Employee cell phone useage

[gcarter]

I have three service persons we supply cell phones to....actually Nextel. They obviously need them to call customers and I don't mind them using them for personal use unless they exceed their package minutes. This has happened a number of times. One of them will say to just take it out of his pay. And I will, but that's not the point. I don't want this to become an all consuming point. Any ideas on how to get their attention w/o sitting down w/them and go over them on a call by call basis????

:confused:

[tom freeman]

I have three service persons we supply cell phones to....actually Nextel. They obviously need them to call customers and I don't mind them using them for personal use unless they exceed their package minutes. This has happened a number of times. One of them will say to just take it out of his pay. And I will, but that's not the point. I don't want this to become an all consuming point. Any ideas on how to get their attention w/o sitting down w/them and go over them on a call by call basis????


:confused:

alot of unlimited rate plans on sale these days, try and get a plan change to unlimited, you might be suprised at the low prices, it is very competitive now due to t mobils price drops.

[chappy]

I wacked a staffer 3.5 ot hours on a check, the equivalent to the time spent on the nextel on personal calls, in addition to the nextel charges over the package plan. He was hot on payday. It worked though, problem went away.

[Ed Donnelly]

George; We have 22 employees 44 phones

They all have their personal phones. If they are over on their work phones, its deducted from their pays. Every employee signs a release.............Ed

[mjw930]

Put the phones under personal responsibility, i.e. it's in their name, not yours. Make them pay the bill and submit an expense report for reimbursement. They pay the entire bill and you only reimburse them for the base plan.

Make keeping the bill current a condition of employment. If they want to keep their job they will pay the bill. If they run over and can't afford it they will stop.

[yeller]

George, I'm an employee who was given a cell phone by my employer. My employer wanted to charge me for the extra minutes so I gave him the phone back. My thinking is, I hate cell phones, I don't want a cell phone, so if I have to carry one, I sure don't want to pay for it. I would sometimes go over on minutes mostly because of people calling me.

The thing is....if you're going to give a kid a box of chocolates, no matter what you say, he's going to eat some.

If your employee doesn't mind you taking it out of his paycheck then consider yourself lucky. You could have me as an employee. :tongue:

Sorry George, probably not what you wanted to hear.

[Cuda]

I had an employee that I supplied a phone to. He was only supposed to use it to call me, which was no charge. I lent him $2800 to buy a van, then he quit, after he had run up 600 hrs on the phone. When he quit, he kept the phone. I went to the state attorney's office. I couldn't do anything about the $2800, because it was a civil matter, but I got him charged with theft, for using the phone personally, and keeping the phone. He had to go to court, and was put on probation, with reimbursement to me part of his probation. After about a year of not getting any money, I called the SA again, and asked what was up. His office advised me that there was currently a warrant out for Mr Barnette's arrest. I called again a month or so later, and was informed that Mr Barnette was currently residing in the Volusia County jail. That was the last I heard about him. He may still be in there for all I know. I never received a dime.

[Team Jefe]

ALways a tough situation. I am kinda with Yeller though...actually did the same thing and gave the phone back....then they blinked and I never heard anything else about charges again.

Of course that was a $2.8 Billion corporation, not your case G....unless your holding out on us :wink:

I guess I don't really have any advise....that is why I don't have any employees.

[f_inscreenname]

Unlimited plans are to cheap not to have one.
I am the same as few others here. You want to charge me for it then it’s mine and I can chose not to answer it (plus I would have picked a better plan with unlimited minutes). I do have a company phone and have for years but at the same time I don’t take advantage of it either. There has to be respect on both ends. If not rules have to be put in play and made known. You are over, you pay. As for docking time also, that’s a hard ass thing to do. If I’m waiting on a customer to show up or driving, I’m on my phone. Either talking or on the net. I get a lot done and some is personal. Should I be docked for it? I’m doing my job.
The bottom line is set the rules and then stand by them. There is to many things you can do to stop it like limited out going / in coming calls. Limited minutes on the phone, etc, etc.
Last, if the guy is willing to pay the difference what’s the big deal? Better you getting the bill and seeing who is calling and who he is calling. And with reverse look up you know exactly who they are. He gets a privet phone and that’s all gone.
And for you folks that think making them get their own phone and submitting a bill for work calls is what to do......... If they are in the services side of business what phone # do you think your customers are going to call after that employee has left your service? Or what I should have said, what phone # are his customers going to call…..

[mjw930]

Sprint / Nextel doesn't appear to offer an unlimited plan in this area.

[McGary911]

I was fighting my company giving me a blackberry\phone for years. Latest boss gave it another shot. I tried the tactic i used in the past.
ME :"OK, but I'm not carrying my pager, a BBerry and my personal cell phone on a damned utility belt, so if I get this thing, kiss the pager goodbye, and I'm using my work phone for all calls."
HIM: "No Problem"
ME: "Chit" :doh:

So while i still keep a pers phone, i haven't used it in a year. I don't abuse it, as I'm not really much of a phone talker. So this was something we agreed upon before I got the phone.

