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Using Employee-Owned Technology in the Workplace?
digitalvengeance asks: "As of Monday, my company is initiating a 'no cell phone' policy at all of our offices, including the IT department, where I work. I consider my cellular phone a necessity both in my personal and work lives. I have a number of servers and custom applications configured to notify me by text message, in the event of a problem. I am considering refusing to take work calls or text messages on my personal cell phone, and even quitting in protest of the new policy. How have other Slashdot readers dealt with policies regarding use of employee-owned technology at work? Any suggestions as to how I can get this policy overturned without looking like someone who wants to spend my working time on my cell rather than coding?"
If they stonewall and ignore your concerns, then by all means, raise a stink. In the interests of civility, job security, and conservation of energy, though, you may want to try the easy way first. Don't break out the elephant gun before you've tried the flyswatter...
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
Have them pay for an alpha pager and move your alerts there. Really, quitting over the use of a device you've become addicted to is not the smartest reason to terminate employment.
"Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus."
I am considering refusing to take work calls or text messages on my personal cell phone
Reminds me of the old cartoons where they talked the other guy into saying what they want.
'no your not'
'yes I am'
'no your not'
'yes I am'
'yes your are'
'no I'm not'
and even quitting in protest of the new policy
Now That's a bit drastic. Surely if there is a business need, they would allow exceptions.
On second thought, just go ahead and quit. Stick your tongue out and say 'na-na-na-na-na-na' when you do.
...or is it "you can't bring a cell phone to work"?
You might be able to get a waiver for the former... the latter seems like a misguided attempt at a security policy, perhaps?
The Army reading list
First of all, when in Rome...
.02,
Second, while I don't technically agree w/the policy I don't really see why you are complaining. You do as they say w/o too many questions. If you don't like the working conditions you find another place that is more towards your liking.
I would normally go on to rant about how I personally dislike cell phones in public (nevermind the workplace) but it's irrelevant for this discussion. You do what the employer wants or you start sending out the resumes. A cell phone isn't exactly something required to sustain life.
Just my
Actually, both my friends who work in the government and my father who works in a hospital have this requirement. One has to do with security, the other with interference of pacemakers and electronic equipment. Sometimes a cell-phone ban (though I'm not in favor of it) actually is the responsible thing to do.
It seems cell phones cause people to become sort of useless on the job, as they will tend to do anything but pay attention when they have easy access to unlogged phones. Our system in Arlington actually watches all calls, so our employee personal calls are logged.
That being said, the company just initated a policy to give everyone in IT blackberries (the nice color ones) and phones. Show them a business benefit (read: $$$ increase), and you'll get your cell phone back.
If they won't let you use your own phone get them to provide you with a company phone. After all if you are using it for business then they should be paying for it.
At Unisys I had the opposite problem - we were expected to have personal cellphones and use them for work purposes!
Are they supplying you with a work cellphone? I can't comment on your location, but certainly in NZ it's taken as a given that everyone is contactable by cellphone during work hours.
So I can send an application. Cell phone free work place, bliss.
I'd just reconfigure your alerts to be transmitted by email and kick back and let the good times roll.
Beep beep.
If you use your cell for work as much as you say you do, and you are not alone, then the impact of this new policy will be felt.
Do what they tell you to do, don't use your cell at work.
On the flip side of it: If you truly do use your cell for work, then get them to spring for it ( monthly costs and all ). It's only fair.
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
Just tell me where I should send my resume so I can replace you.
you can get text's and e-mails... that aside, you really should explain what you use the cell phone for now, and ask how they'd like you to handle it.
I wouldn't want to work there, but this policy isn't unreasonable. When did we as culture adopt the RIGHT to take and make personal phone calls at work. Many many workers don't have this capability (casier, construction worker, etc.)
You should spend more time talking about WHY they have this policy than reacting negatively to something you might not understand.
I have a client that watches me when I take another clients phone calls while at their location. to solve this I subscribed to a answering service so that my clients calling at least talk to a real person.
Vibrate mode
and even quitting in protest of the new policy
I hate the damn things, you go ahead and quit. On your way out could you put in a good word for me?
This assumes you're in an environment with wireless, and you have a wireless-enabled PDA. Or, like another poster mentioned, see if they'll allow an alpha pager and go from there.
"Well, I am mad, and I'm a crazy fucka when it comes to tea"
Is there a legitimate reason why they have enforced this? Security? or is this an attempt to increase productivity?
Connect the servers to the company's paging system. A few weeks of hearing "THE SERVER IS DOWN!!" at 120 decibels ought to make them reconsider.
then they should pay for it. Plain and simple. My office has no idea I have a cell phone number. They know I have a phone, but they are not gonna get the number unless I see part of the bill being paid by them.
-------------------------------------------------
Seems pretty obvious to me: ignore their silly rules, set your phone on vibrate and go about your business.
Quit over this? What, are they going to fire you if you check an occasional text message on your (silent) cell phone?
Some rules are made to be broken, not fought.
it's not clear whether the problem is that they won't pay for your cell phone, or that they also won't let you use your cell phone while at work.
/. and talking on the phone but they are paying you to do a job.
If the former, easy enough, don't page to your personal phone and let your boss know you are not pageable and wash your hands of the matter. I suppose at worst you might get a pager to carry.
If the latter, well, also easy enough although i agree their policy is somewhat draconian. It sucks to have to work instead of reading
if you feel strongly enough to quit, and can do better elsewhere, then great, do so. if not, then deal with it.
If they won't accept you with a phone of your own, just let them provide you with one of their's?
The only thing you will have to do is prove them you need one for your work. (Read: if you don't have a phone, they won't have working servers).
When doing field support I've always had to have two cell phones. One is the companies and the other is the personal. Between service level variations, dead batteries, and the need to be really available, it just has to happen. Now I can understand they dont want camera phones, and I'm looking right now for a replacement cell without the camera due to the sensitive nature of the IT world.
How long ago was it that a lot of companies were death on anyone ever using a company phone for personal calls? Now that people can do that, and are doing it, you'd think they'd be happy. The only reasons I can think of are camera phones and the inability to legally monitor your personal phone. Cameras are reasonable enough, but that only leaves a desire to monitor all your communications. Unless your a stock broker type where law (I think) dictates it, there is no valid reason for this.
I think you need to spell out to your employers the importance of your cell phone particularly as it relates to your work. Make it clear to them that their new policy will substantially diminish your ability (and that of anyone else you can reasonably claim) to work efficiently, and that if it's implemented as planned, your company's productivity will diminish. Those are the terms that any executive or middle manager will understand.
And if that doesn't work, it might be worth it to try to get the company to issue work-only cell phones. It would be kind of a hassle to keep switching between two, but it might be the kind of alternative they'd be willing to agree to.
Turn off caller id on your phone. If you don't know who's calling, you can't answer - no personal cell phone calls, remember?And don't look at text messages either. To me, this sounds like one of those 'edicts' that quickly gets ignored and forgotten in a work place in any case.
I am going through a similar thing where I am. For 5 years, I have used my personal laptop for over 12 hours a day for coding, etc.
Now, all of a sudden, it's not ok anymore. It's not like I use some infected Windows-ass piece of Dell shit either. (Ironically, that's what they are trying to force me to use!)
No cell phones is a retarded rule. I have 3 kids all under age 5. Plenty of emergencies arise--as you can imagine. Without cell phones, how would we be able to deal with them?
It's unclear whether you are saying that the company won't allow cell phones to be used or won't be supplying them. An outright banning cell phone from the workplace is extreme and should be met with a quick move to another company. To be potentially unreachable by family in the case of emergency is not a condition I would tolerate.
Let's assume that's not the case and they just won't be providing you a cell phone. Your job is to keep systems running. If you fail to keep them running you will be seen as not doing your job. Any excuses about the company not providing a cell phone will be seen as petty.
So, I would ask if the company is going to reimburse business calls on your cell phones. If they aren't, you should ask them where notification should be sent and that your cell phone is unacceptable. They may tell you to have notifications sent to your supervisor. If so, do it and get on with life. Don't feel obligated to leave your cell phone on all the time - besides I think it sucks the life force out of you to be reachable all the time. This makes your supervisor responsible for responding to notifications. A few weeks of your supervisor getting the notifications and not being able to reach you during movies, etc. and the policy will probably change.
If they are going to reimburse expenses, leave it as is and make sure you get the expense reports in every month. Do the expense reports on company time and make sure that the time spent that way is clearly noted on any status reports. Once they realize that they're spending $10/month on cell service for you and $50/month for you to itemize the statement and another 10/month to process the expense reports, the may get smart and change the policy.
In short, follow the rules but make them follow the rules as well (i.e. That you won't accept un-reimbursed business expenses.) See this.
You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake -- but you could be if you got off your ass.
In this case, I think you should implement the policy to the letter, and let the company get exactly what it wants. Namely, untimely notification of problems.
--Rob
Towards the Singularity.
If it is that important to you, get a text pager. I use one at work and prefer it to using the Nextel radios they give us.
Smeghead every day of the week.
I used to run my own webserver at home on a mac. I did Mac phone tech support, and over time quite a few of the sites & hints I did for customers ended up on my server.
When I needed to sell the mac to cover school fees and told my work they should really host the stuff themselves, I was told under no circumstances should I remove work material from where it was used. Hell I was happy to give them the domain too, it was just a small vanity one that had no other use to me.
So in the end I had to sell the Mac, the site went down, and I lost my job. Sucks
Purchasing felt they knew more about what a programmer needs than the programmer. Have you EVER sat there doing hex by longhand with a pencil?
IMHO when you run into really idiotic issues then you have to quit (preferable) or fight fire with fire.
So configure all your servers in the company to ring your phone and then forward same to the company switchboard - after sending out CYA memos of course explained that you are doing this.
Next when the switchboard puts the messages on hold and you don't get them... and the server dies and 50 people are pissed off as hell - you shrug your shoulders and blame the switchboard.
Meanwhile, get that CV dusted off because really it is not worth fighting the idiot factor.
...can I have your job? I won't even wear a wrist-watch if it means finding a job!
-Valiss
Let their silly policy bite them in the ass hard. and whenever you are asked about anything be sure to say, "it would have been handled faster/beter if I had a cellphone."
what they CAN do is try and make you carry a pager... make this bite them also, "I had to find a payphone to call..." oh and call COLLECT every time you have to call from a payphone.
Many PHB's and HR people are making really stupid decisions right now, taking cellphones away from critical operations staff is one of them... and it is a sign that things are not too good there stability wise.... so your idea to jump ship might be the best decision of all.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Frankly, I've never had any problem with "employee owned" devices at work, other than digital cameras (for obvious reasons). What I've seen more often is policies pushing (if not outright requiring) that the employee supply their own devices (computers, phones, pagers, software, etc.). Of course, since I work as a consultant, that's less surprising.
Your Servant, B. Baggins
why are you using your cell phone for job realted stuff to begin with? also, start looking for a job elsewhere where they will treat you as an adult, not a child in school.
Why don't you suggest an employee/employer focus group? You could suggest that employees requiring notification via text and voice is a neccessary for you to perform your job.
You really should side with them employer on banning employees from cell phones unless they really do need it for their position. This position should leave you neutral to both techies and employers.
Perhaps your company is willing to purchase a few dedicated email capable cell phones for technical employees? Many possible solutions are out there if you can sit down as a group and properly discuss the matter.
-
Set up your monitoring system to only send email during the day. Have it send text messages to your cell phone after hours. Pretty simple and non-intrusive.
if they are unwilling to supply such a device, tell them they can call your desk phone and leave a message and you will attend to their call first thing the next business day.
many employers are technologically "retarded", and do not understand the signifigance between their admins using PDA's and cellphones for work related monitoring, and their receptionist gabbing to their S.O. about why they hate their job.
attempt to educate...failing that, update your resume.
If they want to +se your cell or home phone number for work purposes then get them to pay your cell bill. Just a suggestion. Personally, if you are not responsible for the policy perhaps advocating the offending persons getting new jobs would suffice.
Do you work for a financial company? It may be a law instead of a pointy-haired-boss policy.
My company recently banned web mail because the SEC worries that we will use anonymous mail accounts or discussion boards to run stock scams.
We immediately laughed at the stupidity of it, since things like palms and cell phones can access the Internet. But it is possible they are trying to close that loophole as well.
Clearly in this case somebody is stupid and paranoid. But make sure it is your boss and not your congressman before you quit.
Man, that's one tough workplace.
I, on the other had, had an 8-processor rs/6000, a sun sparc laptop, a dell laptop running linux, and when I bring them in tomorrow, 4 additional linux servers. These are all my own personal equipment, but I do let other people in my department use them.
So, please tell me where you work - I'll make sure that I never apply for a job there!
"The best part? I became an ordained minister while not wearing pants." -- CleverNickName
Is it possible that the "no cell phones" policy is just an extension of an existing "no cameras" policy? If that's the case, you don't have a chance in hell. Cellphone cameras have spoiled the whole lot.
The powers that be don't want you wasting company time on personal business, and I don't blame them.
The policy no doubt didn't come from nowhere. There are obviously people in your organization that took advantage of the fact that they had cellphones.
I've seen those people, chattering away all day. It's ok to talk as long as they want, right, because it's not like they're using the company phones.
The waddling ass in the office next to me spends AT LEAST 4 hours a day playing tetris on his cell phone. When you walk past his office he gives it a really serious look like he's contemplating his hectic schedule and contact list. I'm not fucking stupid, I know what tetris sounds like. Of course, I say nothing of it because the guy is dangerous when he's working, he's completely fucked up every project he's touched. Worst coder, ever.
Anyways..
There's no constitutional right to having a cellphone at work.
Be a man about it. Suck it up, and get back to work. You expect these nerds to throw you a pity parade because you can't play text messaging all day.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Know when the policy will be reversed?
When your boss' boss needs someone ASAP from the IT department and can't reach them via the corporate phone system.
And your boss will be flippin' burgers.
Mod Karma -1: I sed bad wurds. If I cep my mouf shut, I wud be at riyses.
Have they detailed why?
Often it helps to know the exact reason before blowing up and making a stink over it. It also means you can approach them for a exemption and know what not to say when trying to justify it.
Area51 - We are watching...
And then argue that it's not a cellular phone, but a two-way radio. You'd be tecnically correct.*
*And that's the best kind of correct.
I have found that most of my fellow countrymen think they are doing their employers a favor by working for them when it in reality they are doing you a favor by employing you. Everybody wants a great place to work but when employers let the rules slide, the majority of people take advantage of the employer and when the employer cracks down he's an asshole. When I am at work I try to limit the amount of BS time I have. Every hour not billed to the client costs the company money or the client which is worse than jipping the company. I don't smoke and I don't chit chat on the phone or with other co-workers all day long. I am here to do a job and I want to get it done and go home.
This submission was strategically planted by Verizon Wireless!
... just like they are asking. And if the servers/etc. are really paging/calling/messaging you wiht problems on a regular basis, ignore them. When the PHB can't get his email, explain to him that you woulda known the server was down or there was some other problem, but since you can't use your phone to monitor (which BTW you've been happily paying for out of your own pocket), you had no idea there was a problem.
Present it like this, especially while various things are not working due to the fact you can't get the notices, and most likely they will either provide an alternate means of monitoring (alpha pager like someone else mentioned above) or allow you to continue to use your phone just for that purpose.
And if they do allow you to use your phone, perhaps mention again that you've been paying for it out of your own pocket...
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
Suck it up bitch. The days when IT people could be prissy little cunts are long gone.
I have found that in this situation, outlining a business case with real world cost benefit analysis of several options helps the management types with an agenda see the light of day without losing face.
:
Outline in a business case that you are keen to meet company pollicies, but as you are no longer able to utilise your mobile phone for the work purposes you outlined, you require
a) a pager and company cell phone or equavalent to maintain the current levels of service;
b) a company provided other doo-hickey remote support solution (fill in the blanks here);or
c) special expemption to utilise your personal cell phone, with an allowance to reimburse you for the relevant quiantity of your monthly bill.
For each of the options, outline the costs versus the benefits to the company, and make a reccomendation on the preferred options for the company, and outline why.
I have found this approach works wonders with managers.
Make all your personal calls on the company phones! *snicker*
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
I have a number of servers and custom applications configured to notify me by text message, in the event of a problem. I am considering refusing to take work calls or text messages on my personal cell phone, and even quitting in protest of the new policy.
Well, make the the servers and applications send their messages elsewhere and by all means refuse to take work calls and text messages on your cell. If it is really important to your employers that they be able to contact you on your mobile they will either make an exception for you or find another solution.
If you are really concerned about this policy for work reasons speak to your manager, I'm sure he would rather you be the one getting text messages from servers and apps than him.
...they have monitoring devices on the Company phone lines and they want to make sure that no phone conversations take place they can't listen too...sucks to be you...seriously, you probably will not win this battle.
Power Corrupts,Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely, leaving one person(group)in charge is absolutely corrupt.
...can I have your job? I won't even wear a wrist-watch if it'll get me a job in this market.
-Valiss
You don't need a personal cell phone at work. IF these server notices are important to work, then the employer can provide you with either a telephone or text pager or blackberry... and if they don't want to do that, then you are no longer on the hook for notices you couldn't receive
if you family needs to reach you at work, they can call in through the usual office lines, like everyone always did in the time before we all had cell phones in our pockets.
i really don't see the problem here.
You can look as cool as Batman.. wearing T-Mobile Sidekick(tm) on your "utility belt".
It's not really a cell phone, more of a PDA that's always connected to the Internet.
You can IM, telnet, read mail, and browse. If anyone asks, tell them it's a palmtop computer.
Sure, you can use it to make phone calls but NO ONE else needs to know that.
Make sure T-mobile is service is available in your BUILDING. Even though my Sidekick works outside, it doesn't work at my desk. (thick walls and no cell tower nearby)
www.danger.com - maker's of.
www.amazon.com - good place to get it.
Then you can set up some techno music too, and it'll be like homestar runner.
What we call folk wisdom is often no more than a kind of expedient stupidity.-Edward Abbey
Don't quit now. Line up another job, then quit. When you announce your resignation, simply tell the bosses that the cell phone policy is stupid. Also, tell them that it will be a very effective way of getting rid of people, because everyone else is looking for other work too. This will feed into their paranoia and cause them to lose sleep or maybe rekindle their crack habit.
That title is wrong. It should read: "Talking on your cell phone when you should be working" I mean, seriously. I have no problem with a company banning cell phone use. That said, you OBVIOUSLY have a case for needing your cell phone, and just as obviously, you haven't talked to your boss about it. Instead, you threw a fit.
Many years ago there was an ancient technology for the sending of messages. It was a small thing, clipped on a belt, and at times when it demanded attention, it would beep and vibrate, as was the style of that time.
This simple device, long forgotten by Important Professionals, remains in use in the wilds of inner city urban America.
Were it not for the economically disadvantaged, we might've forgotten all about the amazing power of this simple tool, and without it, the world would indeed be a poorer place, even for those Important Professionals whose lives have been forver altered by Stupid Management Decisions against the March of New Technology.
-- I wanna decide who lives and who dies - Crow T. Robot, MST3K
I have a number of servers and custom applications configured to notify me by text message, in the event of a problem.
If I were you... I woudl think it would be in your best interest to get them to sport for either an alphanumeric pager, or a two way pager.
Just a oneway alpha/numeric pager should work as well as your current mobile setup, may not even require changes to your script.
Two way pager may be able to be attached to a serial port... provided you use TTL levels, and just accept error messages regardless of whether you have a network connection or not.
It seems to me that you are doing your job and using your equipment to do it. If they won't allow you to bring in your own equipment it's only common sence for them to buy it.
Otherwise, you can invest in a handheld internet terminal, which while can be used as a mobile phone, are more likely to inspire sympathy as being a IT required device. Unless they plan to ban handheld palm like devices.
