To be really irritated by this phone habit?

[NoisyBrain]

I line manage a very nice, intelligent, capable woman who's in her mid-20s. However, she is always, and I mean ALWAYS faffing around on her fucking phone at work. If it's not Whatsapp messages, it's Facebook, or Instagram, or some other social app I've probably never heard of, being over 40 & all that.

It's not just the phone as it happens. Her parents, who quite frankly should know better as they are both busy 'career people', email her God knows how many times a day about God knows what. She LIVES with them FFS!!

I did have a word with her not long after she started, because our boss had commented that she was on her phone a lot, so I said she needed to be careful about that, but I could tell that the concept of ignoring the phone was totally alien to her. I think recently it's actually got worse - she often doesn't even look up from it while I'm trying to tell her something work-related and she's clearly not listening properly.

I've come to the conclusion that she is literally addicted to the phone. I've only let it ride so far because she's good at her job and I'm shit at confrontation but it's now getting to the point where even that doesn't compensate for the fact that it's just fucking rude. Isn't it? Or am I just BU and horribly out of touch with how 'Millennials' live their lives?

YANBU, NoisyBrain. Using her phone when you are explaining a work related issue is not acceptable.
Checking phone for emergency calls is understandable but not for texting parents & friends during the working day. She has break times and lunchtimes for that. A no phone rule is office policy in a lot of companies. Do you have this? If not get something sorted in writing for all, then if she continues it's verbal's and written warnings from then on.

Yanbu, and it's not an age thing; I'm in my early 20s and the phone always stayed off at work. My OH, in his mid 20s, gets really infuriated by those mucking about instead of working as if they hold up progress it affects his job too.

What Scruffy said. Tell her straight. I certainly wouldn't allow her to be staring at her phone whilst I was talking to her, that's very rude of her. She is behaving in an unprofessional manner and needs to be told very clearly that is not acceptable.

I'm 30. I love my phone, I literally never put it down... Except at work!
I wouldn't dream of using my phone at work unless it was my break.
She's being paid to work so shouldn't be using her phone regularly, fair enough if she gets a call to answer and ask to call back but to be constantly on it isn't ok.
You should speak to her about this before it spirals.

YANBU, she's being completely out of order, and unfortunately you are letting her get away with it. I'm sure those other employees who chose to work and do not spend all their time on their phones will be pissed off too, and wondering when this is going to be dealt with. As others have said/breaktimes/lunchtime fine. You really need to sort this out.

I'm a school secretary and all the phones have to stay in the office/staffroom. I have a constant soundtrack of beeps, buzzes and animal noises (?) from the poor wee abandoned devices all day, desperate for attention.
Come break time and they'll get soothed by their owners, clearly suffering from separation anxiety.

I feel so old.

Bloody hell! This one is so easy to resolve!

She is not doing the job she is paid to do. That's it. Simply start whatever disciplinary procedures you have.

It is absolutely guaranteed that every other member of your team is looking at you wondering why you don't do your bloody job and make her do hers. They, after all, are doing theirs! They will resent her and you for allowing such behaviour.

I would also guess that your boss mentioned it to give you a heads up that you too are being found wanting! So do your job, make he do hers!

she is the reason why some companies ban mobile phones entirely (and block access to facebook and the rest). When people behave like children, you have to treat them like one. As her manager, I would give her a formal warning, and get rid of her if she doesn't start behaving professionally.

YANBU she is supposed to work
Replace mobile phone by a magasine, or a book. How would that be acceptable?

Explain the disciplinary process to her.
you have mentioned her phone before, so you can now say unless she does use it in her break time only, then you will have to give her a verbal warning, if it continues it will be a written warning, etc, etc..

I thought this was going to be the one where the person you can hear and the one the other end seem to be having a competition to see how many times they can say "bye"

she is the reason why some companies ban mobile phones entirely (and block access to facebook and the rest).

Possibly.

However, there are certain environments where mobile phones are forbidden - anywhere which has to comply with PCI-DSS directives for a start where there have been cases of mobile phones being used to smuggle credit card details out of call centres.

Also, anywhere where details covered under the DPA are visible on screens or desks. Again it's too easy to smuggle confidential personal details out of an office.

That's before we get into the risks of photographs of people in the office appearing on Facebook without their consent.

lurkinghusband very true! It just didn't apply in my line of work.

We even had to restrict the time people were spending in the toilets! (SOME people), They thought they were being clever by hiding there to be on their phone for a good half an hour at a time. Thankfully, people like that don't last very long.

Don't get me wrong, I get a lot of work call on my mobile even when I am in the office. It's obvious they are work related however.

I know of one company that has deliberately prevented a mobile phone operator from upgrading their coverage (the tower is on their property) as there's a handy not-spot across most of the building. The staff keep blaming the phone company, and also accept that the senior management team offices need to be in the covered area.

The downside is the company is trapped in a very expensive mobile phone deal they can't ditch. (Which I only learned after negotiating a 50% cheaper one with a rival)

YABU tbh. This is totally your responsibility as her line manager.

There is no need for you to be irritated by her. You just tell her to stop, and if she doesn't you put her through the relevant procedure. How long has she worked there?

Telling her she needs to be careful makes it sounds like you and she are in cahoots against the management who might catch her. That's YOU see?

