Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Personal cell phone use on your dime?

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 24 Feb 2003 19:41:19 -0500

Personal cell phone use on your dime?
Source: Parks & Recreation
Publication date: 2003-01-01
Arrival time: 2003-02-23

Tip-Off

As cell phones become more and more enmeshed in how we conduct
business, many park and recreation agencies are grappling with a thorny
issue: What to do about employees' personal use of agency-- issued
phones?

That was a recent topic on NRPAnet, NRPA:s listserv that connects and
informs NRPA members throughout the country. For information on how to
join the discussion, select "NRPAnet" on the right-hand side of NRPA's
home page (www.nrpa.org). Here are some of the responses to the
phone-usage query.

A "We use Nextel phones/radios. Our policy is that if you use the phone for
personal calls, you have to pay the city for your usage. It's a ton of extra
work, because the supervisors have to get the bill, and go through the
numbers with staff to see what was personal and what was business. So far
no one has abused it."

"Our policy states any phone calls made for personal reasons are
reimbursed to the city at 18 cents per minute. This is our local per minute
charge. We assume everyone will own up to their calls. By the way, I
always pay by check. This negates any questions on whether I paid or not."

"Our city doesn't have a policy; we're just expected to reimburse personal
calls. For phones without free minutes, like mine, that's easy to do and
figure. It's kind of a tradeoff, as I did away with my pager and just started
carrying a phone to be more immediately accessible, which my bosses
prefer. "

"Our employees have to pay for their personal usage of the phones. We get
statements with phone records and those that are personal are highlighted,
calculated and billed to the user."

"No personal business, period, tlot an emergency."

"Our city's policy is no personal use. There's no mechanism to reimburse
the city if you need to make a personal phone call. (I wish there was.) The
exceptions are if you need to call family if you are going to be later than
expected, or of course, if there is some emergency. I know employees who
carry two cell phones, a city one and their personal phone, for this reason.
This is cumbersome, but the only way to live with this policy There have
been very public scandals in adjoining communities over the extent of
personal use of cell phones, abuses, etc. (Another city's police department
had incredible phone bills, most for personal use.) Our city regularly
monitors the minutes of all employees. If there appears to be excessive use,
it is questioned. I do not think they screen for which numbers are being
called, but there is the capacity to do that."

"We are allowed to use them personally, but the employee must pay if they
are over the allotted minutes."

"At this time in our organization, we give our employees a warning, and then
we ask them to reimburse the organization if the amount was excessive and
repetitive."

"We have just established a new policy. Originally cell phones could not be
used for personal business. Now, with the new programs of 2000 minutes,
etc., we have changed to state the following: Employees may use the phone
for personal use; however, the employee is 100 percent responsible for any
costs over the base rate if there is one or more personal calls logged that
month. We do get a print out every month of each call made on the cell
phone and length of time. We also have a phone given weekly to different
managers who act as managers on call, and if that bill goes over the base
rate, we can track who made personal calls and they pay the cost difference
between base and actual."

"Our organization requires reimbursement of 20 cents per minute for every
personal call, regardless of whether or not the maximum number of minutes
are met each month. The detailed bill is sent to us and we are on the honor
system to tally the number of personal calls and reimburse accordingly. My
husband's organization, also local government, requires payment for all calls
that exceed the maximum allowed per month."

"We don't have a formal policy, but have communicated to all staff that
city-issued cell phones are for city business. Additionally, all cell phones
bills are subject to public information requests. We use Verizon as our
provider and almost all of my employees (we have 15 phones) have either a
250-minute or 500- minute program. Half of the employees have their own
personal phones. I am responsible for monitoring individual use on a monthly
basis and check closely to monitor business versus personal. Occasional
personal calls are acceptable, but when they become the primary use or
result in additional charges, we are quick to remedy. I would say that more
than 90 percent of the current use is for city business."

"Our city has contracted with Cingular for a base service plan, which
includes 250 minutes per month of nationwide coverage and no long
distance charges (anyone can sign up for this plan). If they go over in
minutes, we review their calls and make them pay for personal calls over the
base. A recent internal survey averaged 20 percent of phone time for
personal use, but still within the 250 minutes."

"Staff are allowed to use countyissued cell phones for personal calls but
must reimburse the county for all personal calls made. The monthly bill is
given to each employee with a cell phone, and they are expected to indicate
which calls are personal and pay for those calls. It is an honor system at
this point."

"We supply cell phones to staff that have to make out-of-town trips with
participants and staff that are mobile during the day. Nextel has a good unit
that is telephone and radio, with the staff sharing the same radio group and
combined minutes. We do not limit staff on the amount of time for personal
business but suggest that they use discretion in the use of the phone. The
phone bills are reviewed and discussed if abuse is discovered."

"We don't have an official policy. Employees are expected to pay for
personal calls that exceed $s each month. Finance did not want to deal with
lesser amounts."

Copyright National Recreation and Park Association Jan 2003

http://cnniw.yellowbrix.com/pages/cnniw/Story.nsp?story_id=36872672&ID=cnniw&scategory=Business+and+Finance&

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