There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
I work in a facility where they really don't want you to have cell phones. The only problem is that the office phones have restricted local long distance (I can't call my house). I filled out paperwork to be able to bring my cell phone with me. If I didn't do this I would have to walk outside to the pay phone or use a calling card - how silly.
Security is the reason, but it doesn't make that much sense when I have a regular phone on my desk. I don't understand how talking in to one is ok and not the other. Go figure.
My sig left me for a younger user id.
What you didn't say is what their reason for the ban is. Many an executive decree turns out to be the wrong (or overly broad) solution to a genuine problem, and it's possible that your intended use of your phone falls outside of that problem area and can be exempted (e.g. they're freaking about camera phones and your phone is demonstrably camera-free). Or perhaps that information will suggest solutions to your own problem that get around this decree (e.g. they don't want people yakking with their friends, so you could use a pager instead of a phone). Heck, if you know what they're trying to accomplish, maybe you could even suggest a different solution that makes more sense.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
... of this, which the submitter seems accepting of, is the company which relies on its employes have thier own personal mobile phone, PDA, laptop and using it wor the benifit of their employer, i.e. to do their job. Which really is just as bad but in the opposite direction.
The second issue here is that it would seem the firm in question has deemed it's employes untrustworthy which is a major issue in its self. I can use my mobile and work phone for personal calls and it is not a problem. The thing is myself and all of my colleages only use them in this matter when it makes sense. Importantly not just essential, but its okay to make a call to your partner to organise meeting up after work just not to call your Aunt half way round the world for a chat!
If you read a speed reading book, does it take you less time to read the second half?
...and even quitting in protest of the new policy.
Ask to be an exception to this rule. If they don't make the exception, quit or deal with it. If you quit, post the name of your employer; i'm sure more than one local slashdotter would ~love~ your job, even with this *ahem* horrible new policy in place.
No joke. I could post for pages and pages with antecdotal evidence, from my own experience and that of fellow geeks, that the quickest way to eliminate a policy or new set of particularly stupid regulations is to follow them to the letter. For instance:
POINTY-HAIRED BOSS: Why didn't you know that Server X, Application Y, and Cubicle Drone Z were all hosed and not responding to requests?
YOU: Well, sir, I get these notifications, see, and when I'm working in another part of the office or not sitting right at my desk, I know instantly if something goes wrong with anything that I'm responsible for and then I can fix it.
PHB: But...that doesn't explain why you didn't know about XYZ!!
YOU: Well, these alerts all come on my cell phone, you see, and since it's company policy that Cells Are Not Allowed...
The dumber it is, the more religiously you should follow it, and make darned sure that all of your buddies fall in line with the company's new direction as well. I'm assuming, of course, that you've already presented your case to a supervisor or HR person or something, and that you're not a Super Executive VP of Something. If you're at that level in the organization, just say "no" and have your department behave differently from everyone else...apparently this works in the real world if you're high enough on the food chain.
"Linux doesn't exist. Everyone knows Linux is an unlicensed version of Unix"- Kieren O'Shaughnessy
The easy fix here is if they want it bad, they get it bad. Remove all the monitoring, turn off off or leave you cell phone in the car. Then you might try a 'delicate' server reconfiguration. Now return to your cube and allow the mayhem to unfold. Soon someone will come running 'Email is DOWN' your response 'I didnt know, new policy foribbids me from monitoring the servers' their response 'What new Policy?' now you point to HR. Then 'fix' the problem get email flowing again, of course without monitering, allow it to crash.. by the end of the day they will be begging you to reinstall the monitoring.
Here is my delima. I pay my phone bill, it is my cell phone. Yet 98% of the calls I recieve are work related. We have a zero tolerance policy also for cell phones. Which I adhere to as does everyone else. When I forget to turn MY phone back on after leaving work, I get my ass chewed. Yet my company pays for none of the minutes they use. I recently had my cell phone disconnected for currency issues ( lack thereof ). I was told that I had one week in which to have it turned back on or lose my job.
I had no clue what to do in this situation either. It has gotten to the point where I could no longer afford the bill I was getting every month for a service that turned out to be work related. I have tried showing and even turning in a copy of my cell bill showing the company use, and requesting reimbursement. You know what, it never happened. Yet make one long distance call at work, and you get blasted.
I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
And with tools such as SSH Tunnelling, you can access pretty much any service tunnelled over SSH. Most corporations tend not to block HTTP and SSH ports, so you can still stay in touch with your servers as required.
If you truly need to be notified of things while you're wandering around the office, they make some incredibly small pagers these days; I believe you can even get a pager in a watch form factor; it's unlikely they'd stop you from wearing your watch.
Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.
Seriously. Why do you need a cell phone? Do you have a phone on your desk at work so that people at work can get a hold of you that way? Do you have email?
I'm trying to think of why you might need to use your cell phone at work, and these are what I could come up with:
1) Communicate with other people in the organization or company. If this is the case, then the company should provide a phone for that purpose. Obviously the company you work for does not think a cell phone is necessary to do the work they hired you to do. They could be wrong, but that's what they think. If so, either convince them they're wrong, if they really are, or use the tools and processes they want you to use for communication.
2) To communicate with vendors or other 3rd parties. If so, then the company should provide you with a phone, but it doesn't have to be a cell phone.
3) Personal calls. It's actually better for the company to make a phone available for personal calls. Many little errands can be done over the phone that you would otherwise have to take time off for work to handle and it is invariably more efficient to use the phone. It may be in an inconvenient location, but they aren't obligated to make it convenient for you. And if they don't provide a phone for personal calls to take care of personal items, then you either take a couple of hours off from work to run errands, figure out another way to handle the errand, or quit over it. Quitting seems excessive.
4) You mention server alerts. Are you attempting to manager either personal servers or servers you've set up for a side business on company time? If so, why should they permit that? Many companies even have specific rules against moonlighting because they know the drain two jobs can have on a person. Switch to email alerts and have the mail sent to an account you can check at work. Then if they see that you're doing a second job on their time, they can deal with that as appropriate.
Do they provide you with a phone at your desk or nearby? Seriously, a cell phone is not a necessity.
You DO know what the U.S. job market is like for IT personnel in particular and everyone else in general, right?
To say it's bad is too polite.
To say it's horrible is dancing around the reality.
To say you'd be a screaming lunatic to quit your job because they won't let you use your cell phone is more appropriate.
Unless you're a terribly abused employee, to even consider such a thing is ridiculous, moreso for the reason you're giving. Surely they will reconsider their Draconian cell phone banning policy for you since you obviously need it. If they are insistent on banning all PERSONAL cell phones, then have them buy you a company-provided cell phone where you can send your alerts.
In any case, take a step back and put any thought of quitting out of your mind.
I was in a spot where week long on-call rotations were going to be forwarded to my personal cell phone. I asked what percentage of my bills the company would be paying since it was now required for work, I was told 0%. A week later I told my boss that I cancelled the phone service, since I almost never used it, put on an out-going message that said that the number was dead and that voice mail would be ending on X date and didn't answer any calls that didn't show up on caller-id. Amazingly, now I have a cell phone that I carry one week in six and pay $0 for. Of course the original phone is on my hip NOW, and my boss has figured out that the phone still works, but she thinks I'm the smartest one on the team since everyone else is paying to use a personal phone for work and I am not. Tell them what they don't want to hear. You are considering quitting, so what could happen that you aren't ready for??
I hope I can change the following SIG after the next election... (If you are considering posting a reply to my post that is a reply to my SIG, GO FOR IT!! I think that everyone who responds to my SIG is an idiot. Prove me right.)
If you voted for Nader, THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!
I had this issue once with a client, but I did explain that I would do the same for them, if they had an emergency on their systems.
The trick is to keep it at a minimum number of calls. I rarely give my cellphone number to clients, but give them my office number, then someone can filter them, judge if they need to pass them on to me.
The situation can also be completly different if you are a self-employed IT engineer/consultant.
I'm confused.
You've been using your personal cell phone for business purposes. Are you complaining because your employer doesn't want you to do this anymore? Why is this a problem? Your employer should either provide you with the tools that you need to do your job or explicitly state that it's your responsibility to provide them.
Or, are you complaining because your employer doesn't want you to make personal phone calls when you're on the job? I don't see this as a problem, either, because employers have every right to do work during business hours.
If you want to find a new job, then go do it. But at least be honest with yourself about why you're quitting.
No calls while not at your desk. Of course you should refuse to take work calls on your personal phone, if you do that you are subsidising the company.
Government of the people, by corporate executives, for corporate profits.
They just instituted a 'no putting a plastic bag over your head until you see stars' policy at all our offices. Even if you bring your own ziplock from home! Where will this end? First they tell me I can't smoke at my desk. Soon they'll be breeding us like cattle!
Pants are an employee-owned technology. They're your personal pants and not for business use. That'll fox 'em.
Sounds like your company is anti-cellphone and you're pro-cellphone. In fact, you're so pro-cellphone that you've started using your own personal cellphone because you either couldn't or didn't get them to buy you one. So now you're irritated that they're forcing you to stop doing what you didn't get them to let you do in the first place.
Give it up man.
You need to get to the heart of the matter and show them why THEY need to GIVE you a cellphone/pager/whatever. If it's part of your job, they need to pay for it... lock stock and barrel.
Don't use your stuff at work. If you need it, make THEM get you one.
-=sig=-
Concern over security--both safety and information protection--has increased a great deal since 9/11. More and more of my friends are reporting that there companies have enacted similar policies.
For me, it's even more stringent. I have one office on and one office off of a military base. I have the usual array of geek tools that are connected to my PC or network, including a PDA. I have to leave all of those behind when I pass through the gates of the base: nothing capable of receiving or transmitting a signal (including the IR port on a PDA) or taking a picture is allowed, with very few exceptions--and for those exceptions, the equipment must be government owned or registered. There are even some parts of the base where I can't bring a floppy or notepad and expect to bring it out again.
Since my calendar is on my PDA, I never know when I can schedule a meeting. I send myself an e-mail with the proposed time and drive 15 minutes to my other office to read the e-mail and see if I'm available.
Life is like that now. You could have it much worse.
I'd imagine that they think folks are screwing off on company time and are trying to crack down on people doing personal business during work hours. If you need to get alerts and whatnot from apps or machines, then your employer needs to provide you with a device to receive them.
James
One of my former employers had to implement a ban on personal devices unless otherwise approved because the salespeople were all bringing in personal laptops and wanting to use them despite the fact that they had perfectly good computers on their desks. This was getting to the point that they were starting to trip the circuit breaker and taking the entire room's power down.
The reason they wanted to use their own laptops became a bit of a turf war. See, these were mostly new sales reps who had worked for other companies before joining ours. They wanted to keep their sales contact list on their own laptop so they could bring it from employer to employer. The company wanted them to store their sales leads only on the company server because even though sales reps could only see their own accounts, when a rep leaves it becomes very easy to split their leads list among other reps and also limits the outgoing rep's ability to contact their existing accounts under a new employer.
The IT department's offer was to convert any contact database into our system. We never did get any reps who took us up on that, but some left in protest of being unable to keep their laptops up-to-date.
I have a number of servers and custom applications configured to notify me by text message, in the event of a problem.
Are these work servers? If so, ask them exactly how you should be notified in case there is a problem? Clairvoyance?
I had a similar thing happen to me. It's great! Less work!! "No I didn't get the alert, my cell phone is at my, company policy". "No I don't want to break rules, I _REFUSE_ to bring my cell phone until I get a WRITTEN statement from the company". More work for them, a break for you.
Reminds me of my teenage years, working in the factory, the Butol machine burst into flames, what did I do? Scream? Run? Try and escape? NOPE! I cheered, "Yeah, no work tonight!! And let the damn machine burn." Nightshift can be a biotch.
Mod +5 Drunk
The kind of people who are concerned about employees spending less than 100% of their time in thrall to the company are the same kind that are most sensitive to the bottom line.
.sig
In light of the new policy, the workplace is now less hospitable than it had been, and you are entiled to compensation for the removal of this benefit. Pointing this out (and hinting that you aren't the only one who feels that way) will get them to rethink the policy.
-- this is not a
I've been in similar positions with software purchases over the years; management doesn't see the 'need' to spend money on an essential upgrade or license renewal until something breaks. When faced with downtime that you can document would have been preventable or significantly softened the impact, management will then typically listen (or be replaced by even higher management).
Play the CYA (cover your ass) game with documentation until the day comes that someone has to answer for downtime/response delays/missed deadlines, then put them on the spot with it. It works wonders.
"Powers. I have them."
Keep your private cell private and fuck 'em. Re-write your code to notify via e-mail, make that a project on your manager's list too. Enjoy it when they can't reach out and ream you 7 x 24 x 365. Eventually, alas, they'll repeal it and you'll have your beloved gadgets and interruptions back.
Thinking about quitting over this as some sort of "protest"?
Please do, there are lots of people out here who need jobs and will gladly go without a cell phone in exchange for a paycheck.
In the meantime you can stand in line at the unemployment line with your cell phone - oh wait, you won't be able to afford that.
Cheers,
As a DBA I face the same type of thing every day. When setting up a server I ask for their tolerance of downtime and suggest solutions. If they aren't willing to 'pay' for those features then thats their call.
Also, why were the cellphones banned? Is there sensitive work done onsite? Are they afraid of the new cellphones with built in cameras? Does it interfere with some electronics? There may be a valid reason behind the ban.
As long as your ass is covered (ie, you explained the situation to managment) then whats the problem? Are alpha-numeric pagers banned as well? Why not pick up one of those? You can still get your alerts and friends can still contact you.
"Thanks to the remote control I have the attention span of a gerbil."
Follow the rules. Tell your boss that your phone is really a tool for you, but don't put too much effort on changing their minds. Divert the alerts to your email and do the best you can to minimize the problems of not having your phone.
If your phone is as critical for you as you think, and it probably is, your boss will notice that something has changed after certain amount of downtime. If it will cost something for the company, hopefully not too much, it will be a lesson from which they will learn.
-- Reality checks don't bounce.
You shouldn't have to use your personal cell phone for work anyway. The company should provide you with one, to be used ONLY for work. That may be the best solution.
You say your cell phone is needed for work?
Well my policy is "If my employer didn't pay for it, then it doesn't get used for work.". I drive in to work. My car gets used in no other way that is work related. I have cell phone... the closest it EVER gets used for work is to reply
to a message on my pager (which work DOES pay for).
Its simply that simple. I need a laptop to do my job, I make them buy me one, I need a pager for work, I make them buy me one and pay for service.
You should go to them and tell them you have been usin gyour cell phone for work and let them know that their policy is hurting them, and furthermore that they should be paying for the potion of the cell phone bill that you have incurred doing work for them.
If they say no, then simple... just stop using it for work and be sure they know that its the problem.
If they fire you, then sue for wrongful termination.
Seriously people...this is why workers should be unionizing. Why should we put up with this shit? Peopl ehave to work together, the workers should have some say in the culture of the workforce.
-Steve
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
It's amazing how many people are pointing out that the company has a right to do this and in the end the employee can only put up or leave.
Yes, we know. Move on, nothing to see here.
Taken to its basic components, any relationship is one where any entity can do whatever it is they want to do and the other entity can decide whether or not they want to put up with it based on some sort of cost/benefit analysis. This works in *both* directions -- Some of my users (salespeople with eight-digit sales per year) pretty much have a 'get out of jail for free' card at work.
But relationships are not just "put up with it or leave." The company presumably has an interest in you working for them because otherwise, well, they wouldn't employ you (ignoring the possibility they're doing this as a way to persuade people to quit so they can outsource them to India without severance pay or unemployment benefit hit). In the end, relationships where each party does the very minimal required of them sort of suck both on the personal and professional levels.
All of which is a long-winded way of saying that you want your relationship with your company to have some flexibility in it, and in order for it to have flexibility in one side, it needs to have flexibility in the other side also. So if you're getting work phone calls on your personal cell, it's perfectly reasonable to say "look, I'm bending here and using my cell phone for work purposes and that's OK -- would you bend a little and let me keep it?" If, on the other hand, they absolutely refuse to be flexible, then absolutely you're under no obligation to be flexible yourself -- if they don't allow you a personal cellphone, then don't allow them to use that cellphone to contact you.
Companies that don't want your personal life intruding into their business shouldn't intrude with business into your personal life. Now, mind you, that's a perfectly reasonable and rational approach to which the company may respond with "tough, we can replace you with an Indian for $5/hr. Want to see who blinks first?" That's something you have to deal with and figure out how far you're willing to go.
In a previous job, the employee wanted us to move to a corporate mobile-phone scheme. I knew then that eventually I would be leaving them, and refused the offer.
This meant that I had no ethical issues when looking for a new job, because I wasn't using my employee's resource.
Just hide it in your pocket?! There are all sorts of rules of workplaces that people constantly ignore.
and commodities don't have a right to complain. Commodities are supposed to happily participate in the market and flow to wherever there is demand. If I buy a car, it doesn't complain that I didn't pay enough for it, or that I'm relocating it to a different state. The same goes for workers, if one loses their job, no problem, just move to India, where there is apparently greater demand. My car wouldn't complain about having to go to India, so why should I? Why should it be any different when dealing with workers? They're just commodities, they have no rights.
This is of course what market fundamentalism is about. It's about relegating worker's rights to the scrap heap, not even recognizing them, and putting the rights of property owners first. And, as commodities, we aren't supposed to complain, we're supposed to simply go somewhere else if we don't like the conditions, and let the invisible hand work it's magic. And, when there is nowhere else to go, we're supposed to shut up, like any other commodity would. The one crucial fact that you are overlooking is that people are not commodities.
Maybe they want to be able to listen in on all of your conversations. I think that there is case law that employees have no expectation of privacy from their employer while using company-owned phone equipment.
They wont let you have your phone to receive phone calls at work?
Fine, then let them know you wont receive work phone calls when your not at work.
I dont understand why they would do this, unless they want to monitor every phone conversation you will have through the day, because you can simply use work phones to send/receive personal calls.
Everyone who has my cellphone knows that I work, they know not to call unless its important before 4pm, and if Im still at work after 4pm, then I think that if I am putting in the extra hours I can talk all I want.
TruePunk | Games
My company did the same thing a couple years ago. So I got a two-way pager. I can send and receive emails from my co-workers as well as receive alerts.
You don't really need a cell phone, just a medium to communicate remotely.
We have the same policy at my job. It's not a problem because they supplied me with a pager. It does the same job your SMS solution does, I get a page when our monitoring systems notice a problem. Any decent technology company will supply you with one if you justify it.
I would never recommend using your personal stuff for anything to do with your employer, if they're not prepared to give you the tools you need to do your job find a different employer!
I mean, they want to have their cake and they want to eat it too. They want someone to be available 24/7 in case of a server problem, but to not be available 24/7 by loved ones, friends, etc. That's absurdity. I would say those issues are intertwined. If they don't want you to have a personal cell or to make personal calls on a work cell, then I guess that means when you leave work whatever happens happens. It's bad enough these companies expect us to work off hours so much anyway, so that seems like the answer. I punch out at 5, and it doesn't matter if the server goes down. In exchange, I'll leave my cell phone in my car. Deal.
Sounds like someone needs a holiday!
Think of this as an "On Call" situation. Have your company/boss issue a single cell phone to be used by the OnCall/Sysadmin employee. This is better for you and your company. Having company/server info on you phone as text messages is still a security reliability. A phone which is owned by your company relieves you from that headache and provides a single cellphone/pager where the messages will arrive. This is good when you decide to go on vacation.
That's what many companies use.
Nobody took it seriously. They had cellphones going off all over the show, including bosses. People even lacked the discretion to use vibrate mode so that it was a discreet breaking of the rules. I think it was instituted due to some localised abuse (people using it excessively on company time), which is fair enough, but could have been dealt with more diplomatically.
They also had a policy that you were not permitted to have music going at your workstation, be it with headphones, or whatever. I work far better when I can shut out the ambient noise of an office. I felt naked without headphones on and it reduced my productivity, but went along with the rules for a while til i noticed nobody really cared if I had my sounds going or not.