I am guessing you are new to line management, but this is the sort of thing it involves - being firm but fair

I'd create an office mobile policy to start in the New Year and apply to all staff regardless so it doesn't seem like you are singling her out and everyone has to follow it

Policies are no match for good management.

OP - manage her properly.

Call her in tomorrow and tell her that as from now, you expect her to keep her phone in her bag during work hours and to not consider it about being a millenial, but about being an employee and you do not want to have to take it to the next stage. If she asks what the next stage is, give her the disciplinary procedure. Say 'I am telling you this because you seem quite good at the job but this behaviour ends here and now. I do not want to have to discuss this again'.

AKA L[m]TB

[Line manage the B]

I do think that phone usage is close to addiction for some people, and certainly it can be habitual rather than vital. It can be irritating, too. But that has to be separated out from the matter of what is and is not acceptable at work. Any workplace that does not have some form of consistent guidance on this, by 2016, is asking for trouble. The guidance itself has then to be influenced by the job. Are you tennis line judges? Or a housesitting company that just has to be on site? As examples?

Once a reasonable policy is in place (and assuming, in fact, that it already is) then the only fair thing to do is enforce it consistently. If the employee is not in breach of the policy, then it doesn't matter how irritating she is. (So you may also need to carefully manage your own LMs expectations.) If she is in breach then speak to her, in private, and advise her. (Which you apparently already have.) If there is no improvement then follow the disciplinary procedure that relates to your place of work: typically, recorded verbal warning, recorded written warnings, and so on. If it keeps going then talk more to your own line manager or HR as you may end up with final warnings and even dismissal so you need to make sure you don't end up on some limb with 'holes' in your process and no support.

Thanks for all your views. In answer to some of the questions:

• We work in a creative business, so not as formal or structured as say, a call centre or admin-only office.

• The 'no mobiles on desks' policy sadly wouldn't be workable, as we all occasionally need to communicate with clients/suppliers by text. There is no official company policy regarding personal mobile phone use (just general conduct) but maybe there should be!

• As for my ability as a line manager - I do suck at the HR/disciplinary side of it, I know. Given the choice I wouldn't line manage someone directly, it's just that my job role requires junior support. I'm not a natural leader!

• She does her job well, but undoubtedly could do more if she wasn't always replying to personal messages/posting on social media.

I'll have to have another word with her one-to-one and try and make her see that whilst we don't expect people to NEVER look at their phones, we do expect them to self-regulate how much they do it in work hours. Maybe I'll sound out our HR lady first.

It's almost as if she thinks it's the right thing to do.Not a cat in hells chance she'd survive in anything but a creative industry.Gosh, she'd piss me off, if I were speaking to her and she was just focused on her phone, I struggle to not have full eye contact.

I'd make it my goal to tackle this in the New Year, seek guidance from HR about the way to tackle this, I would imagine it would involve clear direction about acceptable use and creating an improvement plan, followed by review, no change results in disciplinary procedure being applied.

A 1-2-1 is the best opportunity to raise this. If you don't like people-management then the 'shit sandwich' is the easiest way to approach this; something positive, followed by the negative (the shit) then finish on something positive.

1. Start the conversation by telling her that you are happy with her output and that she is good at her job. Give her a couple of examples of things she's done which you have been pleased with.

1. Then go on to say that you have noticed that she is on her phone very frequently and that there are times where she is not listening to work-related information because she's too busy with her mobile. Tell her that unfortunately other people have also noticed this and there have been comments from senior management. Explain that she needs to remember she is at work to work and that her mobile use needs to be balanced. There will be times when something is going on with life that means more personal calls are necessary, but that should be the exception rather than the rule.

1. Finish by saying that you know she will take this on board as some friendly advice, which is designed to help her grow and flourish in her career and that you are looking forward to working with her in 2017.

She'll probably be pissed off, but part and parcel of being a professional is learning how to take constructive criticism on the chin. If the mobile fiddling doesn't stop after that then you are going to have to involve HR and go down a formal warning route - but if she is smart and capable then she should hopefully take your feedback to heart.

Thank sounds like a sensible approach to me, Noisy. You know your colleague and the working environment better than any of us. But maybe talk to her about perceptions - perhaps she doesn't realise how her behaviour is coming across and the impression she is creating. (She should, of course, but people can be massively self-unaware.)

To add into the shit sandwich approach, I used to find asking the employee what they thought they could do better / how they could improve. Ask them how they think farting about with their phone affects their performance and the perception of their professionalism. Make them think a bit, rather than just tell them. If they don't get it, then tell them they are wrong!

The whole 'phone in a drawer' thing would not go down well in a professional setting, I'd be livid if someone treated me like a child at work

Oh dear, heaven forbid that should happen hmm. Perhaps phone time should be on your time then, not when people are being paid to, you know, work.

Totally agree, you are being paid for your time and attention, not to conduct your social affairs.

Unless using a mobile for work, there is no conceivable reason you should have it out in work time.

In most offices now they are banned due to security (being able to take down/take a photo of confidential info - in a FSA setting, it is a huge no no).

You should act, and if you have spoken to HR and let her know you have sought their guidance, maybe that will help get the message across.

As far as texting clients do you have cheap work mobiles for this so could stop use of personal mobiles? What happens if one of the team is off sick and has texts on their phone that you need to see? Do the clients know that employees have client details on their own phones?

In any case agree this is a management issue and you need to manage her, for her own sake as she need to know what being at work means.