[VetteLT193]

I'd go Unlimited.

I also was given a phone for work (actually a blackberry). I refuse to carry 2 phones so I gave the option of letting me use the phone all the time for personal use too or I wasn't carrying it.

They got me the unlimited plan and that was that.

[Jack Frost]

real simple, you work for me your job requires you have a cell phone for work you get a cell phone i don't pay you to talk personal stuff while i am paying you i look at the bills any calls made on my time you get a 1099 for and any other overages the same, don't want to carry it bye bye, my way or the highway I had to send out 1 1099 I warned the guy he blew it off all year well at tax time he got the message

[roadtrip se]

Set the rules, communicate them, and hold them to it.
Expecting somebody to not make some personal calls on the company phone isn't reasonable. But the boss defines reasonable.

As for the Crackberry, I love mine. A lot of people let the things tether them to the work place. I look at it as a way to allow me to get away any time I like and not have a major customer crisis surprise waiting for me when I plug back into the grid.

Cripe, my management team always starts a conversation with me by asking where I am that particular day, North or South?

[mjw930]

As for the Crackberry, I love mine. A lot of people let the things tether them to the work place. I look at it as a way to allow me to get away any time I like and not have a major customer crisis surprise waiting for me when I plug back into the grid.

Cripe, my management team always starts a conversation with me by asking where I am that particular day, North or South?

I couldn't agree more. We use Goodlink but it's the same idea, couple that with our extension to cellular feature (I'm a systems architect for Avaya, we invented the stuff) and I can work like I'm in the office from anywhere in the world. Extension to Cellular bonds my cell phone to the work phone. My cell phone rings simultaneously with the work phone and I have all the conference and transfer features wherever I am. Oh, and I can turn it off whenever I want......

I had to run down and pick up the boat today and I took 1 conference call, resolved 3 critical incidents and answered 10 emails and no one had any idea I was standing in a boat shop ;)

To the point at hand, I agree with SE, set the rules and get them to understand and agree. There shouldn't be any real issues once they understand the rules.

[VetteLT193]

real simple, you work for me your job requires you have a cell phone for work you get a cell phone i don't pay you to talk personal stuff while i am paying you i look at the bills any calls made on my time you get a 1099 for and any other overages the same, don't want to carry it bye bye, my way or the highway I had to send out 1 1099 I warned the guy he blew it off all year well at tax time he got the message

I'm fine with this thought if it's clear before I start the job.

I was handed a blackberry after working at a job for a year. In my position it means working an extra 10 hours per week minimum and would not have accepted the job in the first place if it were part of the terms.

Also, you have to be realistic about employees and their lives. It is impossible to entirely separate your life from your work... limited use of office equipment for personal reasons has to be expected by any employer.

[Jack Frost]

Also, you have to be realistic about employees and their lives. It is impossible to entirely separate your life from your work... limited use of office equipment for personal reasons has to be expected by any employer.

that is the attitude why the American work force is failing

the company only owes you a paycheck not the use of it's equipment to run off 500 copies of your kids play flyers and the paper, using the company vehicle to leave work early to see your kids baseball game or to have your wife call thru out the day cause she has nothing better to do who pays for that??

My people know this up front , they get paid at a higher scale than anyone else in their field they work hard they get paid well when their day is done they don't bring work home I want it that way so when they come to work they leave home at home
or they find themselves out in the cold

BTW from this thread iI know who not to hire

[chappy]

I never knew Jack resided in upper/middle management.:fam:

[Tony]

This is one of the few times Jack has chimed in on something other than the weather.
This topic must have hit a "hot" button with our "northern" buddy!


:beer:

[Jack Frost]

This is one of the few times Jack has chimed in on something other than the weather.
This topic must have hit a "hot" button with our "northern" buddy!
:beer:

like a school teacher in the middle of a school day surfing the web on a pc and an internet connection the tax payers pay for?????

wonder how many members bosses would not approve of their internat habits during work time but hey maybe everyone is retired or something ???

[boxy]

like a school teacher in the middle of a school day surfing the web on a pc and an internet connection the tax payers pay for?????
wonder how many members bosses would not approve of their internat habits during work time but hey maybe everyone is retired or something ???

I think Tony may have a snow day today. I think Detroit got hit by the same storm that dropped a whole lot of freezing rain on us last night.
No buses here today, so I'm guessing it would be a pretty quiet day for teachers....

[VetteLT193]

that is the attitude why the American work force is failing
the company only owes you a paycheck not the use of it's equipment to run off 500 copies of your kids play flyers and the paper, using the company vehicle to leave work early to see your kids baseball game or to have your wife call thru out the day cause she has nothing better to do who pays for that??
My people know this up front , they get paid at a higher scale than anyone else in their field they work hard they get paid well when their day is done they don't bring work home I want it that way so when they come to work they leave home at home
or they find themselves out in the cold
BTW from this thread iI know who not to hire

I didn't say that running 500 copies of kids flyers is reasonable. Getting a short call from your wife to pick up milk on the way from home from work is reasonable.