Find out why this rule was introduced, and make a judgement call as to whether it is a BS rule that you are happy to break, or if there is a serious reason behind it that would mean you should get formal permission for not following it.
"And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the World" 1 John 4:14
Can't use USB pen drives anymore!
But that's just because management hasn't started using them yet. When our new firewall started blocking sites, every site with the word 'mail' in it and every site not using the standard port 80 was blocked. I just shrugged and went on with life at work.
Recently, just for the heck of it, I tried my university mail account (port 8000) and it worked! Then I tried my personal webmail site and it worked too!
It looks like some higher exec type got locked out of his favorite site and made the networks guys open the firewall a little wider.
Maybe your 'no cell phones' rule is just another flavor of the week and it will go away also.
- I live the greatest adventure anyone could possibly desire. - Tosk the Hunted
put your phone on silent mode, vibration on.
if you get a call on your cell, look at the callerID, and call the person back on your office phone.
if you dont have callerID, explain the situation briefly in your voicemail message and that you will immediately call back anyone who leaves their name and phone number.
take your voicemail messages from your office phone.
This one really hits home with me. I have a PocketPC. They use company-supplied PocketPCs at my employer. The same model I have. I just want to sync it to Outlook to reduce typing/entry. That's it. Will they let me? No. Will they provide me with one and let me install my own apps on it? No.
They're so friggin paranoid that "something will get on the network". I understand why they don't want laptops on their network, but this is riduculous.
Yeah - it is a stupid policy, the other thing is depending on company culture can you just sit down with your (hopefully) sane manager and say what it is used for and ask to get a waiver from the policy (I worked at a company that had really weird rules, that first line managers could ignore if they didn't apply to their workers).
I have mod points and I am not afraid to use them
Only over the last year have I noticed that many people have become slaves to their personal cell phones in the workplace. Within the last week - 1) I had a secretary at my insurance agent interrupt our conversation to answer her cell phone and then she put me on hold while she dealt with a problem with her child; 2) a person at another company did the same thing because her landlord needed clarification on an issue. Both of these calls could have been ignored for a few minutes (voice mail, anyone?) or the caller on the cell phone could have been told that they would be called back immediately. Lack of priorities? The ever increasing rudeness in our society? Plain old stupid?
He constantly refers to his cell-phone as an "employee-owned" technology. I think that means it's his.
Of course you wouldn't take text or business calls on your personal cell unless they have a re-embursement policy in writing. Why would you 'consider refusing this', it's a given. Why would you not work within the idiotic limitations they give you until those limitations are proven ludicrous and unrealistic? Documenting the absurdity as you go for one and all of course. Quit,? Hell no, have fun with it, get a "Get Smart" style shoe phone and a cone of silence or maybe some camo netting for your cube. Sheesh.
then you're probably useless anyway
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
Did you ever ask why the policy was instituted. Companies that are governed by the SEC and engage in stock or fund trading are required to have all employee communications monitorable. This way if they suspect someone of giving insider information they have records of the phone calls and emails. Use of personal cell phones make it hard for them to comply with the SEC.
As x approaches total apathy I couldn't care less.
perhaps there are some other people in the company spending all of the time on the phones and very little of the time working. Better to write a policy about EXCESSIVE use of cellphones - not the outright banning of them. Perhaps someone just does not like the various rings, warbles, beeps, tunes that ring out when people get calls and is overreacting without thinking on the consequences.
You could quit I suppose however the better solution is for you to speak to your department manager and to get them to explain the use and purpose of cellphones in the IT department. I take it from your posting that you aren't the manager in the department. Perhaps they can suggest a more realistic policy to the upper manager that issued this craxy edict. If you are the manager of the IT department then why are you posting on Slashdot - go forth and manage.
They should also consider what happens if there were an outage for the phone systems and or power or if some emergency occurs - the cell phone may be the only way to get or make calls... there may be a liability side to this.
I can relate to this being in Toronto and experiencing an almost half-day outage of phone lines downtown a few years back due to a fire in a central office and of course the big August blackout. Does your employer think they are immune to disaster???
digital vengeance...
How the hell are you supposed to look for a new job if you can't use your cell-phone at work? Oh, you mean that was the point. Never mind.
It's good to use your head, but not as a battering ram.
Ah, middle management edicts, the dead wood (and I'm not talking about the paper used to print their memos on) in ANY organization ;)
;)
Here is how I deal with stupid management:
I try to use polite, logical argument.
If that fails I will then impliment what they want TO A T and watch disaster to unfold. When it does, I show the memo/policy that ordered me to do it.
I'm a systems administrator for a local IT firm and I manage systems for a couple dozen clients. I have a personal cell phone. The company won't provide one, and they only offer me a mere $10 a month in compensation, which I turned down so I have the priviledge of NOT taking someone's call if I so choose not to, as I always choose not to when it's the owner calling. I'll use my phone as a pager, and call from a land line when it's convienent.
Our owner has become increasingly paranoid about monitoring our every minute. He pays a small fortune for internet monitoring (Stellar) at the office (of course, we mostly ARENT THERE), and is paranoid about our IT people even having the admin password to the company server (he wouldn't know how to even add a user).
Most of us on the staff have taken to using our personal laptops with our Citrix remote access server in the office so that our every keystroke isn't potentially logged... We also use an "underground" remote access machine to surf the web on
You just can't do that sort of thing to techies without consequences. We are always three steps ahead.
Frankly, since having a cell phone, I've found it to be a curse. I HATE being reachable all the time, I've found that it causes me to do MORE work. I miss being able to drive from one site to another and not be bothered DURING... I think anyone like me who has to know a couple dozen diffrent client site setups NEEDS a few mintues here and there to clear our minds!
But, by keeping my cell phone personal, I can avail myself of the priviledge to use the OFF button, which I do often.
Corporatism != Free Market
An employer can force you to have a cell phone for your job just as they can require you to have a car. In fact my wife works for several companies that require a car and a higher level of auto insurance in order to take clients from them. At the end of the year you can write off all the expenses off your taxes.
We are told that personal items such as cell phones aren't to be used, though it's unenforced. Amusingly enough I have things like my laptop and reference books that I use for work. (I tired of fighting to get a decent computer and any reference books at all.) If they enforced their policy then I would be unable to work. Tell them you're fine with their policy if they pay for your computer, books, cell phone, etc.
:(){
If they aren't flexible enough to let a few personal uses go, then you shouldn't be flexible enough to use your personal cell phone for their business.
You shouldn't be using personal equipment for work. If you do, you should be able to write it off as a business expense.
Unless your contract specifies it, you should NEVER use ANYTHING personal on the job, period.
If said messaging is a job function, then it is up to your employer to provide the cell phone, pager, etc. to make it work.
This a difficult lesson for a conscientous professional to learn, but learn it you must, lest you be taken advantage of by the boss.
Oh? You aren't in a union? A pity - that is what they are intended for - to resolve worker / management disputes.
be happy you actually have a JOB :-)
Go straight to your manager and let him know that your ability to do your job is being impacted by the current policies. Be prepared to talk over the options you have for doing your job now that the policy is in place. One of those is to push for an exception. Others might include the company buying you a cell phone that is clearly just for company purposes - a pager could be appropriate as well. You know the situation better than me, think of them.
Be prepared to answer the question from your manager that asks if your current set-up makes sense. What happens if you get a better offer, and leave the company? Is there a good way for somebody else who doesn't have a cell phone to be notified? Should there be a central clearinghouse for these alerts other than your cell phone?
If you and your manager agree that sending messages to your cell phone is the way to go, gettnig an exception is more likely to happen with your direct manager's help. Should you get that exception, document it. You wouldn't want the next round of layoffs to be easy for them.
Forgive me, but I don't think this is a huge deal. Someone made a policy whose intent was to keep people from using their cell phones at work for personal reason, so that meetings would go smoother and folks would be more productive. They didn't know or think that cell phones were being used for work activities. It's not in the interest of anyone at the company to make your life more difficult.
On the broader question of employee owned tech, I think that the main reason companies are and should be cautious is that when you leave, you're going to take your tech with you. Anything they've paid you to set up and that uses your tech suddenly breaks. That sucks. Which comes back to the problem of what happens when you leave and the notices are going to your phone. I really think the answer is that they back off the no cell phones and move it to no personal cell phones. Those of you who need cell phones are then given corporate cell phones. That way, when you leave they give the phone to your fill-in / replacement and the system still works.
Then again, if the phone the message is being sent to can be universally changed by filling out one web form, it becomes dispensible and they just need to hire somebody with a cell phone.
Clarification from the submitter:
Though this policy was abandoned due to my concerns prior to being implemented, it still has relevance in many places. Let me answer some of the questions that have been asked.
Work was, in-fact, saying that I cannot bring in my personal cell phone. Though they don't pay me for for the phone bill itself, I do get compensated for responding to server-down pages or other problems after hours and this more than pays for the phone bill.
Why are they doing this? The stated reason is security. We've been the victim of intellectual property theft due to camera phones, but in my case: it isn't an issue. I have, in effect, clearance to any and all company documents at this location and all others.
As for forwarding my responsibilities to my supervisor, it just won't work. I report directly to the president of the company and he is not exactly a power-user. I've been with the company just over three years, and he's never even glanced at any of my coding work. He simply believes the heads of other departments when they note that their IT systems are doing well, saving money, or whatever the case is.
To save this poor guy a headache: I am not Brian Cancio. I don't own that domain and have no involvement with it whatsoever. Digitalvengeance is just a slashdot ID as my usual alias was already taken.
How many roads must a man walk down? 42.
I agree. I see so many posts saying something to the effect of: "Stop bringing it, they'll see how important it is when servers go down because nobody got the pages". Wow, what's happened to our work force? Here are a few ideas that might actually look like you give a shit. It sounds like we're stuck in a "Clerks" version of IT!
1.> Have a little frigging back-bone, people. state the issue to your boss in an e-mail. Document it. Be sure to be detailed on the risks.
2.> Contact HR explain the above.
3.> If the above doesn't work (as American AC in Paris has also suggested the 1st two). Contact internal customers who have jobs running on the impacted systems. Explain the situation and the risks.
4.> Be willing to help develop either a more defined policy (i.e. no private calls, no digital cameras) or accept an alternative (alpha-pager).
5.> At the first issue of an outage because no-one got notified, bring this up. Don't wait for all hell to break loose.
Following these steps with the right tone, enthusiasm, and tact, you'll at worst look like you actually care about your job and the company you work for. Unless maybe, you prefer to live on welfare, unemployment, and bitch about how the internet stock bubble saturated the job market with IT guys. Be a "stand-up geek" and do the right thing.
www.facebook.com/DareDefendOurRights
www.fairtax.org
So today they're not allowing cell phones? What about tomorrow, when will PDAs not be allowed to be used? Soon it'll be headphones... If security is such a huge concern, then what about cameras and tape recorders? If it's about spending personal time while "on the clock", then what about the PHB my friend has who plays Star Wars Galaxies half the day... at a major telecom company too... My point is, why cell phones specifically?
Is this happening in India?!? If you're in the US and still have a job in IT, then don't do anything stupid...on the other hand, if you're in Bangalore, give'em the boot!
...to go fuck himself.
if a cellphone is a neccesity for work, either they should provide you with one, or provide you with a pager. if none of those options are suitable to your management, then you should notify them that productivity and response time will be greatly reduced.
;)
quitting because you can't use your personal cell phone is just redamndiculous. i'd fire you for thinking otherwise!
quitting because you aren't provided with tools to complete your duties is another issue altogether.
...a teaching hospital (fairly large one at that) actually has a few masts on its roof. It's bullshit that modern phones muck up hospital equipment. This was not the case 10-15 years ago when phones transmitted at a higher power and hospital equipment was less advanced than it is now.
I am NaN
That's an amazingly bad plan, because what they'll really hear at 120 decibels is Me, I try to avoid systems announcing that sort of thing to all and sundry. (One of the major risks of an IT job is extremely high visibility when things go wrong, from the top to the bottom.)
I ran into this myself at one job. They wanted employees to be available 24 hours a day in case of an emergency, such as a senior exec having a problem over in Europe. Their plan was to give cell phones to the employees so they could be reached at any time, and to have a someone designated as "on call".
I remember there was a bit of resistance to this concept, mainly because they didn't want to increase the staff to support a 24 hour center. With 2 network admins, that meant that if one was on vacation, the other would be on call 24 hours a day for an entire week! We tried to express that we understood emergencies happened, and tried to remain in contact for server crashes, WAN outages, and so on - but the idea of being a 24 hour help desk without additional staff was too much.
In the end, I quit. Since then, I've tried to be very clear with any other job: my life is not my job. Most places are pretty understanding once you lay out the clear idea that "even geeks need sleep". And that if they need to reach me at any time, they, not I, have to supply and pay for the cell phone.
Usually that works pretty well, and again, most employers are understanding once you lay it out for them. Just be careful of the ones that don't.
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
i don't have a personal phone, or didn't - until my company provided a cell for work/personal use since they couldn't get in touch with me when things were screwing up.
everyone in our office is armed with a phone, a few company, some personal.
i can't see being in any IT dept without the possibility of constant and immediate communication between its members...
Nothing a manager hates more than a person who is at work, but is instead managing 2nd and 3rd jobs from his cell phone all day. Well except for maybe the guy that doesn't come it on time.
Post: Sigged, for your pleasure.
So you feel that when one goes through the portal at work they should be cut off from the rest of the world. You stated your point of view; therefore you may take this as a personal attack when it is only my counter to your view. You seem to be converting employment to time limited slavery ( a harsh but just word in this instance). Your "many,many workers" example fails as many many of these workers now have cell-phones and/or pagers to be able to have some degree of communication. They temper when they communicate with respect to their work.
I have read of instances where there were similar no communication policies and individuals were not notified of family members being ill, injured or even killed. In the last case the police showed up at the employers to notify the person. I am sure it was a very "good" work environment!
I work in a situation where cell-phones are allowed in some areas but not in others as a matter of security. Abuse of cell-phones is not tolerated but the use of cell-phones is fine. This is reasonable. If the poster of this article is stating a policy driven by a few peoples abuse of cell-phones, it is a draconian remedy to the situation. A reasonable employer will punish the abusers and continue on.
A big "but" can be inserted. If the original case has to do with work other than the employer's, I will say shame on him for wasting his employer's time. Otherwise he or she should seek exemption from the rule, a company cell-phone, or a company pager.
Claim it on your 2004 tax return... :-)
I work in a call center and in my previous organisation cell phones werent allowed due to people taking calls and they did not want the cell phone static or ringing to disturb the calls.Even though i was a sys admin i wasnt allowed to carry a cell phone.But after a lot of protesting they finally realised that there was no point in not allowing me to carry my cell phone.
THe point is that theres no reason to ban cellphones for everyone in any company.Besides if i had to leak insider info i could do it anyway.
Lord of the Binges.
Just Quit
"no cell phones for IT workers" is like "no keyboards for coders"
seriously this is really funny to see just how dumb corporate policymakers can be.
La via sola al paradiso incommincia nel inferno
I strongly suspect the real reason behind this is the increasing proliferation of camera-phones. Smaller and more discreet than a conventional camera, and you can pretend to be making a phone-call while you use one. So far, my employer only bans visitors from bringing all cellphones onto the site (simpler than trying to find out whether the phone in question contains a camera), but I wouldn't be surprised if this were also extended to employees in the near future. Given the obvious security risk that camera phones pose, not to mention the litigation risks they open up, I think this is a perfectly sensible policy.
Wow, you're a graduate of DeVry? I hear they're serious about success.
Seriously, with a resume like that, I'm sure you can pick up six figures anywhere you want!
I have a number of servers and custom applications configured to notify me by text message, in the event of a problem.
if you're getting emails or text messages on your personal cell phone, how about asking your boss to buy you a blackberry specifically for system admin emails? and get them to pay for the monthly fee. that's what i'd do.
He wouldn't be unreachable in an emergency. They're banning cellphones, not cutting the landlines. People with cellphones always seem to forget about landlines, like they don't even exist anymore. There's nothing worse than having a cellphone ring when your'e 3 feet from a landline.
what sig?
Any suggestions as to how I can get this policy overturned without looking like someone who wants to spend my working time on my cell rather than coding?
Hmmm... That's a tough one. Have you considered not posting on Slashdot during work hours?
What kind of Nazi regime do you work for? I would quit in an instant. I would have to assume that every one in your company is a bunch of hourly boobs in order to take that kind of crap.
-z
I have a number of servers and custom applications configured to notify me by text message, in the event of a problem.
If this is your only work-related concern, then have your company get you a pager. It will work just as well. In my sysadmin days, 15+ years ago, I had my servers set up to auto-page me when problems arose. The side-perk of this system was that I could cron a page trigger to go off during meetings I didn't want to sit through. "Uh oh, server's down. Better go."
employers have tons of stupid policies, that's why there are pointy haired bosses. But, to threaten to quit over one is REALLY DUMB. In this day and age, there are 100 geeks with 10x the experience you do, who will take the job for 75% of what you're making(to get them out of fastfood), and work 2x harder!
Just be glad you have a job, and FOLLOW THE RULES TO THE LETTER.
I have to disagree with most people on here. Because of the nature of most workplaces, you either can't or are not permitted to get personal phone calls on the actual office phone. This policy was about to be implemented in a place I used to work, and I was ready to refuse to obey it, simply because my cell phone is how my family and friends get a hold of me, whether its just to talk or an emergency. If I can't receive phone calls on my work phone, and somone has to get a hold of me immediately, I have to have my cell phone. I won't answer it, and it is ALWAYS on silent if I'm in school or at work, but I will take a quick break to check a voice mail message. It won't disrupt anyone or interfere with my work. It takes 30 seconds, and could be a big deal.
I hate cellphones as much as everyone, particularly when they ring during class. But I'm always going to have mine on me, on silent, in case of an emergency.
Blake
mememememememmememe...me...me...ME!
"I consider my cellular phone a necessity both in my personal and work lives."
Tough. Its not about YOU. Its about what the employer wants at the facilities they own. THEY own, not you. They decide, not you. No one owes you anything. A cell phone is not a "necessity" regardless that you consider it to be.
"I have a number of servers and custom applications configured to notify me by text message, in the event of a problem.
Yeah I'm sure this happens all the time. Sounds like an excuse to me. Ask the company to provide an alpha pager.
"I am considering...even quitting..."
Now you're on to something there, dorkus. As an employee, this is what is in your power. You are free to leave and work for another company who's core beliefs include cell phones. Be happy you live in a country where you CAN just quit your job and go do something else.
you don't need a text message from the frickin fry machine to tell you when its done.
get a real job. wendys!
I had a similar (but different) problem... My office decided to invest in a bunch of pda phones for senior staff, and make it part of my job to support them... I told them if they want me to support them, and take calls regarding problems with them, then I need to have one of them... DONE!!
So now I complain about how the decision to buy them was rushed, and how bad performance and support for the damn things is...
Who can guess which provider we have?
Sounds like a Management problem. As in the employees are not being managed. Treating employees like children only works on the immature and the stupid. Everyone else gets annoyed, and (eventually) leaves.
There's no constitutional right to having a cellphone at work.
There is no Constitutional right to sick time off, either. Would you want a "pity parade" if your job suddenly cut sick time because a few people were abusing the system?
====--====
Together, we will drive the rats from the tundra.
Switch it to email/IM notification and tell your employers they should get you a pager or cell phone so those notifications can also reach you when you're away from your desk.
Take one. My expirence is that companies that come up with stupid policies like this tend to make stupid business decisions.
Assuming his Slashname is also his domain name. Stupid troll.
If you're using custom applications, how hard is it to have them redirect to an IM? Or send to both an special IM alias and your phone so you get the IM if you're at work.
And you seem to think you're smart. Have your cell phone forward to your work phone when it's off between 9 and 5.
Or you could quit because you can't use a specific phone.
