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Cell Phone Ring Tones Top List of Workplace Nuisances, Survey Says

Posted on: Friday, 8 July 2005, 18:00 CDT

Jul. 8--Tired of hearing refrains of "Frosty the Snowman" waft across your cubicle divider from your co-worker's cell phone? Tired of trying to speak with a client while attempting to drown out your officemate's cell conversation with her best friend?

You're not alone. The ubiquity of cell phones has reached corporate America, with employees bringing their phones to work, leaving them on and using them at-will. And the shrill ring tones and personal chatter are taking a toll.

A survey of 6,000 people by recruitment company TMP Worldwide found that mobile phone rings have become the top workplace nuisance.

Concerns that the use of personal mobile phones is cutting into productivity, coupled with security risks that camera cell phones pose, have many businesses grappling with how to limit mobile phone use in the workplace.

"This is an issue that we've actually been talking about for the past couple of years," said Frank Scanlon, a spokesman for the Society of Human Resource Management.

A SHRM poll conducted last year found that 40 percent of organizations already have some type of written policy concerning use of cell phones, and 12 percent said they were planning to put a policy in place.

"We've implemented policies for well over 25 clients over the past two years," said David Lewis, president of OperationsInc.com, a Stamford-based human resource and operational consulting firm.

As personal cell phone use has begun to siphon productivity, companies are now looking to outline appropriate usage of these phones in the office, Lewis said.

"It's so loud, audible and distracting. It's not just about loss of productivity. It also has to do with distraction," he said.

According to Stamford-based Gartner Inc., 62 percent of people in North America have mobile devices, making it harder for employers to regulate their use.

But Lewis said companies can and should handle the personal use of mobile phones just like any other workplace distraction.

Many employers treat cell phones the way they used to treat a company pay phone, said attorney Brian Clemow, a partner with Hartford-based Shipman & Goodwin. If an employee wants to make a personal phone call with his phone, he should do so during authorized breaks or during lunch.

Not all employers have a problem with cell phone use.

"Everyone uses them, but it hasn't been a problem as far as interrupting work," said Jennifer Crupi, human resources manager for The MEGA Life and Health Insurance Co. in Norwalk.

"Most people use them during lunchtime or break time. Or, if they are not too busy, they step away from their desk and use it," she said.

Margaret Judge, director of human resources at Norwalk-based Octagon, a sports marketing unit of the Interpublic Group, said her company doesn't have a problem with use of cell phones for personal business during the workday.

"The nature of our business means working around the clock. We do let people use it for personal reasons. We don't discourage it. Our people work long hours so it's not a big issue in our company," Judge said.

While it would be unusual for a company to ban cells phone entirely, camera phones are another story. Some businesses, particularly manufacturers, are banning them altogether due to fears about people stealing and selling company secrets, said Clemow.

Companies are also worried that people will use the cameras inappropriately, causing all sorts of human resource nightmares and even lawsuits, Clemow said.

Camera phones became a mass-market product in 2004 and are now a key driver of growth in the mobile phone market, said Hugues de la Vergne, principle analyst with the mobile/wireless group at Gartner.

De la Vergne doesn't recommend that employers ban camera phones. Instead, employers should implement policies and procedures limiting their use.

"Outright bans of camera phones is an extreme," he said. "It an employee wants to pilfer information, there are many ways it can be done. Camera phones don't make it that much easier. They are something a significant number of their employees and their visitors will have. Employers will have to learn to co-exist with these devices."

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Copyright (c) 2005, The Stamford Advocate, Conn.

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TMPW, IPG,

Source: The Stamford Advocate, Stamford, Conn.

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