And like I said already, it depends on what is negotiated from the beginning. If I interview for a job and the requirements are clearly spelled out and I accept the job with those terms it all makes perfect sense... If one of them is I can never have even a second of personal time during working hours, and I take a second you have the right to do what you do. It's when the job gets re-negotiated after accepting that I have an issue.

If I ever have a job that requires me to carry a blackberry, I will expect compensation accordingly. If it's all spelled out up front, great.

And BTW: Twisting words around to make it suit your argument is about as good as pissing into the wind. I work my azz off and get more done than anyone else around my office. Part of the reason for my performance is my employer is reasonable about computer and phone use... I can take a break and post here on Donzi.net and when I'm done I'll get more work done since I'm refreshed from thinking about work for a few minutes.

[chappy]

Vette, I say this as a friend who shares an interest in hipo boats but, "Dude, you're arguing with Jack Frost".
:rofl:
:lol9:

[gold-n-rod]

like a school teacher in the middle of a school day surfing the web on a pc and an internet connection the tax payers pay for?????
wonder how many members bosses would not approve of their internat habits during work time but hey maybe everyone is retired or something ???

Youch, who pissed in your Cheerios today, Jack? :shocking: Sheesh, it gets up to 50* in Michigan today and you decide to fight back by whacking one of our most esteemed members in the nuts? :smash:

If and when you send little Jackie to school, you should hope to god that s/he gets a teacher half as dedicated and caring as Tony. With a stoke of luck, you might get one on par with him..... but not likely.

PS: Sent at 4:53 pm........... :doh:

[Ed Donnelly]

Jack; Alert is -39c today

Or meet me at Little Cornwallis Island
later this week

But Please CHILL BUDDY :cool::cool: ........Ed

[f_inscreenname]

I’m sorry but the reason I work for the people I do is because I can get away with stuff like that. I make good money but I could have made more but it would have meant working for a hard ass, nose to the grind stone type. So I gave up a couple bucks for a happy job and will never look back for it.
But again if I took the job with that rule I would plan on following it.

[Tony]

I don't mind funnin' with Jack, I'm sure he gets pretty lonely way up there.
Maybe he's got a sunlight deficiency and his Vitamin D prescription ran out.

Actually, Jack makes an interesting point.
These stats (consider the source...) are taken from a site called Snapshot Spy, they sell internet monitoring systems:

Employee Computer & Internet Abuse Statistics
30 to 40% of Internet use in the workplace is not related to business.
64% of employees say they use the Internet for personal interest during working hours.
70% of all Internet porn traffic occurs during the nine-to-five work day.
37% of workers say they surf the Web constantly at work.
77.7% of major U.S. companies keep tabs on employees by checking their e-mail, Internet, phone calls, computer files, or by videotaping them at work.
63% of companies monitor workers' Internet connections and 47% store and review employee e-mail.
27% of companies say that they've fired employees for misuse of office e-mail or Internet connections, and 65% report some disciplinary measure for those offenses.

[Formula Jr]

It can work the other way also. My place gives me nothing to work with. Yet things need to be done. So I do them and submit petty cash payback. This includes my private cell sometimes.

Unlimited, means the natural course of people using that resource for personal stuff. And they are on your time for all personal calls, and not doing the stuff you want them to be thinking about or doing.

I've seen really horrible abuses.

So you could go unlimited calls and make it easy on the bookkeeper. Or you issue a per-call job phone that has to be looked over all the time. Of those two choices, Unlimited is the way to go: With review once and awhile.
At a certain point, you have to know employees are working with you and not just using the company's resources for personal stuff.

Jack Frost is right in one way, but Jack knows nothing if a company is the other way, and employees are filling the other gaps and just want something to even it out.

[dfunde01]

Being a telecommunications consultant I have seen how many different companies handle these issues.

As regards internet usage, if your company maintains their own mail servicer, exchange and the like, your IT folks will have the expertise and tools to track your internet usage and will know every web site you visit and how long you stay. Also, they have the legal right and ability to monitor all of your e-mail communications thru the company servers. For whatever reason most companies choose to never act on this information, although I have seen large companies terminate employees for excessive personal internet use (think 6+ hours a day).

For mobile phones I have seen many different approaches. Personal billing with the employee vouchering business usage. Company billed with employees charged back for personal usage, and everything in between. It seems the larger the company the less they care. The smaller users are always the most concerned about controlling costs.

Most Nextel users depend on the walkie-talkie feature for their business and that is why they use the service. Other than that one feature there are many other services available that are much cheaper and reliable that Nextel.