Yesterday, whilst browsing online, I saw a cartoon that made me smile. It showed two birds looking down on a scarecrow that was guarding a field. One bird had a speech bubble saying, “Don’t worry – it’s not a real human.” “How do you know?” asked the other bird. “Easy,” replied the first bird. “It’s not looking at its phone!”

Mobile phones play a big part in our lives today. Naturally, their presence often strays into the workplace as well. Sometimes practices don’t know how to manage this. But can you prevent people from using their personal phones at work? If so, how? And at the other extreme, can you insist on people using their personal phones for work purposes? This blog will look at these questions and suggest some answers.

First of all, let’s consider some of the issues that can arise at work. There are too many to list, of course, but here are the common ones:

• Annoyance from patients who see the presence of a personal mobile phone – even if it’s just lying on a desk – as implying a lack of focus and attention from practice staff
• Phones ringing, buzzing or flashing at inappropriate times
• Phones being used to discuss personal and social matters when people should be working
• Concerns about phones (accidentally or deliberately) capturing confidential data in the practice such as videos of individuals, audio recordings of conversations or pictures of patient records

How do you manage this? As with most conduct matters, the most important thing is to have a clear policy on the use of personal phones at work, which is communicated to all staff. For PLUS members, a template for this can be found here.

Can the policy state that personal phones are not to be used in work time?

Yes, absolutely. It’s reasonable to restrict personal phone use to break times and to instruct staff to keep their phones in a safe place, out of sight. (Naturally, you must ensure that a safe place for staff members’ belongings exists.)

Occasionally an employee might ask for discretion if, say, they’re awaiting an important call which it would be detrimental for them to miss. It’s up to you as a manager whether you choose to grant that discretion, and I would advise a sensible but compassionate approach.

How do you enforce a policy like this with staff who seem addicted to their phones?

This can feel like an ongoing battle! And, yes, it may disengage some members of staff. But if you’re confident in your policy decisions as a practice, you need to explain and communicate these well. Try not to rely too heavily on lines like “because these are the rules” or “because I said so”. Take time to influence staff (especially those who have perhaps come from different sectors where mobile phone risks are of lower priority) to understand why the rules exist and the situations they’re designed to prevent.

If these attempts to influence behaviour don’t work and you have an individual (or more than one) who repeatedly flouts the rules, then you should formally investigate and take action in line with your disciplinary policy.

Can I insist that staff use their personal phones for some work purposes?

This is a tricky one. Generally speaking, my advice to practice employers is that if the need for mobile phone use at work is that high, then you should be providing staff with work devices. This ensures that any data such as emails, contact details, pictures, etc. are stored appropriately on practice-owned systems.

If you do need staff to use their own phones for work purposes, then make sure your policies are clear about what these purposes are and any data safeguards that are in place. If a staff member objects to using their personal phone for these matters, depending on the situation, you might be able to argue it’s a reasonable management request. However, frankly, it’s not usually worth falling out over this; just get the individual a work phone or find another way round the problem!

Do you have any other questions (or interesting stories) about personal mobile phone use in the workplace? Do pop them in the comments below. Funny, work-appropriate cartoons may also be shared. 😊

Susi O’Brien

Useful resources:

Employee mobile phone and smartwatch policy [PLUS]
Intranet and social media acceptable use policy [PLUS]