Sometimes this is a necessary evil. For example, I work as a contractor at a General Motors account. Because of the prevalence of phones with built-in cameras, we now have a ban on all wireless phones in areas where sensitive information is available. It seems that while they were showing a limited preview of some prototype models a few months ago, some pictures that were obviously taken from a wireless phone were released to media sources and published on the internet.
With the technology available in phones now, you can't help but expect companies to take reactionary (albeit ultimately futile) actions against such potential insecurities.
m@
I'm the sys admin for a 65 person advertising firm. It's difficult to stay ahead of the game on computer equipment when the designers computers are costing in the range of $10,000. The other employees get stuck with really old hardware. But one lady and I have come up with a plan.
She says she's willing to purchase a personal laptop to use at work and let me configure it as it needs to be for the office, and she'll be able to take it home and use it there also. When she's done with the company we can copy her personal data, wipe the drive, restore the data and send her on her way.
The catch is, just like the company, she can't afford to throw down on a nice computer. The company has the cash, but can't afford to spend it on things like that. So she wants an interest free loan with large payments provided by the company.
Makes sense to me. After paperwork is made out and signatures are applied, does anyone see a problem with this? The company gets free computer hardware during the stay of the employee(s), and the employee(s) get intrest free loans on computers. Win / Win, eh?
No sig for you. YOU GET NO SIG!
I had an incident where one employee left a cell phone at their desk, it rang (one of those really annoying music rings) on and off for nearly an hour. Another employee (next cube over) turned it off. The first employee went ballistic about that. That was fun. Once in a while I'll have an employee who just spends wayyy too much time talking on their cell phone. Lovely to deal with that as well.
The reason companies never wanted people making personal calls at work was not the cost of the (mostly local) calls, but the cost of their NONPRODUCTIVE EMPLOYEES. When employees have cell phones (as most do now), they feel much more justified in sitting around on the phone since the "cost" is theirs. People who know not to spend hours on personal calls on their desk phones seem to have no compunction about doing the same thing on their cell phones.
So what's the solution? In my experience, the RATIONAL answer is to speak to each person when you feel that they've crossed a line, and make a decision suited to the problem. In my experience, the rational answer will get you reamed. Employees who care so little about their responsibilities to their work and to their co-workers tend also to have no compunction about arguing "disparate treatment" (as though cell-phone users are a protected minority). We are forced to make inane blanket policies that hurt the decent employees who probably ARE contributing their personal cell minutes to the company, in order to stop the bad behavior of a few. I've been told by HR that I cannot tell ONE employee to "leave the cell phone in your car" I must make the rule for EVERY employee in the department (not that I have, I'd rather lose the productivity of the lamer employees than disgruntle the better ones).
Anyway, there are two sides to every story.
~
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." -Emerson
Hello
First of all, there is not enough details about what you call the "no cellphone policy".
However, one thing really strikes me is the "even for the IT staff".
For example, how does your network admin cope with alerts (just as you do with your cellphone) when something goes wrong in his server room in the middle of the night ?
I take it your company consider pagers differently - which makes the policy a bit ridiculous
Having said that, while I would be extremely happy in a no-cellphone-noise environment, I wonder what exactly is the reason for such a policy in the first place ? Is there nobody needing a cellphone for business in your company ?
And although you should normally not deal with your own business/servers/whatever you have at home during work hours, I would question that policy.
Now, quitting is a personal choice but if it would hurt my lifestyle as much as it seems to hurt yours, I'd just quit and to hell with them...
After all, I don't know about you but here in Canada (and Soviet Russia?), developers choose companies these days, not the other way around. So there are a lot of new beeping opportunities - some have fancy MIDI tunes too !
Oh..
oops...
I inadvertantly pressed the "quit" button on my cellphone...
I personally, as both a "PHB" and an employee, not want my workplace so tied to my personal equipment. It's one thing to have a day planner/Palm Pilot, or use a cell for business. It's quite another to have alerts sent to your cell phone.
Like another poster pointed out, tyeing it to your cell phone means that, should you get run down by a bus, the alerts won't go to your successor. In fact, it's conceivable that your management isn't even aware of this monitoring capability. It might die with you! I would think that arranging for a company provided and dedicated device (I'm personally fond of pagers for this) would be the way to go. I'd take it further to suggest alerts go to a ticketing system then the pager, but that's another story.
As an employee, I just don't want to have to provide my own stuff. Once you are using your equipment for IT work, you lose control over what can be on it. Load up a laptop and use it for work? They may insist on a particular firewall or virus software loaded (or ban a particular OS from being on their network). Better just to bypass it.
I told them that they can call me at home or at my office phone number, unless they pay for the cell phone. We compromised and they bought me a black berry, and they pay the bill. I like it better than the cell phone, because I'm more productive and can screen the contacts.
Here's a novel idea.. Take the time you spend on the cell phone and fix your servers and apps. :-)
When something goes down, don't just reset it. Find out why, and fix it. Then you won't need to have the system page you all the time!
It seems to me that using personal equipment at work is a bad idea anyway, and not really a battle you should fight. If there's a need for you to receive pages/text messages from your applications, then your employer should provide you with the equipment.
Not only is this protecting you from costs incurred by the job, but it's protecting your employer in the event that you should leave or be terminated (as you would presumably turn in your equipment, you would no longer be receiving notifications about the state of company resources blah blah blah).
Besides, given the lack of cell-phone repsonsibility demonstrated by my coworkers, I would think that banning cell phones would be conducive towards a better work environment (when a neighbor leaves his cell phone on his desk, the ringing is bad enough... but the incessant voice mail notifications can get really annoying!).
Just my 2c.
Corbets
Even though pagers cost $5.00 a month + tax.
Even though the purpose of the pagers was clearly to allow critical employees to be located at any time and to be called to work after hours.
Pagers are a privilege and an expense that you can't have without justification.
I prayed that my bosses couldn't justify one for me.
Luckily, they didn't.
Enjoy the FREEDOM!
It has been pretty much mandated that everyone here in our IT department gets a cell phone. Even most of the development staff who never field support calls get them.
After making the mistake of noting when I would be pormoted to a Sys-Admin job, from support, I noticed that BlackBerries were a cool device that would let me stay in touch with the servers. A lot of pushing and pulling went around and eventually I got one. Now that I have it I don't find that I really use it that often. Most of my e-mails are when I'm travelling places and it is like "Snow is bad. 30 minutes delayed." kind of messages.
Really, if you aren't allowed to use a cell phone in the office I wouldn't panic. If for some reason a server does go down and you don't notice just calmly point out "Sorry I didn't get an alert to this and couldn't respond." Better yet get your work e-mail to pick up those alerts so you still stay in contact even when at your desk.
If you are in a situation where you are expected not to be at your desk then just ask your boss how you should be notified of these events. You can always let your boss figure out the logistics of letting you get your job done after such a ruling gets passed.
Just something to think about.
I used to work for a great company that bought dinner every night for every employee who worked past 7:00pm. This not only boosted moral (and impressed job candidates), but also it kept people in the office several hours longer for a mere $10 dinner. Smart company. Win-win situation.
Bottom line: keep your employees happy, and don't interfere with their personal lives, and they work harder. Impose stupid restrictions and watch morale disintegrate.
This argument assumes that the employees are responsible people. (If they aren't, the company has worse problems than a few cell phone calls.)
Don't make a big deal about it, just keep bringing your mobile phone to work. Don't make a big deal about bringing it or not bringing it, just keep on keeping on.
Rules don't really apply to engineers, anyway.
:wq
I'd say comply with the rule, but then also remove all paging from the servers to your personal devices. Then when something goes down its not your problem. Servers that crash will be discovered when you get in in the morning and fixed during proper work hours. If they want to make you carry a pager, insist on a pay increase. Carrying a pager basically means you are working 24/7 and the pay should reflect that. I love how management these days wants to further restrict employees on personal time at work but at the same time insist that employees give up after hours and weekend time to do work. The way I look at it is its a "you do this for me, I'll do this for you" kind of thing. You let me use my cell phone at work, I'll allow the work servers to send warnings to my personal phone. You let me have free access to the web then I won't complain about having to stay after work or work on weekends. You pay me every 2 weeks, I'll show up at work, hit all my deadlines and do a good job.
Being a good employee is one thing, letting companies walk all over you is completely different.
Every time someone asked me something stupid, I opened 2 beers - one for me and one for my Newfie.
Boss comes in, sees 8 empties lined up behind the monitor, and a drunk dog passed out on the floor snoring ...
End result - fewer stupid questions. Sometimes you've got to go completely against the grain to make a point.
Cripes, I hope you're including the decimal point when you say their salaries are 8 digits! Or maybe they sell to the Department of Defense and make commission :)
And make sure your resume is up to date, you may want to use it soon.
Tech Public Policy stuff
I am considering refusing to take work calls or text messages on my personal cell phone
What? You mean you were taking work calls in the first place on your personal cell phone??
I have a personal cell phone - but it's personal, ie I pay the bill for it. I do not give out the number to anyone at work. I will sometimes use it to make work-related calls, but that's for my convenience, not theirs. If they wanted me to use it for receiving work calls...well, they'd have to pay the bill instead of me.
Use your cell phone for your convenience, not your employer's.
I'll do it for him. It means that, since he could already steal anything he wants and the company evidently trusts him not to exercise this ability, having a cellphone, even a camera phone like they're worried about, won't increase his ability to thieve company IP.
Basically, why would a camera phone make this more likely when he's allowed to copy the documents anyway?
Legal disputes are common in business. I have seen quite a few in my career where years worth of emails/phone records had to be dug up and inspected by lawyers. Then the employee interrogated. In one case, a semi-sarcastic email was inspected by both parties lawyers, and the author was grilled for days about the particular meaning of that email. Now these are usually emails that are 2-3 years old, because litigation takes a great deal of time. If you have no problem with your company and their lawyers and their clients lawyers pouring through your phone call list, then by all means, use your home phone for work reasons. Otherwise get them to shell out for a work phone or stop taking calls. Don't forget, regardless of the work ethics you possess (which I'm guessing are good if your giving your clients your personal mobile number), it's not _your_ company...you can only work within the bounds set by the companies directors and managers no matter how much you would like to go beyond them. There's probably some very good reasons (beyond the legal one stated above) for this move that you don't have access to.
My company has a "No Cell Phone BATTERY" policy in effect.
That means, if you want to come in, you have to REMOVE your cell phone battery. Not only is powering it off not enough, but you physically have to prove that it can not be powered on and transmit any information.
They also insert keylocks on floppy and CD drives.
Laptops, if you are so 'fortunate' to have one, have the IR ports desoldered and the microphone jack plugged.
All documents are to be carried in folders; nothing is to be made visible.
Optical cabling is run out from shielded conduit; converter boxes take it the last few feet to the computer.
So yeah, whining about losing your cellphone? Check your messages a bit more often or work to get a pager in place, if they'll let that (I don't think mine does).
Besides, I used to work in another area that banned cell phones because they were concerned that the fumes from 2000 gallon tanks of boiling solvent might get ignited. After a few demonstration videos of small scale going ka-boom, I declined carrying any form of contact with me except a paper clipboard.
My work once gave me shiny new laptop.
It was great for awhile - but then they kept asking me to do work after hours.
All of a sudden I was being pulled into meetings after my normal work hours for dressing downs.
Another person on the 'team' needed the laptop and I gave it too them and never asked for it back.
shrug ... I work in a SCIF. Can't even take in a pocket calculator, much less a cell phone. In fact, cell phones with cameras aren't allowed anywhere on the base anymore.
I think the issue of using a cell phone at work is a symptom of a larger issue, and that's exactly how much of your life does your employer own. It speaks to a larger theory called work-life balance. Do you have life to supply work for your employer, or do you work to support your life? Look at what potions of your life you already give up for your employer and find the balance point. Taken in a larger context, your employer banning the use of your cell phone at work, no matter how well justified or logically supported, can be viewed as just another way for them to assert control over your life.
For the record, I do own and use my own cell phone for personal and work related purposes. But then again, I work someplace where they treat us like adults - people who voluntarily give of ourselves to the company for profit (both our own and the company, which is our own as well thanks to stock options), and how will reimburse me for work-related phone calls on my cell and wired phones.
In the end, you get to ask yourself what you want on your tombstone:
He worked hard and made a lot of money in a job he didn't like for an employer he hated.
-- or --
He loved his life.
...and you run and you run and you can't stop what's been done...
If they won't let you use your own, then they'll apparently need to supply you with one, won't they?
Have you discussed it with your manager? Going to HR with the backing of your manager will carry much more weight than you alone would.
I think there is allot of grey area that the policy doesn't cover. For example a digital watch. It is a personally owned electronic device. There are quite a few such devices (pace makers, bionics, etc). The point is that it is a know fact that some personal items/traits are of benifit to a company. Having a watch to be on time to meeting or work in general is a good example. Or electronic associated with health. Once the grey area starts to be defined, I belive the deciding factor will be ultimately "does this personal device benifit the company". For IT folks, Cell Phones surely benifit the company. On the other hand, if the company knew about your personal/side ventures, possibly even seeing them as qualifications in your case (the ability to maintain servers, etc.), and agreed to allow you to continue to maintain them, then as per THAT agreement, they need to make an exception.
emp: Do you remember our agreement that I am allowed to maintain my current projects/server as part of my employment here?
sup: Yes I do.
emp: I use my cell phone to make maintaining those servers as small of an impact to my job here. If I am to comply with this new policy, I would have to re-route my text messages to company email, the phone call to company phones, take more time off of work to handle situations, etc. How would you like me to incorporate the new policy?
sup: Yes, I see your point. Please continue to use your personal cell phone
OR
sup: YOUR FIRED! GET OUT! NOW! AND DON'T LET THE DOOR....
A friend will come and bail you out of jail, a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "damn that was fun!"
That might solve the problem, you get a page, then you check in with it via email or landline phone.
make world, not war
My wife works at Wal*Mart. Their policy bans Cell Phones for employees as well.
So, your company is in good company.
(/sarcasm)
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
At least _that_ one we sorted out :)
It's pretty irrational, when you think about it, getting charged for incoming calls.
Wow. You've changed my life with your wisdom and insight. Not really. Actually you just managed to piss me off with yet more /. platitudes.
this sounds alot like many companies attempts to eliminate distractions at work, in an effort to increase productivity. they try to achieve this by eliminating or restricting web access, outlawing cell phones, personal calls, personal email, etc.
/. for a minute or two a handful of times a day.
what companies fail to realize is that if John or Jane Employee wants to avoid working for a while, they can just as easily stare at the wall, go to the restroom, or get a drink of water; as they can surf the web. should we expect to be required to have hall passes to relieve ourselves in the future to make sure we aren't abusing our restroom privleges?!
i think these sorts of moves do nothing more then dump fuel on the always existing fires of disentment. it's employee disentment that likely contributes the most to low productivity, not checking out the news on
1. You have no specific right to be able to use your personal phone in the work place, period. Arguing about personal rights sounds good, but you're on company time, company money and company resources. Sorry. Your employer has the liberty to restrict anything that comes into the work place. If you need to receive emergency or other sorts of calls, that's what your manager can do. If you need to make personal calls: that's called on your lunch break. In practice, most work places allow use of business phones / communication services for "reasonable" personal use: just don't abuse it is the usual rule.
... "necessary for my job function": it smelled very badly that she just wanted to chat at work, and the helpdesk ticket was rejected. You don't want to look like this girl: you need to put forward a professional case.
2. If you need the cell phone for your duties: then you should have it funded by the company. If it's not absolutely necessary for your work, there's not much you can do about claiming that denying it to you undermines your employment contract (this argument can work in some countries). In the case of your sort of work, I don't think you could argue that it's absolutely necessary to do your job, but in reality, it's probably making you a more effective employee. If they are short sighted about this: try to change their attitude, or find a new and smarter work place. That's life.
3. Because of your job function, there's probably a good argument that a cell phone adds enough value so that your role should be an exception to the general rule. Either the exception is that they allow you to use your own phone for work purposes, or they fund it for use in business purposes only. If you want to make your argument for this: you need to present a bottom line oriented business case: just _exactly_ how does the cell phone actually concretely contribute to making you a more effective employee and how does it contribute to the bottom line: some examples and so on would help. Again, if they aren't convinced by this (and they're not obliged to), then tough for you: find a new workplace. When you go to the interview for the new workplace, check out these details to see whether it's the kind of place you want to work.
I once saw a helpdesk ticket from someone asking for "MSN Messenger" installation for "communication with people in israel"
Tell them to buy you a cell phone. That kills the "personal" part of the policy. I wouldn't pay to take work calls anyway.
On the other side and closer to your original artical title. I don't support ANYTHING that Joe User brings in from home.
"Say my kid just gave me this Palm 3 for Christmas, please hook it up and support it for me now."
Yeah right. Nor do I accept personal laptops on my network, business card readers, USB cell phones, blaa blaa blaa. Personal? That's nice... bu-bye.
I'm a sysadmin at a mostly-mac scientific institute. Some of the labs allow scientists to bring in personal laptops, and we have many windows laptops that are personally owned. I understand the problem, and how these scientists need their own computers, but it is nothing but a pain for us because their computers aren't patched, aren't virus-scanned, etc, and when they bring them home to work on their dsl lines, these scientists end up bringing an infected computer in which spreads to all the windows-only instrument computers. Thus, I will be the last person to condone personally-owned equipment-it provides nothing but headaches to our department.
They might not be cost effective but I feel much more comfortable having my critical alerts going to it.
"Thanks to the remote control I have the attention span of a gerbil."
And why did this make Slashdot at all?
Next thing you know people will get stories posted about how their girlfriend cheated on them, and they are thinking about killing her.. but aren't sure if there might be a better way.
Any suggestions as to how I can get this policy overturned without looking like someone who wants to spend my working time on my cell rather than coding?
How about, send what you posted to your boss in email.. minus the immature threats about quitting, and explaining to him that either you can use your phone, or maybe that could get you an alpha pager or company phone?
When my Mom was in the intensive care unit 3 years ago, there were all kinds of "NO CELL PHONES ALLOWED" signs posted, but what did I see at nurse's station in the center of the room, not 10 feet from my mom and no more than 20 feet than most of the ICU stations? A DOCTOR ON HIS CELL PHONE!
At that point, I knew it was a bullshit ban implemented by either lawyers ("save us from 0.00000001% liability risk") , administrators ("working the the dihydrogen monoxide risk, too"), or some anti-cellphone zealot ("it is not polite to patients to hear ringing or talking during nap/meal time").
Maybe at one time there was medical equipment that was analog-monitored on FCC part 27 ("unregulated") spectrum, but I highly doubt that anymore. I'd think that manufacturers would have hardened their wireless system to be immune from casual interference, since fuckups would cost them money, too.
You can try a wireless pocket PC while you're in the work place.
This kind of reminds me of an asinine decision made at my first real job. The CIO decided that every computer in the organization would all be the same and contain the same exact software located in the same place. No extra software, no customization of anything. The thought being that an employee can be trained once and use any computer in the company. When they implemented it, IT went around an basically backed up and wiped every computer then installed all the accepted software. When I, any my co-workers came back in on Monday we were greeted with a PC that had nothing but Office and custom internal applications. We knew what was going on but just assumed it didn't include our department which did all the custom development for the company. Our compilers and other development tools were gone. They were not on the list and hence not allowed. The brianiacs at IT would not let us install anything on the PCs. That lasted about 3 days while the committes talked and finaly went to the CIO for a decision. Of course exceptions were made for us, the programmers and soon for other groups and soon it was totally reversed. So basically, the moral of the story is blanket directives like that and the no personal tech are lame brained and are indicitve of management that will soon drive the company into the ground.
tell your boss the problem with the new rule if they refuse to make an exception/provide you with pager then send all the "the server has died a most horrid death" emails to your boss. that way, he's to blame if the server isn't back up quick. (remember to tell him that you are going to do this tho)
From their point of view they pay people to work,
and they believe they're spending their time on the
phone on personal businees instead. Rather than fire
the people who do this they're putting in a new
policy.
