Mobile Phones in the Workplace - Help or Hindrance:

Many employers are facing more and more problems with the excessive and unsafe use of mobile phones in the workplace.

This may be because the employees use their mobiles excessively during work hours for personal calls, SMS messaging or even using Facebook SnapChat, and other social media.

Some employers have to deal with employees who make too many personal calls on their business mobiles. There is also the problem of employees taking unauthorised photos in the workplace and putting them up on social media.

And of greater concern is the safety implications of employees who use their phone when it is unsafe, for example, whilst driving, whilst climbing ladders or simple inattention on a factory floor with machinery operating nearby and/or forklifts driving past.

Obviously, mobile phones are also a business tool that benefit the employer and are being used more and more by employers to communicate with their staff to give instructions (even by SMS) and for staff to provide relevant and timely information to the employer and even for timesheets. And there are many new apps that benefit farm safety and productivity that employers encourage employees to use such as SafeAg and Agriwebb, etc.

It is worthwhile having a section in the contract of employment or your staff manual on the appropriate usage of mobile phones and in particular where and when they cannot be used.