therefore, find out who needs an exemption.

Average Indians are garrulous. We are not impersonal like the British. To a certain extent, you could be challenging the DNA itself!

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

Hi Dinesh,

Thanks for your valuable inputs. In our concern, there is no need for employees to use mobile because we have a local messenger and mail for communication purposes inside the office. Also, we have extension numbers to speak with customers and colleagues. We do understand that in case of any important personal call, they can answer. However, now it keeps on increasing, and there is a distraction from work (if they get a call, they will move out to speak and return after some time). Since the count is high, it is not possible to keep track of all, and giving continuous warnings will not be good. I need an effective idea to resolve this.

I had this experience in our office wherein we were having a weekly meeting with the participation of departmental heads and Human Resource Managers. Various issues were discussed, and minutes of meetings were recorded and circulated. Subsequent meetings also dealt with a checklist to ensure the issues of previous meetings were closed. There were a number of employee engagement activities as well as appreciation cards.

The JD and KRA were well defined, and a score below 80% in KRA was not acceptable for two quarters consecutively. In KRA, 20% weightage was also on the productive use of man-hours, which contributed significantly to the final KRA score. Individuals who wasted time by speaking on the phone, etc., were observed to score less in KRA, as their targets were not completed. Additional points on KRA were provided for creativity and Kaizen in their own domain of work and for saving the company's costs. It was more of a carrot and stick formula. All of this helped as KRA was well defined, and individuals attaining more than 95% in KRA were appreciated. For creativity and Kaizen, they were acknowledged in open forums.