You should not have used your personal
phone for company business. They're not paying
for it, and you shouldn't use it for
personal business during work hours.
Tell them you won't bring your phone any more.
If they expect you to be on call tell them
they can provide the phone.
-- Programming with boost is like building a house with lego. It's a cool but I wouldn't want to live in it
What is not mentioned is why the policy exists in the first place. How you can we advise on how to overturn the policy if we don't why it is there to start off with?
I have always worked in places where cell phones are an integral part of the business communications network, even if work is not paying for it. It is seen as a device that can more easily contact someone than a desk phone. I am not sitting at my desk from the time I arrive at work to when I leave at the end of the day.
Then again with the current economy you might have no other choice but to swallow it (or go work at Mickey-Dees).
But can I have an alert set to send me a text message when the fries are done?You bastard, get back to work!
When GE told Charles Proteus Steinmetz that he couldn't smoke at work anymore he said "If the cigar goes, Steinmetz goes!"
Since the guy practically invented AC, they kept both him and his cigars.
Life is too short to proofread.
In the real corporate world he'll get blamed and the boss will go on his way. I've seen it happen often.
But I feel compelled to respond.
Never, and I mean NEVAR!!!!1 use psersonal property at work (save your clothes, of course). My job strictly forbids bringing in outsode technology for work. No laptops, no PCs, no privately owned backup systems, no cell phones, no PDAs, nothing. It's either owned by my employer or it stays home.
If having alerts sent to you is so important find a solution that abides by this rule. The most obvious is to get your employer to pony up teh money for a company owned pager for you to recieve alerts on. This will satisfy their desire to make sure you aren't goofing off on your cell phone and it will allow you to get the alerts you need.
A little thought and less "OMFG! I'm being oppressed!" and you might have gotten to that conclusion on your own.
Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
I'm really amazed at the number of "why do you need one?" posts. Sorry, but yours is one of the more pedantic and supportive of totalitarian work rules.
We also don't "need" computers, the internet, cars, air conditioning or any of the other components of the 21st century, except for that they all make us way more productive and in touch.
Employers who embrace this and make it work for them will reap huge rewards, those with control agendas or luddite tendencies will pay the penalty.
Simple: get them to pay for your cell phone/service.
Oh, and don't do something stupid like quit your job. Have you looked around you? A "no employee equipment" clause seems petty compared to the concerns many of us currently have. Value what you have and don't complain.
Other than that, there's more than enough sound advice here already.
~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
Now make a list of alternative methods(email, pager, whatever) and the response times you will have for problems - don't forget to detail after-hours and weekends to show clearly what will happen.
Our Tech manager did this and he also suggested using BlackBerry devices. The upper management bought a large number of them for select employees to use and that was fine for us.
Side story...One previous employer actually wanted me to buy a cell phone for work. I flatly refused, stating that the company should provide whatever tools/items I need to do my job. After being threatened with termination, I got one and started submitting my cell phone bills each month on the expense reports. After paying for it without realizing it for over one year, I got chewed out by one of the accounting staff. I wasn't hiding it, it said "Cell Phone" and a full copy of my bill was stapled to each one, and it was signed-off by my manager(always read before you sign :) ) I sent my boss an email detailing the business uses of my cell phone and the response times to problems along with how long it would have been without one. I included examples from the past year and said that if the company doesn't care to reimburse me then service will not be as good. I BCC'ed his boss and his boss's boss as well as the head of accounting.
My manager wasn't mad, but not only did they decide to get me a phone, they got one for him and a bunch of other people also -some business contract for a large lot of phones knocked the per-phone cost down, or so said the accounting dorks.
Flash is the Herpes of the Internet.
your.opinion >
I know some of this has been mentioned before, here's my suggestion: First submit a business case to your boss and CC it to HR and whatever group that's institute this policy. Explain the necessity of it and how crucial it is to your job. Give them real life and possibly slightly exaggerated scenarios. In those scenarios, include the impact it would be to their business in dollar amounts. I personally include how much it would cost the company per minute if the major database server were down. If you were alerted, it would be back up in 9 minutes vs. 3 hours. In my experience this is the best first step to make the IT dept. an exception. Possibly provide an alternative like a two way text pager (i.e. Blackberry or the Motorola ones). Second, if that doesn't work, ignore the rule. If they're going to be really anal about it and possibly take disciplinary actions against you, you may want to skip this one. Third, if those don't work, follow the rule exactly. Send everyone you sent the first business case a letter explaining again how crucial it is to your job. Give them alternatives to your cell phone. Most importantly, state you will follow the rule to the letter. When the feces do hit the fan and they complain to you about how long it took just for you find out it was down, slap it right back in their face and tell them this is why you needed a mobile device to alert you of such situations. State that you had warned them on two occasions and were even kind enough to provide alternatives. In my experience it sometimes is necessary to follow their obtuse rules to the letter just for them to realize that they should have listened. If it were me and they left a bad taste in my mouth about one, two, and/or three, I might go as far as making the server crash. I would probably have a cron job do it at the peak of business and would already be at lunch. I would make sure no one else knew that I was doing it and it couldn't be traced back to me (i.e. the script deletes itself after it's done). Just to take things a step further, I'd make sure the people that could fix it are also out/unavailable. A common issue is usually good; but make it 10x worse. If the server honestly goes down without any "persuasion," no one knew about it and it stayed down for a long time, and they're being stupid/blaming you, it's time to find another job. I would make sure everyone involved, including from my first suggestion, gets a copy of your resignation letter. State everything that happened. Above all else, document everything you do. Best of luck to you.
Convincing management requires trying to think from their perspective. Most likely, your new policy is the result of some knucklehead outside your department abusing the system. So my advice is to comply, be agreeable, and let the heat stay on that knucklehead instead of you. Reprogram all your paging scripts to NOT call your personal cellphone. Leave yours in your glovebox and don't give that number to anyone in your workplace. As far as they are concerned, you are available at home or while you are at work. I once worked for an IT dept that had a simple solution for the "problem" of employee-owned technology. In this case the "problem" was the fiscally conservative accounting department. Acknowledging that any normal person would use the same phone for biz AND personal calls, IT agreed to reimburse us monthly for cell-phone expenses, but only if we followed 2 ground rules. It could not exceed 70$/mth and the provider had to be the same for each employee. This proved to adequately cover the minutes needed for both personal and telephone calls with the same phone. Because the monthly bill was consistent, the accounting dept did not have to see an itemized list of calls, just a copy of the front page of the phone bill. Our department never stood out as abusing the system, and each one us could make as many personal calls as we liked.
-- Jimtown Kelly
My car has a little cubby underneath the radio, in which I keep my celphone. When I get calls on it (ATT GSM), it noticably distorts the sound. Of course, this works no matter how loud the radio is playing. Interestingly, it also distorts it slightly when I go under bridges or into other areas where it needs to boost its power to keep the "dial tone" level connection going - but that's not bad, just noticable if you pay attention.
You're special forces then? That's great! I just love your olympics!
Seriously... if _that_ much of it is for work, and they aren't willing to pay it, then you really don't need it that badly.
When you "get your ass chewed out" for not having the cell phone on you, tell them that you couldn't afford to keep up the payments.
If it's important enough to them that you be reachable when you aren't in the office, they will pay for the phone.
Don't bother threatening to do this... That will not be well received... just do it.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
I don't have a cell phone, but I could use a job.
Hey, I'd think it was GREAT - change my cell phone number, DON'T give it to the boss, and put in caller ID at home - don't answer if it's the office. Now their stuck either buying you a beeper (sorry boss, I was no where near a phone - couldn't call you), or a cell phone
OH, BTW, my computer at home has problems running the VPN software you want, and I can't log in - it's going to take me 3 hours to get to the office...
...my cell phone is my life line to both my personal and professional worlds. I keep it on in case the unthinkable were to happen to my child and loved ones and my best customers have it on speed dial if they can't reach me at the office. In truth, companies can ban them all they wish but as long as you have a serious need for it (like children) they cannot say a word or risk litigation.
Quit!
Then I can have your job.
We're a financial services company and we banned camera/cell-phones recently after our competitors had a nightmare scenario pop-up.
A person who was running their imaging group (scanning signed loan documents into imaging DB) and would use her cell/camera to take a close-up of the docs, and harvest the personal information for later sale to organized crime. Very embarassing for them, and costly as well, as they were sued by half-a-dozen people whose info was stolen in this manner. It is getting ugly. AND the Feds might fine them for the breach of security... Ouch!
So while I agree, the IT guy needs a phone, its understandable for people to be leery of their employees cell-phones.
Who did what now?
Are you really that childish that you would quit over this? We have a no cell phone policy, of course company phones are exempt, and it causes no problems. Do not take company calls on your cell phone if you pay for it, thats your right but to quit and be a big baby?
Just silly.
I still don't understand how that worked to prove the point...
SIG: HUP
Together, we will drive the rats from the tundra.
In response to their decision to ban employee-owned technology in the workplace, I would recognise that my brain is employee owned, and therefore I should switch it off on entry to the building.
This is off topic, but who cares...
In the summer, the office where I used to work often got pretty hot and the air-conditioning wasn't quite enough to keep up. Many of the employees started to wear short pants to work to compensate. The company decided one day to try to enforce a "no-shorts" policy (allegedly to make the office more "formal"). One of my co-workers brought up the fact to the pointy-hairs bosses that the skirts that women wore were just-like short-pants and this policy was being applied unfairly. But the pointy-hairs bosses initially just blew him off...
Then one day when it was really hot, he wore a skirt to work in protest. As it turns out the same day there were some outside folks in the office that were contemplating purchasing some stuff and touring the site.
Shortly after this incident, there was no longer a ban on short pants in the office...
Get rid of it, cellphones are the worst fucking nightmare that ever happened to America... I remember back in 2002, before anyone had them... then I go away for 1 frick'in year, and come back, and they're ubiquitous! NIGHTMARE
6 /6303/20398
Checkout my Kuro5hin.org diary post regarding:
http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2003/7/
Do you pay to receive SMS messages in the USA???
What about to send? That, too? So both sender and receiver pay?
And I thought paying ~AUD$0.22 per (to send) SMS here in Australia was too expensive.. how much does it cost in the US?
Important info:
http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net
http://dieoff.org/synopsis.htm
http://www.peakoil.net
I bet you are one of the types that thinks an one year gap in an employment history is the Mark of the Beast. Live to serve, serve to buy, buy to live. You suck.
Obviously, they DECREED this without consulting the departments about some changes. Most likely a S-OX auditor walked in and mentioned the "dangers" of camera phones and employee lazyness...and how the company could be sued tommorrow... Management does really stupid things when the lawyers peep. Often it's what they SAY that caused the trouble...not the reasons why they need to make such changes.
Why in the hell would you need a server to text message you while you're *at* work? Wouldn't you already know it's down?
:)
And, on a more personal note, lemme know where you work, what you do, and who I should give my resume to, I wanna be on top of things when you give up a job in this wonderful economy, I'm always looking for more work.
I agree with the author. I would protest loudly about that policy. I pay for my own wireless phone at work. I've been considering dropping the service to save a few bucks, but I think my co-workers would lynch me as a result. It is just too useful a tool for a system administrator who needs to move between four buildings.
Since I'm also technically the boss of my IT department, I do have some rules in place. Namely, a "minimal intrusion" policy. That includes turning off audible ringers in areas where the noise would interrupt regular activities, (as well as doing certain types of work off-hours).
E-mail is not nearly as efficient or convenient (I can't sit down at any PC and read confidential material in front of someone else). Voice mail is just plain annoying (I have three voicemail boxes, but I only use the one tied to my wireless service, because I don't have to go to a certain location to check it). I also have three regular inter-office mailboxes. Beepers are like the idiot lights of the communication industry: "Something's wrong? What?! Ohmygod, where's the nearest landline!?"
Fred
"A fool and his freedom are soon parted"
-RMS
This is NOT funny. It doesn't make any sense.
This has to be the stupidest thing I've ever seen posted on slashdot. Can't believe it is receiving front page attention. I would agree that the company policy is stupid... but - what a little whining baby! I would never want to have an employee like this guy. Yeah - go quit your job cause you can't use a stupid cell phone....quitter. Sounds to me you've used your cell phone a little too much and your suffering from dementia. If you setup your personal phone to recieve alerts its your own fault. You should have approached your boss from the beginning and asked for a company cell phone to do it. It shouldn't be a pain in the butt to change your alerts. Don't make a stink out of it. If you have job issues like this take it to your boss not the slashdot community.
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In Punishment, You Must:
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Harshly worded, but essentially true. Be creative, be crafty! Or be a slave.
The stupid rules managers come up with to try to "control" people's productivity inevitably hinder the people who are actually being productive more than they prevent the jack-offs from jacking-off.
And have you noticed the rules are always coined by those who don't seem to do much of anything tangible themselves?
executives do not pull powerpoint presentations out of their asses.
you sure about that?
You can't expect to wield supreme executive power, just because some watery tart threw a sword at you
Basically, if I was wasting time arguing with people who were clueless about why something had to be a certain way, and it was not their business anyway, this was taking time away from what I should have been doing.
So the boss has a choice at that point if he wants the project to go forward.
If you're in charge of the network and the servers, remember, you are GOD.
To further put this in context, all this happened while I was removing Windows from everyone's boxes, and they were all moaning and groaning (much wailing and gnashing of teeth, etc...).
It's basic human psychology (something /.ers aren't supposed to be too good at, but what the hell).
I made the point, non-too-subtly, that if people are going to waste my time, I'm not going to continue stressing over it. Once they saw that their baiting was only giving me an excuse to get my hound drunk, and that even this outrageous behaviour would be tolerated, given the context, it stopped, and I stopped drinking on the job (and pretty much off the job - I can hold my booze, I just don't feel the need to drink. Besides, I have an unfair advantage in that area - a paradoxical reaction to alcohol w. insulin. If I need to sober up quick, a shot of insulin does wonders. DO NOT TRY THIS. My metabolism is a bit weird, even compared to other Type 1 diabetics, so you'll probably end up in a coma, or brain-dead).
I've seen 'snopes' and I saw 'mythbusters' but you've got to admit they didn't run the most thorough investigations.
It doesn't address shorts, fires, battery overheats, sparking, etc.
Just because they claim the 'ringing' won't start the fire doesn't mean there aren't other modes of failure that an electronic device can cause.
Control systems are inherently safe, pressurized Nitrogen, automatic shutdown in case of system pressure loss.
So until they give me a nitrogen encased phone, complete with regulated N2 supply, I won't take my chances. More importantly, I won't gamble with my coworker's lives- I'm not God.
As long as the policy doesn't impact your pay or employment status... who cares?
As I see it, if your employer wants to pay you to be less productive, that's their problem, not yours.
Don't worry, it will probably only take a couple weeks after the policy becomes effective for them to give you the tools you need (read: employer supplied pager-type-gizmo or cell phone)
It is quite simple
Haiku should not be funny
Try a Senryu
Y'all need to be less touchy.
--- Ban humanity.
Here's the technology policy at this Fortune 50 company I worked at once.
3 people per company-sponsored computer.
No bringing in a computer.
No PDA's.
No outside software.
No use of outside e-mail (e.g., Hotmail).
No using the company name outside of work in any e-mail.
Strangely, cell phones were ignored.
Usually the HR department gets enthusiastic about a new piece if 'legislation' for a few weeks, implements it, then, when the next hot topic appears, starts to forget about it.
The point is after enough beer it dosen't matter
This must be Thursday, I never could get the hang of Thursdays.
Hey, I did it. It's the truth. It was VERY funny. And it made my point, which was, If you're going to waste my time, I can find better ways to waste it.
To attempt to fathom out exactly what problems they are trying to avoid with this new policy; it isn't clear from the original post.
Are they trying to avoid people yacking all day (seems strange; what about IM and e-mail)
Are they worried about proprietary secrets being leaked due to people with camera-wielding mobiles?
Old fashioned control-freakery with no reason? (seems unlikely)
Once you have figured this out, you will have a better idea of how to get the policy turned around or amended, without treading on the aims of the policy.
I don't see what you can possibly do in this situation, short of quitting. If they don't trust their own employees, then they're not going to be receptive to employee feedback. If you dissent politely, they'll smile and ignore you. If you dissent rudely, you'll just reinforce their patronizing attitude.
And playing work-to-rule games ("I didn't know the server was down because my cell was switched off, as per policy") isn't going to help either. It's just another way of communicating something the bosses don't want to hear, except that it also makes them look stupid. Which is not likely to make them receptive.
Sometimes management falls into the mode of treating employees like spoiled children -- people who can't be communicated with, only bullied into a semblance of correct behavior. If you can figure out a way to change that attitude, you've really got something (like a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize!). If you can't, there's not a lot you can do.
"The dumber it is, the more religiously you should follow it, and make darned sure that all of your buddies fall in line with the company's new direction as well."
When you do this, you set yourself up to be pointed out as "the one who decided to be stubborn." Take it from me, I've seen it happen to people plenty of times where I work. Being a smart-ass in this way does not get anyone anywhere.
+++ATH0
... no cellphones allowed at work? Sounds perfectly lovely.
Al Qaeda has ninjas!
It allows you to communicate between computers that are even, yes, 600 miles apart. I can think of about 3,000 ways to accomplish the problem you lay out above, using this astonishing new method of communication.
Your server is capable of sending a text message to your cell phone, but not of talking to any other computer? Where do you work?
Let me guess, this policy was instituted because some people can't be bothered to turn the ringer to their cell phone off when they're in the office?
"You do as they say w/o too many questions. If you don't like the working conditions you find another place that is more towards your liking."
Just like those accountants/assistants/middle managers that knew something was up with Enron's book. Just following what the boss(es) say, don't ask question or you might find your position is no longer needed.
Ironic, but most of those positions are no longer needed now.
And even more to the extreme... just like those Nazi Prison Camp Guards. Don't ask questions, move along, follow the rules and we won't shoot you for thinking anything other then what we tell you. *roll* WTF?
My philosophy (or at least one of them), Question Authority, tactfully and with diplomacy, but always Question Authority!
If not outright at least in your mind.
Who says they know best??? If "they" are HR and they are making policy that is going to affect your computers, they probably do not what is best.
Let them know, politely.
If one accepts everything they are handed in terms of policy and procedure, well you have no right to complain when you are replaced by a robot.
Both extreme examples I know, I just have a problem with the whole attitude of "if you don't like it, then leave" mentality.
How about if you don't like my questions you leave, before I use this cell phone to aerate your skull?
If he needs to be paged at all hours and they won't allow him to use a personal phone they should make his phone a business. Chances are if he's being paged at all hours he might need to be calling people too.
That's the deal here. My phone is a company phone and the company has will take over the payments for anyone who already has their own mobiles and needs to be contactable for work purposes (it's still their phone and number if they leave). Getting to make personal calls on company money is just an upside to the downside of being woken up at 4am when a router farts and your server isn't contactable for a minute.
It shouldn't be a major issue to point the paging system at a different number if the guy leaves or is on holiday.
Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
I am considering refusing to take work calls or text messages on my personal cell phone, and even quitting in protest of the new policy.
Refusing to take work calls and text messages on your personal cell is something I would have been doing from the beginning. My personal cell costs me money, and unless they're compensating me for its use, they will not be using it to contact me.
If an employer feels that it's going to be necessary to contact me when I'm not at work, they should pay for a cell phone or (God forbid!) a pager.
Advise your employer that the new policy is unacceptable to you, and give the reasons why. Also let them know that you will be looking for other employment unless the policy is changed back. Chances are they won't care, but you put yourself in a better position. If they terminate you because of it, you can get unemployment compensation while you look for other employment(assuming that you're in the US).
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
It's too bad the mods around here have smelly floppy lips between their legs.
