Cell phone etiquette at work you should know – 11 tips

Cell phone etiquette at work has now become a major concern for the corporate world. There is now a greater clamour for cell phone etiquette at work by employers due to the fact that employees are unconsciously using their phones to reduce their productivity at work.

However, some employers now provide rules guiding how their employees can use a cell phone at work to make sure a certain standard of cell phone etiquette at work is maintained. While some employers expect some level of understanding and co-operation from their employees and have thus not categorically state any major rule of engagement concerning the handling of cell phones at work.

Although, it is necessary to know that cell phone and texting etiquette at work is a must for everybody. Let’s look at the following cell phone etiquette at work we should abide by whether there are rules in your workplace concerning cell phones or not. They are:

Put your Phone on Silent or Vibration

it is annoying and wrong to constantly allow your phone ring out while in the office. It distracts others a lot and thus reduces the productivity of a company generally if their staff constantly gets a high level of disturbance from a ringing phone. The distraction is a big no for the employees.

Use voice mail services

it is necessary for you to put on voice mail services and automated reply messages telling your callers that they can send a text or you will reply once you are free at work. During your office break, you can reach out to such a person by calling them. However, for an emergency situation where there is a fire outbreak or when there is some other emergency, you can quickly respond after listening to their voice mail messages or reading their text.

Don’t make excessive calls at work

Making excessive calls at work can be distracting and annoying to other colleagues even if they might not say it. You have a responsibility to make sure every other person at your office is not uncomfortable by your social behaviours. Try to minimize the number of calls you make at the office.

Avoid receiving or making calls in front of clients

This is a major cell phone etiquette at work. Making calls in front of customers or prospective clients make them feel you are rude or not concern about their situation. This can reduce a client’s interactions with you or reduce client based in an extreme case.

Make calls only in private places

Using cell phones at work to make calls is something you should consciously try to not do. However, if you must, it is best you look for private places around the office or outside the office to do so. This will make sure you don’t distract other colleagues at work and see you as a staff who respect their privacy and sanity.

Avoid interrupting colleagues to make a call

Interrupting colleagues to make a call at work is rude. One must as much as possible avoid such behaviours. This tends to instigate an unfriendly environment amongst colleagues.

Keep voice low

It is better not to receive calls at the office. However, if you can’t avoid it completely and you have to pick that call, keep your voice low. This is not only good for your privacy but for others as well. It will be less distracting if your voice is low while receiving or making important calls at the office.

Minimize your texting while using a cell phone at work

A quick urge to quickly reply to all the messages on all our social media platform should be left minimal. Using our phones to text at work should be minimal. At all cost, make your reply brief, so you can quickly get back to the business of the day and increase your productivity for the company.

Use Bluetooth earphones that are designed for a corporate environment

One must also avoid using Bluetooth earphones that are designed for a social or normal environment. Such Bluetooth earphone doesn’t present one as a serious person. It is better to avoid Bluetooth earphones entirely than to use one not designed for an office environment. The general rule here is to not use Bluetooth earphone at work but if you must use it, use one designed for the corporate environment.

Don’t put your phone on loudspeaker while listening to voicemails or while making calls

Putting your phone on the loudspeaker is simply rude. It shows you don’t care about the privacy of others. This should not be done at all, not even if you are the employer.

Put your phone on silent or totally off while in a meeting

Don’t pick call while in a meeting. This will enable you and others concentrate totally in the meeting. Putting your phone totally off or on silent during a meeting enables you to concentrate on the meeting.

Bonus tip:

Don’t ever receive cell phone calls at restrooms

Avoid receiving calls at restrooms as you can never tell who is listening on you. you should be careful with information sharing and distribution. This is one of the major reason some employers adopt the policy of no cell phones allowed at work.