WORKPLACE TELEPHONE POLICY

Bobbie Symons, CMPA Management Committee

I attended a conference where one of the guest speakers was a lecturer in Industrial Relations, her address was on a University study on the use of mobile phones in the workplace.

The lecturer asked for a show of hands as to who had a Workplace Policy in place for the use of mobile phones in the business sector—not one hand went up.

All employers need to protect themselves by putting in place a “Workplace Telephone Policy”.

Employees need to be made aware of this policy in a written agreement issued by their employers to ensure that they, the employers, are protected from the consequences of litigation and Industrial Relations rulings.

An employee was recently awarded a multi-million dollar pay out for a work related incident. Whilst looking at his mobile phone to check if it was brew time, his loss of concentration led to an on site accident of some proportion.

Because his employer did not have a written mobile phone policy in place for his employees, his company was forced to pay the multi-million dollar fine after the court ruled in the employees favour.

Another incident involved an employee who regularly collected the company’s mail on her way to work. This employee was taking a personal call while in charge of a moving vehicle. On her way to the office an accident occurred and the employer was again the party who paid up.

Employers need to put in place a written statement for the employees to adhere to which covers all aspects of the use of mobile phones during working hours, including any time the mobile phone is used by the employee, whether it be during business or recreational time, or travelling to and from the worksite.

The guest speaker went on to say that a hands free setup was acceptable by the Industrial Relations Board, and to make employees aware they are not to take calls when in charge of a moving vehicle.

The speaker continued to outline other such areas that need to be looked at. Employers need to be aware of the time lost in the workplace when employees use mobile phones for personal use.

Also is the time lost due to cigarette breaks. Another issue was the area of unrest which non-smokers and non-users of mobile phones displayed when their work colleagues were taking extra breaks while they continued to carry out work related functions.

Our employees are the backbone of our industries, we need to keep all of them happy, but it needs to work both ways.

Good working relationships are paramount for the success of all industries.

You must be logged in to post a comment Login