Cell phone communications are relatively easy to eavesdrop upon. Are your email alerts being sent and received in an encrypted format? Unlikely since few phones support encrypted mail. A hacker could gain much valuable information on your company network simply by intercepting your email alerts sent to your phone. The same is true for work-related voice conversation with your cell phone. Camera equipped phones are an additional, if different, problem.
Are you keeping your phone physically secure? If someone steals you phone, will he/she now be able to receive your vital email alerts?
Of course, it would take a determined hacker to do the above things. But if your company is concerned with security, then their cell phone ban is not at all far-fetched. If they are merely concerned with people yakking about private matters on their phones all day, then maybe you can get them to change the policy.
Shortly after I started my current IT job (1.5 years ago), my manager told us all that they were implementing a no cell phone policy. I was quite angered by that, for similar reasons to yours, but didn't say anything, and just set my cell phone to vibrate, and kept it in my pocket.
It turned out that it was the ringing of cell phones that was the issue (since we take lots of customer calls, and they hear all the cell phones ringing in the background), and not the actual cell phones, so what I did turned out to be the correct solution.
Now (1.5 years later), everyone, including my manager has a cell phone, and I am probably the only one who still uses vibrate-only mode. Go figure.
- Eric, InvisibleRobot.com
If I have my new, Siemens GSM phone within 10 feet of my wired, corded handset, I can hear it 'chirp' to join the network.
We're talking a CORDED phone. Not wireless. No RF interferance in the signal. An INDUCED current in the pickup itself. From 10 feet away.
I wonder if that would kick a modem off.
So yes, cell phones can cause interferance with equipment. If you don't believe me, on a few instances people have heard it while I'm talking to them on the phone. I'd be happy to speak to you and let you hear it 'chirp' when I force a network renegotiation.
In future, remember this: many devout individuals on the Indian sub-continent don't drink. And they don't mind if you waste their time so long as you make up their pay cheque.
I do want I want, if you don't like it, and have no valid reason for protesting, I walk.
Hehe gotta be careful with that attitude. I've consulted for companies that had sysadmins with that attitude. Pretty easy to slap them down to reality and guess what? I got paid $80/hr to do it ;)
Point being that they always have the option of bringing someone in from the outside. You can stand your ground but I wouldn't go walking around calling yourself god and pissing everyone off. Nobody is irreplaceable.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
They are the boss. Just state your case for a pager to managment ( you dont need a cell phone to receive pages from ill servers ).
And grow up, act like an adult instead of whining that you cant bring your toys to work. A LOT of places ban personal items like that.
Geesh.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
When my phone is near my computer speakers, my speakers "ring" before my phone does. Used to freak the girlfriend out when I'd pick up my cell phone before it rang.
paintball
The only honorable thing to do is to quit. By the way, what is the mailing address for your HR department?
If you don't have a company-issued cellphone that you could use, then you work for one cheap-ass company. I don't know how anyone in IT can function without a cellphone these days.
If they are banning personal cellphones outright, then they should provide you with one for business use, with some personal calls allowed for emergencies and such. At my job, I carry a company-owned Nextel for business calls and my own personal phone for everything else, and never the twain shall meet.
When I wanted a better workstation, I gave up the one my company provided and built one for myself out of stuff left over when I upgraded my box at home. And when I wanted a flat panel display because my 17" CRT was hogging too much desk real estate, I bought one of those, too.
Sometimes it pays to work for a small company. We don't have to worry about bullshit like "company property" and who own what data because of who owns the hard drive it's sitting on and all that. If I ever quit, I nuke the hard drive and leave with everything but my desk.
As has been hinted at in previous posts, many times in life there's the "Official Policy" and the "Unofficial Policy". Check to see what the unofficial policy is before complaining about the offical one. It's what seperates the elites from the nobbs...
-Chris
--an unbreakable toy is useful for breaking other toys--
just use your phone as usual. sooner or later your boss is gonna see it and tell you about it. then you proceed to explain:
you take the boss down to the mainframe cave (or "datacenter" as they call in the "new english"), and pull the cord on one of the database servers and show him how it notifies you. then you tell him "do you have a better or faster way?" in the worst case you'll get a pager.
My girlfriend's roommate has a brand new record player that makes awful noises while it is playing a record just before a cell phone that is within about 3 feet of it begins to ring and continues to make the noise until you move away from it or end the call.
Go to personnel and tell them that you need to be able to receive emergency calls from your family and you will continue to carry the phone while at work. End of story. Don't beg. Don't grovel. Don't whine.
If they fire you over that, your job was not all that stable to begin with.
Why not get a cordless handset for your desk? Then you can be anywhere at work and people can still reach via landline. Calls should be cheaper too.
you never take personal calls on that phone at work after all
so get a company phone
vibrating alert on your for emergencies
Christ. If American companies wanted to get real about productivity they would have a couple of shared and very public workstations for NECESSARY web access... and disable port 80 to **everyone's** desktop.
I am very small, utmostly microscopic.
... which means you're at least in your 30s (unless you were some sort of child prodigy, which I'm pretty sure you weren't, judging from the unimpressive intelligence level displayed by your comment), and you're getting your kicks via spurious critiques of others' English while displaying your own loose grip on it. How very grown up of you!
Leave criticism to those qualified to give it.
The correct solution is to remove the battery, microwave for 7 seconds on "HIGH" then re-insert the battery.
No fireworks, just a slight scorched smell and the blissful sound of silence.
I do not deploy Linux. Ever.
Make sure you tell them what will happen when their server network goes down and you don't know..
:-) carry on.. god kn^H^H^H^H BOFH knows that they'll change their tune when the excrament hits the whirling blades.... ;-)
Inform them on the consaquences of this policy is going to be.. then if they still don't care..
"Consider how lucky you are that life has been good to you so far. Alternatively, if life hasn't been good to you so far
Calling someone else in would be stupid, since the only people I piss off are the ones who are pissing me off, and I wait until there's LOTS of evidence that I've expended more patience than the proverbial Job of the bible :-)
Besides, a lot of people truly are irreplaceable. What would American history be like without Abraham Lincoln? Martin Luther King. John Kennedy? Rosa Parks? Monica Lewinsky?
What would Open Source be like without RMS? Darl McBride?
What would world history have been like without Ghengis Khan? Hitler? Mussolini? Winston Chruchill?
What would your health be like without Sir Ian Fleming? Banter and Best? Louis Pasteur?
What would sci-fi be like without Hugo Gernsback? Isaac Asimov? Arthur C. Clarke? Robert Heinlein?
What would space exploration be like without Robert Goddard? Werner von Braun?
And second-to-last, what would your life be like without your mother or father? Certainly, if they had been replaced with other people, you would not be you.
And, finally, if you have kids, you KNOW they are truly irreplaceable. Parents, brothers and sisters, even a spouse come a pale second compared to your own offspring. And your spouse would agree - if it came down to a choice of sacrificing his/her life, or the kids, they would want you to save the kids. The ultimate cruelty is to have to bury your own offspring.
They sent a memo around here stating that they were only gonna expense up to 50 bucks for cell phones... my boss' is typically over 80-100 buck a month. He's traveling a lot, and maintains a constant connection with the office. He said, "well, if something is down, I won't get the call", and made an exception and let me keep his current plan, and expense account.
I've used my personal Powerbook to do production work a lot. I dunno how I feel about it. I started using it because it was faster then my workstation, The when I got a new workstation, I continued to use it just because It make my life easier. Doing more than one thing at a time. Ya know.
I wrote it, please mod accordingly :).
> You do as they say w/o too many questions.
I see that your stint at Mickey D's really has prepared you well in your future job as a cog,
or doormat.
dd.
Follow or not follow a policy?
You don't want to make it easy, do you?
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Umm -- well duh. And "Well duh" on your excessively long list of people. My point was that in the corporate world nobody is irreplaceable. It might cost a fortune to replace them but it can be done.
In any case if all you are doing is pissing on the idiots that are coming to you (the one who writes the code for the custom apps) with bullshit Level 1 problems then good for you. My point was that it's probably not a good idea to adopt the "I am God" attitude with management ;)
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
...does your computer stop working? Sure, the crt that is sensitive to electro-magentic radiation (after all, how else is the electron beam directed). However, your computer continues merilly doing what it was doing before.
I've seen a comment further down saying things about record players, well, if you didn't already know there is a magnetic pickup inside a pickup, that will get effected too, but does it stop working?
If there were any problems with modern mobile phones (and their masts) why is there one on top of a hospital? IIRC masts are much higher powered than the phones themselves.
I am NaN
Specially in open plan offices. It is bad enough with everybody's normal phone. On top of that one has to tolerate the mostly tasteless ringtones of psudo professionals that can't be bothered to show a bit of respect for their colleagues.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
As for quitting your job in protest, well....like it or not you are very easily replaced. Companies these days are run by accountants, not techies or any other people "in the know". No matter how good of a job you do, to them you are simply employee number xxxxx who gets paid $xx.xx dollars an hour. Most bosses aren't even aware at all of exactly what it is you do and how valuable an asset you may be. Come to think of it, I could use a new job....where did you say you work(ed)??
Besides, the whole job hunting thing abslutely sucks, especially today where paper certified tech grunts are a dime a dozen.
"The strong will do what they want, the weak will do what they must."
-Thucydides
Surely there is not a bloddy shop 20 meters away with a normal phone line.
Noooooo!
We need a mobile phone, that did not exist a few years ago.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
You do know it's named after George Bush, Sr, right?
--RJ
every company has its issues, and the best you can do is try to find one whose issues mesh with your workplace comfort.
the shotgun approach typified in your company's new policy is not unusual. basically, what happened was, someone in power saw/heard/felt through The Force that workers were abusing their time at work using personal cell phones. instead of dealing with the abusive individual, the new policy was instituted. you, quite naturally, are insulted, as the company has clearly taken the position that you cannot be trusted to handle personal communication devices otj.
but, these kinds of rules actually exist all over the corporate environment. for example, in order to get reimbursed for my business usage of my personal cell phone, i have to submit my entire, original cell bill. a copy, or any other kind of listing of actual business calls, is not acceptable.
i felt strongly that this was an invasion of my privacy -- who i call with my phone on non-business-related calls is none of their business. so, until i quit using that phone for personal calls, i did not submit any reimbursement requests for that phone. that was an expensive decision, dollar-wise, since i travel nationwide and use that phone extensively. and, every month i got the lecture from my "accountant" -- aka my wife -- about that expense.
you have to make those decisions. personally, i'd reconcile myself to the new program. you have an office phone, so anyone who needs to reach you in an emergency can do so there. if that's not acceptable, many alternatives have been offered. if monitoring devices is actually part of your job -- i.e., not just something you volunteer yourself to do -- then they will either provide you with the means to do it or move the responsibility to someone else. you send the appropriate person an email, informing him/her that you used to do that monitoring on your cell and, since that option is no longer available, they'll have to set up some other arrangement. remember that your goal is to be/appear cooperative. i guarantee you that being obstructionist is a behavior that will yield only poisonous fruit.
in the meantime, try not to take it too personally. gratuitously insulting behavior and demeaning of employees is part and parcel of corporate management's pattern. when you find one that is not that way, you'll probably look around and find yourself saying hello to st. peter.
mp
"The secret to strong security: less reliance on secrets." -- Whitfield Diffie
Same for many figures in the entertainment world. Who are you going to replace Schwartzenegger with? Who else is going to be able to say "I'll be back!" with all the overtones and humour that implies :-?
Peter: Boy, the business world sure is funny.
*cut to scene from Dilbert*
Wally: What do you call it when an employee moves from middle management all the way to upper management?
Dilbert: I don't know. What do you call it?
Wally: A promotion.
Dilbert: Oh. Thanks. *long pause* Here's a memo.
*Dilbert turns and walks off screen, and after a pause, Wally walks off*
Peter: Well, sometimes the business world is funny.
You shouldn't have to use your own personal phone for work purposes anyway. (Note, I did because I didn't want to carry two phones). But they should provide you with a phone if you need it for work, if not, then leave your phone at home and they'll buy you one the next time there's a problem with the servers and you weren't notified immediatly by your phone.
You can easily go around the new policy by getting them to acknowledge fair use. Your job requires timely access to these messages. Either they let you continue to use your personal cell (I use mine for the exact reason too, so I feel your pain) or then your effectiveness takes a hit. That is of course unless they are willing to get you a cheap cell phone that can receive text messages. Virgin Mobile prepaid cell phones start at $50 and the minimum usage is $20 every 90 days, which won't raise any eyebrows. Inbound SMS is free, outbound is 10 cents per message.
...
The thing to understand is that the company is entitled to set these rules. I have seen bus drivers steer with one hand while chatting in the cell, that is a no-no. At a previous job we had people that expected to be entitled to spend the day talking to their girlfriends on the cell all day. Others would bring their laptops and forget to patch and scan them before plugging in. And so it goes
At my current job I work from my personal laptop. The company provided me a Windows desktop but I elected to bring my own iBook and then later switched to a Powerbook. My boss understands that due to the nature of my work it is better for me to use that machine and move around with it, his only concern is that I must make sure my work files are kept in a network drive that is in the backups schedule. He is also concerned about theft, but the only real work material kept in the laptop is old emails and some perl scripts that would be useless to an outsider. If the laptop breaks (heaven forbid!) then I still have my work computer sitting there and I can use it while the powerbook is being repaired.
If they don't want to compromise, then walk.
Pedro
----
The Insomniac Coder
...then start bringing it in again...just like everyone else will do
Big difference between Martha Stewart and most people in the IT group. But I can see when I've lost an argument so I'll stop trying :)
On the slightly offtopic side I figured they should replace her with somebody even more controversial. Perhaps a rename to the O.J. Simpson Design Company, Inc.? Bet your ass nobody would be talking about Martha then ;)
Same for many figures in the entertainment world.
That I definately agree with. That's how entertainment goes.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
"Hehe gotta be careful with that attitude. I've consulted for companies that had sysadmins with that attitude. Pretty easy to slap them down to reality and guess what? I got paid $80/hr to do it ;)"
CONsultants with that attitude are a dime a dozen. And I've yet to meet an IT operations CONsultant who knew which end of the IDE cable went into the motherboard.
Corporatism != Free Market
You're the 3rd one to make me laugh today. Welcome to my friends list :-)
Who cares about such a stupid post! Everybody have to live with some rules in the office or in THE REAL world. I don't understand why /. readers (including moderator) waste their time with this kind of "me my self poor me" post. God damn it, /. may become a poor man site if too much of this kind of post is accepted.
/. readers are usually immature (think about the reflex of : oh it's from Microsoft so it is bullshit. I don't known why but it's is BAAAADDDDD.). Maybe i am expecting too much.
Well, when i though about this,
anyway, my two cents...
If the need to get text messaging is so importantant get the company to spring for a "company" owned phone that can do the same function. And this phone will be on the person in charge of taking care of such problems if they arrive. Do you see where I'm heading with this, if you *die* or happen to quit on the spot the company will not be left high and dry having failing equipment sending text messages to a phone that is no longer in the service of the company. Of course this means you have just lost a little bit of job security but from the Company's view they will at least not have to unburden themselves in the unlikely event of your departure from employment.
It's all fine and dandy to have all your little scripts and devices installed to make you look and feel more important, but you *DO NOT* have the best interests of the company in mind. You are only thinking of yourself and what little job security you can create for yourself. You would have an easier time all around and the company would look more highly to you if you concerned yourself more making an IT infrastruture that works in the worse case senario as opposed to one that only works when you are around.
My motto is, "One of these days I want to be either too important or not important enough to carry a cell phone". I have often thought of quitting because I am required to carry one, not the other way around. Screw em, and regain your sanity is what I say.
An outright banning cell phone from the workplace is extreme and should be met with a quick move to another company.
I'll have to mention that to my employer, who bans cell phones (and any personal electronics) in areas where classified information is discussed and processed.
Or if the company is just being nasty because they think that not having a mobile will mean that you do more work for them try to impress upon them how much extra stuff you do outside your job description. If they don't get it, work to rule while you look for another job. If they wise-up before you take another position, great, if not it's much easier to find a job while you have a job -- you might even manage to find something that pays better. For those people that think moving to another job is over-reacting, petty rules like this are a huge moral killer which will only result in a less pleasant working environment: Competent, hard working people will leave because they know they can find a better place, leaving only the incompetent to become bitter.
That said, if you work at a military contractor, goverment security division or a place with sensitive equipment (such that there's a real reason for this ban), suck it up and get on with life.
..and say "it is my freaking PDA you PHB!"
I am considering refusing to take work calls or text messages on my personal cell phone, and even quitting in protest of the new policy.
Yeah man, go ahead and quit! That will show them!
Uh, where do you work again?
No matter where you go... there you are.
It's a completely safe object that affects virtually no one in the office if you turn it off. Do they not allow you to receive personal phone calls on company time on a land line? Are they upset because they lose the ability to track whom you call during the day, or the ability to actually listen to you while on a call? I could understand not letting you answer the phone, and have to turn the ringer off. Physically not allowing you to carrier it is just silly. If no other reason, then you might like to use it while on a break, or over the lunch hour. Personally, I'd rather not have to leave it in my vehicle parked outside all day. I'd also want to be able to listen to my voice mail at any point during the day.
Second, who at the company is willing to accept the liability of you being out of contact in case of an emergency? Your wife/child/parent needs immediate medical assistance and getting a hold of you is critical to the process?
Finally, I'd carry one with me. I'd never answer it. I'd always turn it on vibrate. I'd make them fire me for it. I'd have virtually everyone carry one in, and see if they had the will to fire people over it. It's a silly rule, if people are wasting time while getting paid by the company, there's a simple solution. Fire those people. Me, I don't answer the phone at work except under special circumstances. Everyone who knows me, knows not to call me during regular business hours unless it is really important.
Having said all that, I'd never let the company send messages to me on a phone I paid for. If only so when I go on vaction, I can hand them the pager back and it's clear that no one at work can page me. In fact, at various jobs, I've refused to give out my cell phone number. I'd refuse to answer my cell phone if I knew it was work related, if I was not at work given the situation.
Kirby
Oh, be honest. You just made that crap up.
It probably depends on whether doing this would cause the person that is proposing the policy more work or not - and if they think you can be trusted based on your past phone bills. In a big inflexible organisation there isn't a lot you can do - the rules designed to stop gossiping clerical staff from running up large bills will be applied across the board and will hit those with a legitimate use as well.
I tried to make a rule when I was leading my last project to have no cell phones at meetings. The guy who gave me the biggest headache was the reason I made the rule. He kept bringing his cellphone to meetings and talking to his girlfriend in the middle of the meetings.
Don't try to overturn their policies..Just explain to your manager why you need a cellphone if you can't budget for one yourself. Explain what could go wrong if you don't have access to one and suggest how long it would take to convert to an alternative system.
Keep you head down and your eyes up. You don't want to work for people like this but theres no point stressing or walking out of your job. Find a new job. Say goodbye and good luck.
That's what they're telling you to do.
Great protest.
Author, Shell Scripting : Expert Re
Now you can stop paying for you cell, my boss signs my cell bills and I sometimes even use it for work. But when I do use it for work, he really appreciates it.
These sorts of rules are always motivated by some sense that the "rules must apply to everybody".
BS. Responsible people should have less restrictions on them than irresponsible people.
If someone is using their cell phone too much at work, can them. Let responsible people keep their jobs and their phones.
Of course, some will cry "unfair!" Too bad.
What's unfair is making everyone suffer for your buffoonery.
Nobody is irreplaceable.
I dunno, I spent the last 3 years making sure that I was irreplaceable. Tomorrow I think I might start some work.
Inconspicuously ignore any rules you disagree with. Again, do not flaunt this behavior.
Put your phone on vibrate. You'll likely be able to put the ring back in a few weeks.
If confronted, innocently feign the assumption that this rule did not apply to you as your "cell phone is absolutely mission critical," and you "hadn't even considered that the company would find this particular cell phone use undesirable."
When performed with care, this strategy will lead to promotions and raises.
