There are many advantages of giving your staff company cell phones – they help business run cohesively across departments, with customers and when employees are out of the office or on call.
If you are toying with the idea of getting company cell phones, read through our list of the benefits to your business that they could bring.
Stay in contact when on trips
Plans may change after a colleague has left your workplace for a trip – they need to be contactable at all times to ensure the reason they are out of office goes smoothly. Giving your employees company cell phones for this reason is possibly the most important. They need to know any last-minute arrangements while they’re out and about, and also have a device on them through which to contact the office or other services in the event of an emergency.
Allows for excellent customer service
When dealing with a client project, your team needs to be contactable by that client at all times (at least during work hours) so that the work is completed on time and to standard. Your staff can provide excellent and quick customer service at any time of day if they have a personal phone on which to be contacted.
Provide accessories to protect and enable
When splashing out on company phones, it’s important to protect them from accidental damage. Ensure all phones are equipped with the best phone cases on the market – they don’t have to be pretty, just do the job of preventing smashed screens or unsightly and unprofessional scratches.
Another important consideration is if your employees will need to be contactable while driving. Ensure all colleagues and company cars are equipped with a cell phone car kit so that your staff can drive and speak hands-free, in line with road safety laws.
A must for colleagues on call
If your business operates on an on-call basis, it’s imperative that colleagues have phones on them to be contacted out of hours. For example, if you run a plumbing business and need staff to man the phones for plumbing emergencies throughout the night, it’s customary to provide company phones for this purpose. It’s unfair to expect employees to give out their personal cell phone numbers or to pay any extra on their phone contracts for non-personal use.
Distribution of company cell phones
Perhaps not all of your staff require a company cell phone – for instance, some might be based in the office and don’t go out on trips or client meetings and they are not on call after hours.
To save company costs, you can only distribute company phones to those who need them. Make it clear that they are just for business use and that the colleagues who have them do not make any personal gain from them. This will hopefully unease any tensions or claims of unfairness in the office over who deserves or needs a company cell phone.
Another solution is to have a collection of company cell phones in the office and anyone who needs to go out on business should take one. That way the employee can stay in contact with the company headquarters and the phones are communally shared between everyone who needs them on the day.
Considerations for providing company phones
The benefits of using company cells far outweigh the negatives: but here are some further considerations you may want to make before giving out cells to your staff.
- Be considerate of your employees’ work-life balance and don’t expect them to be contactable at all hours because they are equipped with a company phone if this expectation is not in their work contract.
- Reinforce the law about not using phones while driving – only hands-free driving sets should be used in cars.
- Set out regulations to prevent work being disrupted, like phones are only for use when out of office during the day.
