Mobile phones are omnipresent in all aspects of life and while you might have fully accepted them around the house or out in public, something just feels wrong when you see employees playing on their phones at work. That’s why so many companies have enacted rather stringent mobile policies, and why yours might need to follow suit. Your mobile policy might do quite a bit more than help you eliminate the occasional Angry Birds player, though it might have a real impact on your HR policies. Understanding why might convince you to take the next step and establish a mobile policy for your office.
Your business’ communication policies are likely covered in your HR handbook. Everyone knows the proper sort of language to use in the office, as well as what sort of communications are frowned upon. Unfortunately, this sort of basic common sense tends to go out the window as soon as a mobile device is involved. Enacting a mobile policy that’s in line with your HR communication policies eliminates a problematic grey area in the minds of your employees, while still allowing you to enforce the rules that are already in place.
Your work should also have policies in place that define what can and cannot be done with work computers. If you use a program like LANDESK, you already have asset management software in place to ensure the proper use of your work computers. What you may not be using yet are the features that keep track of what’s being done with work-provided mobile devices. By enacting a policy for mobile usage that’s in line with your current IT policies, you should be able to curb some of the less savory uses of mobile devices in your office.
A good mobile policy should work hand in hand with policies already in place in your HR handbook. This will help bridge the gap between typical communications and IT policies, while creating a safer and more welcoming culture in your office. While it’s nearly impossible to eliminate mobile usage in any business, you should be able to let your employees know what’s expected of them while they are on the clock. Failure to enact a policy won’t just impact the productivity of your employees – it may well lead to situations where violations of your HR rules will leave you liable to a lawsuit.
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