Do you charge the company for accepting calls on your personal phone? If you are then you are getting ripped off. Our company pays for all my mobile bill (including personal calls) and in return this is the way they can contact me whenever it is needed. Sure you get the occasional call at wierd hours but for the $$$ it saves every month who cares?
Also one thing to remember. Try and keep the phone personal and charge the company for the bill every month. This way when you leave the company they cannot keep your phone and number which saves you the hassle of changing numbers.
[Please type your sig here.]
I'll take your job! I fucking hate mine, my cell phone is a leash, I can't do anything at work or outside of work for that matter without some tool calling my cell phone.
I go into a meeting, everyones' cell phone is going off constantly. At my previous job we were required to stick them on mute during meetings..not at this one..they will shit a brick if you don't answer your phone instantly.
they publish your cell phone number to the entire company at my job..so you get all sorts of calls for no good reason 'do you know such and such's number, i lost it and i have yours programmed in for some reason'
BAH!
I'd hate it if my cell phone beeped everytime an alert came out..at 2AM i dont give a shit about a server being dead, all I care about is me, Shannon Doherty, a donke, and that tub of banana pudding that I'm dreaming about.
If you are going to quit, quit because you are getting paged for alerts constantly or because you are alway son your cell phone..not because they want to ban them. damn. They need to outsource your job to someone who has some sense like a Martian..I hear they work cheaper than Indians.
$5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
My cell is bought and paid for by my employer, so is my laptop. If they can't see the value of having a cellphone, ask them if the upper management needs them, and are they following the policy. If they want to put dumb rules in place, then they all should live by them. I usually find that upper management never follows any of these types of policies, and they're usually open to honest requests. If they're not mayge you should quietly look for better employment.
Who are you going to replace Schwartzenegger with?
A large sack of potatos?
The whole thing depends on tbeir ability to compromise. They could probably meet you in the middle and give you a pager for your systems. If you've been able to afford text messages, then they could afford a simple pager. (I've seen $800 paging bills, for one person, just one month... it was a bad month.) And if they don't agree, turn it off and watch them get angry when you can't be a 24/7 shop any more. Nothing, and I mean nothing, motivates a PO's like some good old down time!
I dealt with a group that... they would buy the manager new computers every year or so, and yet they couldn't afford Unix workstations for their employees. It got to the point where I had bring in my own stuff to do my day-to-day job. Then I had enough and stopped. When I couldn't access downed hardware because they hadn't purchased consoles or a dumb terminal that was their problem not mine. Simple project builds which should have taken a day took months. How did they resolve it? The new hardware guy they hired brought in his own laptop. And their experienced Unix staff is coming to me, wondering if Windows has a terminal program.... SIGH! You get what you pay for.
Funny I should see this today. I was just informed that our IT people have been instructed, should they see a flash drive in a USB port, to take it and after they've had time to review the contents, inform the employee why their property was taken. I use it because the company has given me no other choice. I'm traveling between two locations 800 miles apart and they won't give me a laptop while simultaneously requiring that I have access to several important files all the time.
They're protecting their IP from accidental loss, but at the same time hogtieing (sp?) their engineers...
If you're a fellow old man like me, then I gotta tell you. Lighten up. You're making the kids who work for you miserable. As for responsibilities, I'm a consultant to one enterprise, a partner in another, and a teacher on top of it because hanging out with no one but other old farts in suits makes me feel old. I got a handful of kids who call me "Dad," and a roomful more who refer to me as "Uncle," so if you're looking for "professional" "responsibility," I've got so much I'll gladly lend you some of mine.
Perhaps you don't understand that the company officers (i.e. the directors) wear liability (incl. criminal) for the actions of the employees:
Here's Westlaw. Find me the cites. Here's CNN. Find me ANY corporate officer who's done time for the actions of their employees in the past fifty years. Feel free to include the terms "Enron," "Union Carbide," and "Exxon Valdez" in your search.
when the directors are sued in a class action because of an employee of theirs that used a personal phone during work hours to cause a negligent loss of profits, then that's okay - hardly!).
Son, I'd like to invite you to come picnic with the rest of us back in the soft green fields of Reality.
Look, you sound like you just got promoted to Head Assistant Manager of the Whole Sporting Goods Department down at the KMart. Does the name "Maj. Frank Burns" ring a bell with you? If you're half as old as you claim to be, it should.
Lighten up. Rent "Seabiscuit" and watch it twice, and that includes the "Making Of Featurette." People don't run their best when you're cracking whips over their heads. Call a seance and ask Uday Hussein about that if you don't believe me.
My people are glad to see me come in, because they know "the boss" can solve their problem. I get good information because no one's afraid to tell me the truth, and I get TIMELY information because no one's afraid about covering their butts when things don't go our way. Sure, my people work for me, but more importantly, they work WITH me.
If you find you're having to threaten more than you inspire, then chances are you're a fairly lousy manager. And if you think that the answer to your company's bottom line is taking away a cell phone from some single mother who works for you, then I'd suggest you start thinking about cutting the payroll at your job.
He put his boots up on the table and made a face. "The sig," he smirked. "You can waste your life in search of the sig."
Now if only i could get enough friends up. i guess posting something intelligent here and there is a start 'eh?
Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know when your gonna get food poisoning.
Your company sounds like Nirvana to me. Wanna trade?
Comment 1) dont mix business and personal life.
If its your personal phone, don't pollute it with work related stuff. Just like you shouldn't pollute your home email box with work related stuff
Comment 2) maybe there's a reason your employer came up with this rule. question whoever came up with the policy as to why they're doing it
Comment 3) if, after considering their reasoning, and your own motivations, you decide you still want to have your phone at work, i suggest you just keep on carrying it anyway. If someone at work tries to give you a hard time about it, tell them if they're that upset about it, they can fire you. remind them that work isn't jail, and they have no right whatsoever to tell you to do anything. if they start to interrupt you, tell them to shut the fuck up until you're finished talking to them. Continue laying out your argument, ask them if they have any questions, and then continue doing whatever it was you were doing.
people that seek to exert arbitrary authority over others are assholes and must not be tolerated.
i like to keep the following proverb in mind when considering my dealings with people (as an aside, an ex-girlfriend clued me into this one, probably because i was (am?) a self righteous conceited asshole):
"After the Game, the King and the Pawn go back into the same box"
My opinions are my own, and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.
I work at a university in the IT department, and it's fairly liberal. I use my cellphone every day taking both work and personal calls...I even use my personal laptop at work instead of a university owned workstation...no complaints from anyone
I don't have any real basis to say this, beyond a general feeling. But I can't help but think they must be violating a labor law or two. If your cell is an unconditional work-related tool, I can't believe they can get away with making you pay for it out of your salary.
Consider consulting a lawyer who specializes in workplace law.
If I didn't already have a company cell phone, I'd get one (it seems to be necessary for the job description). I'd just give out my desk phone to everyone instead of the cell phone. I'd have outages and such page the phone directly, and I'd set the phone to forward to the cell when I'm away. They could review the phone records all they wanted, all they'd see is that the work number kept calling my cell phone, so they would all be "work related" calls.
If it is truly a "no cell phone" dictate including no work cell phones, then just go as high up as you need to to explain why that is impractical. It worked for me when I was in a job where a reorg resulted in the IT department being grouped with PR and so all people in IT were required to wear ties. A calm explanation that was ignored followed by threats of lawsuits from a tie getting caught in a fan and the dress code was changed.
Learn to love Alaska
Ignore the rule. I have a small cell phone and I keep it in my pocket and on vibrate.
Keep doing what you are doing and see how long you can get away with it. Most of the time companies make policies of this kind to stop 1 or 2 people from abusing something. For example, maybe there are 1 or 2 people in your company making too many personal calls on the cell phone. If you are not that person, they are unlikely to care if you keep using your phone.
It is always easier to ask forgiveness than permission. Plus, you have a good reason to use it to monitor your servers. I bet no one says anything if you don't flaunt it in people's faces.
Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
Get. A. Pager.
If you can't live without your wireless phone at work, look for another job. I bet they change their policy before you find anywhere to go. You're not the only person who hates the new policy.
Like it or not, when you're on the clock, they own your time. If they say no cel phones, that is their right. I've ran into this problem in the past, on bringing my notebook to work. My solution to the problem was to draft a request for clarification/exception on my notebook, and was accompanied by a convincing and long list of incidents where my notebook did a job that no other computer in the building was capable of, or when company time/money was saved as a result of me having my notebook. I was actually more interested in the sheer convenience of having my own system with me at work, but I had a valid point in that I am more valuable as an employee to them when I have my laptop.
;-)
The counter-argument that was raised by my manager was "if the company needs your notebook, then what the company really needs is its own notebook". That got about two steps up the management ladder before being shot down by the bean-counters. Since they had already agreed that I had a point, and since they now couldn't do the best thing about it, they did the second-best thing - they got off my case about it. (I wasn't a formal exception, but was basically left alone, I could walk past managers with my laptop bag in tow without getting "pulled over")
I think you should persue this route. Since they're not all that expensive, you're very likely to get your own company-provided cel phones as a result, and you'll probably get less static from them about redirecting your warning instant messages to the company phone than you are getting now about your own cel phone. The down-side of this is you are now basically chained to the phone... it's like a pager and they'll expect you to answer it off-hours. At this point, just take it over... give out that as your 'new' cel number and ditch your own phone. Save on monthly charges and keep the peace at the same time.
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
Instead of tilting at windmills and shooting yourself in the foot over a relatively trivial issue, why not configure your cell phone to call forward to your work phone?
If this is not a good solution, what about following the philosophy of "don't sweat the small stuff" and getting on with your life?
They don't "own" you.
Without an employer, an employee does not get a paycheck. Without a paycheck, a former employee does not eat. Without eating, a person dies.
You don't have to live your life on your knees.
If employment is "at will", and you're fired, you just might be forced "to live your life on your knees" on the streets, begging, while all the jobs have gone to contractors in Bharat.
Company policy makers are great at coming up with silly policies that are not carefully thought out. (Which is why we can all laugh at Dilbert)
Several years ago I worked for a micro-manager. He required all developers to receive permission from him before any changes could be made to a reporting system. Even if you wanted to correct a spelling error on a report you were required to fill out a request for change form and meet personally with the director for approval.
As soon as this policy was implemented, the efficiency in the department dropped to almost nothing. We all joked that it took longer to fill out the paperwork than it took to actually do the work in the first place.
Things reaced a head during a business trip to Asia. I was working with some consultants who were giving me information on how to format tax reports required for that country. Before we could open up for business, the reports needed to be modified and printed out for approval by various government agencies. Because of the time zone difference, the change management policy really got in the way; yet the director insisted that he still wanted to approve every single change by phone each day.
Since he didn't specify a time to call, I would wait until the end of each work day in Asia and call him before leaving for the day (at 2:00 A.M. his time). Sometimes I would "remember" something I had forgotten to ask permission for and have to call him a second or third time. After about 3 days, I was given blanket permission to make any needed changes to the report for the balance of the trip.
Soon after that, the policy was modified extensively, to allow us to do our jobs. Major releases and new projects were managed by committee, but minor changes were allowed to go through as long as they passed the QC process.
I mean, why put up with all that crap?!
Oh, could you post the company name and address for me so I can fill the vacancy? Thanks.
"Oh, you hate your job? There's a support group for that, it's called everyone, they meet at the bar."
Hey you know what they say: "Consulting: If you aren't part of the solution, there's good money to be made in prolonging the problem." (shamelessly copied from a Despair demotivater -- I'd have provided a link to the actual one but their website seems to be screwy right now).
Of course in all seriousness you don't know anything about me or what I do. For the record I'm a regular 40 hour a week working IT stiff. I did a job as a favor to a customer of my employer who had his network hijacked by an arrogant out of control 20 year old sysadmin who demanded a 2x salary increase and locked them out of every machine they owned. It took myself and two friends three days to rebuild that network. I also did them a favor and only charged them $40/hr for the time -- had they gotten an actual consultant it would likely have been 2.5 - 3x times as much. Or more.
My whole point being that adopting a "I am God" attitude is hardly healthy. There is always someone out there who can replace you. Chances are that there is also someone out there who is better then you at whatever it is you do (be it IT work or flipping burgers).
BTW: I do know which end of the IDE cable goes into the motherboard but we tend to use SCSI these days on any machine that I'm likely to touch so I'll probably forget eventually ;)
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
Nobody is irreplaceable
Very truely wrong. You've just got to make them scared for their lives; instant irreplaceableility!
No personal phone calls at work, fine, no work calls at outside of work.
Then explain the need for a cell phone.
And get them to give you a company cell.
because I have been enjoined by this Holy Office to abandon the false opinion which maintains that the Sun is the centre
unless you wear dentures
So, let me understand this, are you a janitor or something? As a system admin, if a user came to me with a question, no matter how stupid, they will get an answer... it's your job. What kind of company do you work for that you can DRINK on the job for god's sake?? If I even brought a closed alcoholic beverage to work I'd be fired on the spot.
I look forward to the day I can be in a cell-free environment. I have to carry a cell because my boss suffers from separation anxiety, but it is set to go to voice mail... always.
My life is not dictated by a cell phone or anything else for that matter. Communication is great, but I think that cell phones can be as annoying as pop-ups.
Admins (like myself) have been able to "watch our flock" for a long time without cellphones.
These cats on here talkin about "dude quit your job"... sigh... Working is not a right, it is earned. Most of them prolly still live with mom and dad, or some other loser story.
I like being able to make a call to anyone at anytime, but I like the idea that sometimes, that person is "just not around".
Here in SoCal, it can be sickening. Driving, shopping, eating, working, you name it... I like it when people can't get a "direct-connect" with me.
And another thing, I loath when PHB (and elck) use that phrase (I have heard it in meetings), "we'll talk about that offline"... man. Office Space 2 material.
I digress.
Can you hear me now? Where you at?
[quote]
Sliently ignore most rules, and they will be silently re-written so as not to apply to you.
[/quote]
The above usually works best, but the below is probably more politically acceptable.
Some time back there was a bunch of postings about security measures that sound like something but do nothing of any value in terms of making anybody more secure, and usually inconvenience everybody. These stellar ideas are hot and bold and bad. They usually come about to address some particularly instance of abbuse commited by some particular person. They are also almost always rescended, sometimes only after that person is fired.
So there is probably someone who is sitting on their butt chatting all day, but since it is *their* phone they can't be gotten for misuse of company facility. Meanwhile their work is probably just good enough to not clearly be sub-standard and their noise-making is annoying the people around them.
There is also a high probability that some part of this issue is the latest panic-craze about people using their "camera phones" to "steal company IP" etc. (Which is a nice new fad and quite popular among the PHBs lately.)
So someone makes a "policy".
So write a memo to whoever your supervisor is that quickly and concisely states the following:
1) you have a particular circumstance that will cause the compnay grief if you comply.
2) you have examined the options and the time-effort-cost ratio to implement the inferior solutions (if any) are unacceptable for some particular reason.
3) that you presume that reasonable provisions for exceptions exist where the company interests are best served.
4) that given the the above circumstances you believe that continuing to use the existing solution is the correct action, so "unless otherwise directed" (and/or "funded") you will continue to use your cell phone as you do today.
This creates several things.
1) you get your way.
2) you have documented that this is not being done behind anybodies back.
3) your *supervisor* gets a degree of plausable deniability, he doesn't have to take any proactive action to give you your way.
Generally this is all you would need to do. And since the entire military lives and dies on "unless otherwise directed" memos, if you are working for a defense contractor or ex-military person, or military-heavy company nobody will even batt and eye.
Either way, as long as you don't flaunt your exception nobody much should care.
The second of tonights lessons:
The truth is that I walked around in jeans and T for years at a company where the president had decided that everybody should wear suit and tie. There was no way I was going to do the physical parts of my IT job (climbing under people's desks and behind server racks) in suit-pants let alone a jacket and tie. There were only two "incidents" over this.
1) "If you dressed that way, and I was your boss, I'd send you home for the day." to which I responded "and I'd go, but I'd be back dressed no different the next day." (This guy was not my supervisor, was in fact nobodies supervisor, and was generally a busybody {which is why he was nobodies supervisor})
2) "How come you dress like that? I should go home and change!" to which I responded "I don't care if they fire me, if you can say the same, dress any way you please." This was the cube-mate of an acquaintance who was feeling dis-empowered and all entitled.
In short, when you step out of company-line for any reason, even a compelling one, heck *especially* a compelling one, you should expect to have the ineffectual middle-management suckups, political marshales, and enfranchisement-challenged to become somewhat inflamed. You should already know how you are going to deal (or not) with these people.
And finally rate your desire to live in that job, where you are presumed untrustworthy (or whatever) .
Innocent people shouldn't be forced to pay for inferior software development.
--"Code Complete" Microsoft Press
If this guy is truly a valued company assett, then I'm sure he is well-known and most likely well-liked within the organzation. In this case I'm sure management can resolve the issue or make the exception for him. In the case of him being a nameless, faceless techie, (which is probably most likely) then I'm sure his attempt will be in vain. Anyone who would quit their job over something as trivial as this is not an upper level employee and therefore not "in touch" with management. Management won't care about his plight, because they don't have a clue who he is or what he does.
Another non-functioning site was "uncertainty.microsoft.com."
The purpose of that site was not known.
Your company can do anything, even blocking cell phone signals entirely. It's their property and entirely within their jurisdiction. Plus, plain and simple, you shouldn't be working on other things on company time, and being available via cell for non-work needs is not considered valid as far as your employer is concerned.
Talk to your boss or somebody else who will listen to you AND has the power to do something.
/. now would you?) Congrats! You are being used by a bunch of moneygrubbing bastards.
Wait. That person doesn't exist? (Well DUH, if they did you probably wouldn't be posting this on
Why not take your obivious skills and dedication someplace else? There are thousands of assholes to work for... why not find one with a disposition like yours?
ISTM that you are confusing "uniqueness" with "non-replaceable". Just because you can point to notable figures from history who played an important role in history doesn't negate that statement (the way it was implied in the context of which it was made).
Any sysadmin who starts to believe that their skill and skill set are irreplaceable and who starts treating others as if everybody else recognizes "the fact", will soon find themselves replaced. Just because it doesn't happen at the start of "the attitude" doesn't mean that the process of replacing you hasn't started. The process starts as soon as your boss recognizes that they shouldn't have to put up with your attitude.
I am considering refusing to take work calls or text messages on my personal cell phone, and even quitting in protest of the new policy.
So they don't want you to yack on your cell during work hours. And instead of convincing your superiors that your phone is crucial to receive timely alerts, you instead think about quitting in protest.
So, this sounds like a difficult time at work. And your response is to quit. How very Spanish of you. I suggest you also withdraw from your current state, and change your citizenship as well in protest.
it sucks I agree... but I use my personal cell phone at work... I even pay for blackberry service myself...
/need/ to be reached outside of work hours on a regular basis.
I asked about work covering it, and they said "you work out of a single location and don't
Despite all the evidence that it makes me far more productive and that my co-workers and management contact me both inside and outside of work hours on a daily basis, they still refuse...
So what's my choice? I've chosen to pay the $70/mo for the fees, rather then either a) quit or b) become less efficient in my work day
Posting as AC because last time I posted something about work I was reading a printed copy of it which had been handed to me by my boss as I sat across from his desk for "a little chat".
Why not have the messages sent to a website, an email, a fax, a blinky light, any other device in the office...
Often wrong but never in doubt.
I am Jack9.
Everyone knows me.
I'm a 31 year old veteran sysadmin (12 years experience) who doesn't try to awe users. I just try to deal with them.
;)
I don't have much tolerance for management bullshit. And I have the performance record to get away with it.
I hate meetings. I've YET to be to one that didn't waste minutes and hours of my life I will never get back... Thank GOD for my Thinkpad and 802.11 wireless, now I don't HAVE to even pretend to listen during them
I work for a company that is owned by someone who has yet to make the transition from the days you could make a 20% margin and good money off HARDWARE, service is a giveway to the CURRENT days where you break even on hardware and make your money on services...
He can't put value on people, only on objects...
In a small town like Huntington, WV, I've already been billed out to a tune of well over $4,000, HALFWAY through the month... I've already made back almost twice my monthly salary.
Yet, the moron can't see the opportunity there. He keeps coming up with new idiotic schemes to SELL HARDWARE rather than services...
I'm about THIS close to going into business for myself and taking every client away from this guy...
Corporatism != Free Market
Actually, I worked with someone who had the exact same attitude as you, including a lot of obfuscated code that he was sure no one else could support.
They eventually kicked his ass to the curb.
I am considering refusing to take work calls or text messages on my personal cell phone, and even quitting in protest of the new policy.
Cool! Can I have your job?
This topic is funny because I'm not fond of listening to people at work taking their personal calls at work. Mostly it's because I don't want to here about co-worker's wife's manager's beef with soap in the ladies room (I'm not making that up.)
That said I do have a messaging program open on my desktop all the time (unless I really don't want to be interrupted). We use it within the office but I also have outside contacts (read: friends) on the list. They know it's my work account and we keep away from idle chatter. But the point is we also use it for asking each other quick questions.
If I'm not sure about a setting / language / software / etc I'll spend 5-10 minutes looking and then I think "I'm busy and this is taking time away from something else. Who do I know who works with X?" So I'll send a quick message "do you happen to know Y about X?". If so it saved my looking up the answer. If not I keep looking. It works both ways and saves us both time in the long run.
I know people in my office might think I use it for personal messages and occasionally that happens (eg agreeing on where to meet after work). I understand that point of view but I still think it's working out well. Just yesterday someone I work with had a question, he spent a couple hours looking for an answer. I asked someone on my list and got an answer back. I spent 10 minutes explaining the problem to someone. Our admin likely saved a couple hours of banging his head against a wall.
"BTW: I do know which end of the IDE cable goes into the motherboard but we tend to use SCSI these days on any machine that I'm likely to touch so I'll probably forget eventually ;)"
I work in West Virginia... Cost is everything. IDE RAID, and Serial ATA are all the rage.
Better do a refresher on IDE.
PS: my PC (AMD Athlon 64 3200) has a WD Raptor 10K SATA hard drive, as fast as anything but a 15K SCSI drive...
SATA/IDE is the future, for cost, if any other reason. Performance is becoming less and less a reason to go SCSI.
Corporatism != Free Market
Last year I fought a similar battle. As one of the 6 remaining engineers, we each take turns on the "help-desk" rotation - meaning we are required to take calls from angry customers at all hours for a week at a time. We leave a modem with the customer that they can turn on when they need us to dial in, provided we have access to an analog line to dial out from. After years of hanging up on telemarketers, I had finally (happily) rid myself of a phone line only to have my company turn around and require me to have one. I'm quite happy with my personal cell phone, and my employer provides me with a work cell phone with which I must take incoming calls. On top of that, the meager pay that we had been recieving for support was basically terminated (although we were still charging customers, go figure). I mentioned several time to my boss, and his boss, that I was in violation of their policy - but I was as likely to pay for a phone line as I was to write the company a check for $20 a month. Eventually, they decided that 20 bucks was a small price to pay for me to shut the hell up, especially when we're routinely charging customers $100/hour for phone support. So I expensed the first few payments to prove that I had won, and dropped it after that. After all, it's not really worth our time to fill out those expense reports. It [i]is[/i] worth our time to make sure that management thinks twice before trying to "save money" at your expense. Remember: Your loss is their gain.
"Let the Spanish keep it, it's a sh*thole," we said, but you had to have your goddamned orange juice.
If it's the company policy to not use personal cellphones at work then don't use them. But if they need you to be paged when something goes wrong at their end, then they had better pay for the tools at your end to receive those pages.
If they don't, then you should contact their finance officers about arrangements for tax deductions against the use of your personal equipment for their company.
Used to be you didn't have seperate phones to conduct your private life at work.
Used to be everyone knew this and didn't expect to be able to call you whenever they felt like shooting the shit with you.
I don't think they really mean no cell phones, I think they really mean don't let us see you using your cellphone. What probably happened is some jackass couldn't shut his yap at work and gabbed for hours on the cell instead of working, and management being the freakin' geniuses they are decided to punish everyone instead of just firing the guy.
If it was my job and I was considering quitting over this issue (as you are) I'd put my cell on extreme-quiet-low-vibrate mode, shove it in my pocket and keep my mouth shut. I'd also tell kids/wife/etc to not call me at work unless an emergency.
Emergency example? A school bus recently overturned containing a bus load of kids. If I had a child on that bus I'd want to know ASAP, not 8 hours later when I got out of work, especially if injured, and "no cell" policy be damned!
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
Honestly, most use a pager. Being a one-way device, it solves all the problems of personal use issues, security issues (camera phones) and radio interference issues in restricted environments such as hospitals.
those TLA sites don't allow ANY electronics into the building... well actually thats not true, you can bring electronics into the building but they will either
a) take it away from you when you enter, or
b) take it away from you when you leave
but on no account will they let you take anything electronic out of the building
its like when they baned "Furbys" and everyone said how stupid thats was. But what is a Furby? its a microphone and CPU and some memory. And the difference between a Furby and a "listening device"? some software and a hidden antenna.
As for camara cell phones being a risk, if you have seen the size of some of the new digital cameras then you know that cell phones are no risk by comparision to a lot of other options out there. Like this digital camera pen http://www.hard2buy4.co.uk/Gadgets-and-Boys-Toys/
-jon
Simple. Ignore it.
Supporting World Peace Through Nuclear Pacification
Without employees, a company has very little potential for growth or productivity.
Without many employees in so-called "developed" countries, a company has every right to hire citizens of India.
You quit your job over a small issue? Its called work to rule with your other workers. You dont quit to bring protest to an issue.
Personally I don't know what I'd do without employee-owned tech. I often use my own cell phone and iBook instead of the shared phones and RAM-deprived OS 9 machines that many (including actual designers and techs) are relegated to at work. If I didn't bring in my own hardware, I'd never get anything done in a reasonable time frame. :)
Get on with it, man. Seriously.
+++OK ATH
I know of a number of Semiconductor firms and fabs who have banned, or about to ban all non firm supplied tech equipment (phones, laptops, etc). This isn't because they don't trust their own employees to use their time wisely - it's for the same reason the government bans these devices in classified facilities - espionage. No exceptions. You think Field Service Engineers like being without their laptop?
I was expecting, from the topic, this to be a story about what happens when you start using a software tool or some hardware at a business that you developed personally, and then you say... got fired, or decided that the company should be paying you royalties, licensing, whatever.
/.'s time with this sky is falling BS, k?
Asking about this would show that you are doomed to be a corporate ant for life. The 'spirit' of the policy is to prevent people from making personell calls on company time.
Dear lord! I can't call my wife and find out what she had for lunch when I'm not in the mood to work at 2:30 in the afternoon.
Nuff said, i'll chalk it up to a slow newsday. if not, don't waste the good readers of
ps - OP, your cell phone bill may be deductible if you havent tried doing that already.
I simply stopped using my cellphone for work use. All calls from my boss were redirected to voicemail and I refused to give anyone at work my cell number. After about two weeks the company agreed to give me a "Company Cell Phone" which I couldn't use for personal use. I refused to carry that beyond work hours since I'd have to carry 2 phones. They eventually relented.
I reread your post, I still understand it, and it's based on a flawed logical premise. I was being nice until you decided to start being a shit, but you're a fucking idiot. You failed logic 101. More like 001, the remedial version.
As far as airports, basic logic doesn't work with those employees, and is irrelevant to this situation.
The answer *is* obvious. If I couldn't find the question - perhaps because it was stupid to begin with?
Frankly it appears that you've been a been a bit of a fool so far. Your employer has "allowed" you to donate your personal time and property to the company. This ultimately harms both you and the company. Consider what happens if you go on vacations, quit suddenly or get hit by the proverbial bus. In addition, since you are obviously not cleared to do what you have done (I'm not saying the principal is not a good idea) you may be legally liable if something goes wrong or if you are the victim of a "bums rush" lay off preventing you from disabling your unauthorized access.
Here's what you do.
1) Show your superiors what you have done and are about to do and explain how this will impact your workplace. Don't get upset or defensive or anything like that. If there is no policy in place to handle outage notification they need to know that and to made aware that they've got their pants around their ankles. I would suggest documenting the issue in an email or memo.
2) Disable all work-related paging to your cell phone IMMEDIATELY.
3) Suggest that your company purchase several pagers or two ways which can be set up to do the job your cell is doing now.
4) Set up those pagers however you see fit and ensure that all pages are logged.
5) Ensure that you are paid an on-call rate whenever that pager is turned on.
6) Ensure that you are paid a call-in every time it goes off.
This protects the company since they are not dependant on some undocumented procedure implemented on some hardware that'll leave the moment you do.
It also ensures that you are properly compensated for the burden of being available 24/7.
The company may turn around and offer to pay you for the use of your cell phone. You have to make the call on whether you want to go there but I would suggest that you encourage them to have the pager as a backup for the reasons listed above.
After your cellphone has been disabled and before the pagers are set up, your company may experience signficant outages. It is not your fault and should only be taken as proof of need. If someone feels the need to unload on you, either smile and take it (preferably to your next performance/wage review) or solicit constructive input on how you could have handled that incident differently (maybe your job becomes "surf the web in the NOC" for a few weeks).
sadly, yes... they pull them out of junior subordinates asses. lately mine. :( five weeks pulling together a presentation for a group of clients, and at the LAST damn minute some executive secy calls and asks for a copy of the presentation so she can have it loaded on the system that is attached to the five jubmo projections in the auditorium... well, she changes the title page to put her dickwad boss on it instead of me, and he stands up and basically reads the pages *cold* to the audience, doesn't even look to the speakers notes I had done for myself that covered the important items to talk about that weren't on the charts. They didn't even ask me to attend the session, I just happened to know when it was being presented and was friendly with the folks running the guest list... so I got to slip in and watch it from the back. Only joy was at the end I had the opportunity to plant a few questions in the minds of some folks in the audience and watch as he squirmed.
Performance aside, SCSI drives tend to win when it comes to reliability. Anything can change though.
I work at a k-12 institution, it's the first time I haven't had to sign an NDA and non-compete. It feels VERY good to put 'Copyright 2004 Marc XXXXXXX' at the beginning of any script I write. If they burn me I can always 'pull' all my scripts (and they hold the place together) and watch them flail.
Granted, after the thing works and is 'finished' I put a 'generic' version in my public folder under the GPL, but don't think anyone I work with can turn the 'generic' scripts back into working 'customized' apps that they need.
"Sometimes, I think Trent just needs a cup of hot chocolate and a blankie." -Tori Amos on Nine Inch Nails
wont work.. if your doing hosting or network administration... if a server goes down... you have to know INSTANTLY(if your company doesn't suck).... not when you get done taking a bathroom break... or when you decide to stop reading slashdot and actually do some work
Selling software wont make you money, selling a service will.
...in that case, I would institute a ban on all workplace-owned equipment in the home, as well as a ban on using all personal equipment for work when at home. Ie, the landline phone.
-- Even if a god did exist, why the fsck should I worship it?
what's with the stupid title? so you want to be able to use your celphone at work? is that it?! if ALL CEL ACTIVITY is pertinent to work related stuff, then tell them to provide you with something to deal with it. or if not, just let the work related stuff requiring a cel phone go - their funeral. BUT if it's NOT stuff pertinent to the company that's paying for your time, if it's EXTRA-WORK ACTIVITY, then you don't have a leg to stand on! it's one thing to try to get away with it but quite another to try to justify it or demand it! are you nuts? what the hell?! at work, you're supposed to work. that's why they call it work! it's assinine to walk out because they want you to work and not talk to your buddies or attend to your own private business.... jin
Life is too short to work for idiots. Companies that work this hard to control their employees have clearly lost their ability to foster a good work environment. I think it's time to either move on, or else make a judgement about the moron who is promoting this policy. If you're lucky maybe they'll join the army or have a stroke.
Why wouldn't this work?
How many of you people read Slashdot during work hours on work pcs?
I know I am.
You don't need to see my
So, what happens is, the foreman (who is also union), stops getting any requests to waive the signature exemption, and spends the entire day with a clipboard doing paperwork. Clearly the foreman can't be held responsble for this action, and management doesn't really have a way to lean on the drivers and crane operators to kick in the exemption.
But, it isn't exactly what most people think of "work-to-rule." There's a good reason for the set-up, because the crane operators are forklift drivers need a way to protect themselves from damage claims. But it seems to me a little more like a strike action, even though it isn't, than simply strict "work-to-rule."
It would be fun to watch the situation if someone tried to pull this kind of policy off in Finland. Everyone brings the phone (either own or company-owned) to work.
Leaving the 'personal kit' argument aside, you're making critical business functions dependent on unreliable technology for notification. SMS does not carry any warranty on speed of delivery and believe me, it can sometimes take hours to travel between providers. As others suggested, use a pager. That's what it is designed for.
;-), it's amazingly stubborn and resilient - assuming you use a decent MTA to start with..
Unless, of course, you want to explain that you had two hours downtime because you wrote some alarm scripts that didn't get to your personal mobile phone. And, by the way, make sure there is a backup for such systems. Email works quite well (if the problem isn't the mail server itself
Insert
I had problems a couple of years ago with an employer not wanting to supply me with a cell phone (I was working as a consultant and spent all of my time at a customer in a different town). I ended up changing my private cell phone number and refusing to give it to the employer, I made sure that they knew I had a cell phone however. This at least made them see the problem but I ended up quitting the job after a couple of months as they still refused to solve the problem.
Good luck!
NON OMNIS MORIAR
I'm curious how this particular company would view the combined PDA/Cell Phone combinations becoming popular these days. I use one which is sync'ed with both my home and work schedules to ensure that, if I'm away from my desk, I still don't miss any meetings.
I'm also curious how they would police such a policy. Do you have to check them at security on the way in to work or just not use them or are you simply not allowed to bring them at all? What about the implications for someone who, say, needs to be contacted by the security company for their monitored home alarm system.
I can think of numerous justifyable reasons for being permitted to keep your mobile on you, I guess it's just picking the right one - good luck.
Go permanent? In your dreams and my worst nightmares.
I used to work as a sysadmin, so I know the problem. My hard-learned lessons was: Keep your stuff out of the company. You will regret it.
If you need a cell phone to get emergency messages, have your company get you one. Yes, that means carrying around two cell phones.
I'm currently the local security dude, and our policy is no non-company hardware on the company network. Other posters have explained why. But you as a private person really should run the same policy regarding your private stuff.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
1) ask for a company supplied pager / cell for the downtime thing. offer alternative "servers will be down until i come in at 8:30 in the morning, 9:00 some days, or over lunch". they will give it to you.
2) if you must bring your own cell, just set it to vibrate / silent and keep with you at all times (so it doesn't vibrate on the table while u go take a d... ah, bathroom break). as long as no one notices the cell, no one will have any reason to complain.
the only reason companies would introduce such a policy would be if ppl are just talking on the phone to friends all day long or sending text msgs / pix / whatever. don't do those things and you will be fine.
No Cell phone? No problem! My God, what is up with your logic? If they chose to harm themselves, why shot yourself in defense? Ask any IT personnel, and they would love not to have to answer calls when their employer's servers go down. I hope you have other marketable skills, because when you quit that job, you will not find another one in the computer business with this economy. There are too many 6-month "Ph.D.'s" out there that will work for $8/hour. But on second thought, maybe your company is just weeding out the bad decision makers they cannot afford to have in their money critical departments? Yea, you should quit. I might own their stock!
My current (But soon to be former) employer, The Infernal Revenue Service, has banned personal electronics from the workplace for years. First it was Notebooks, then, about six months ago, they discovered PDA's and Handheld PC's. Last week cell phones got the boot because, Hey, some of them take pictures and it's a security concern.
I want revenge. I'll settle for justice. Mercy is optional, but not very.
TAKE THIS CELL PHONE AND SHOVE IT
I AINT WORKIN HERE NO MORE
MY WOMAN DONE LEFT AND TOOK ALL OF THE REASONS I WAS WORKING FOR
YOU BETTER NOT TRY TO STAND IN MY WAY
WHEN I WALK OUT THE DOOR
TAKE THIS CELL PHONE AND SHOVE IT
I AINT WORKIN HERE NO MORE
I BEEN WORKING IN THIS CUBE FARM
PRETTY CLOSE TO 15 YEARS
IVE SOME OF MY BEST FRIENDS WOMEN
STANDING IN A POOL OF TEARS
IVE SEEN A LOT OF KINFOLKS DYING
I HAD A LOT OF BILLS TO PAY
LORD, ID GIVE THE SHIRT RIGHT OFFIN MY BACK
IF I HAD THE NERVE TO SAY:
Repeat Chorus
THE FOREMAN IS A REGULAR BOFH AND THE NIGHT BOSS, HES A n00b,
HE GOT HIMSELF A BRAND NEW FLATTOP HAIRCUT
LORD, HE REALLY THINKS THATS COOL
ONE OF THESE DAYS IM GONNA BLOW MY TOP
AND THERES GONNA BE HELL TO PAY
I CANT WAIT TO SEE THEIR FACES WHEN I GET THE NERVE TO SAY
I can understand companies that don't want to pay for cellphone usage.
Cellphones are devices that are often abused. Now that being said, I know that no company will chop their nose off to spite their face.
What concessions are they making? I know companies I have worked for in the past did not purchase cellphones, but they did allow you to reimburse all calls that were business related and a percentage of the service fee.
Unless you just hate your job and want to look for something else, I would look at this alternative and see what your company is willing to do.
Admitidly I can see a company doing two things easilly, banning personal calls, and stipulating that all business calls should be made on company provided mobiles and land-lines.
But it's just plain insane to say no to all mobiles, I think that if everyone in any work place suddenly stoped using there mobile phones, I'm sure productivity would drop though the floor.
If theve done this, it'll probably be for a reason, that reason may have got lost in meeting one, but it might be a point to ask them, why?, and then ask them why they didn't just ban personal calls inside business hours as mobiles are becoming increasingly significant for contacting people in the business enviroment.
Don't quit in protest. Look for something else, then site this as one of the reasons you left to them on the exit interview. Let me guess, you work in the financial sector.
If you need your cell for work, you absolutely should be a: itemizing your bill and getting reimbursed for calls you make/receive 9if you pay for incoming calls/SMS messages), and b: expecting your employer to provide you with an alternate solution if the one you've implemented is no longer allowed. Perhaps when you offer them the options of either getting you a mobile for work, making an exception for you, or letting the servers go down silently, they'll pick one of the first two options.
Whatever happened to JonKatz?
--
If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, where does the road paved with evil intentions lead to?
As a pre-op transsexual woman, if raising my voice was as simple as an orchiectomy, I would do it tomorrow. It's not that simple, and there's no quick way to deal with my testosterone mutated voicebox once that poison has done its work. I'm looking at voice training and possibly surgery to have the pitch of my voice raised that half octave that I need.
I get many of the same misconceptions about the Ninnle Linux that I have on my system. Prople don't realize that it's the most stable OS out there, orchiectomy or not.
Rent your cel phone to you employer during your time at work. Get an excepthion to the policy.
I will not use my personal equipment for work purposes. they won't reimburse me for that use, so if they really need me to do something that requires the use of a device then they have to provide it to me.
I think this whole cellphone ban thing is stupid. If they can't trust you with a cell phone, they certainly can't trust you with their servers, etc.
If I'm your manager and you've implemented monitoring or other procedures in a fashion that is not according to my design or policy you're at risk to be fired or otherwise reigned in. You do it my way or I'll find someone who will. I won't pay the price when you leave for having things going unmonitored or unmaintained because you've taken it with you. If you've done something other than what's been given you to do you've either assumed that what we've designed is wrong or we've missed requirements. Either situation needs corrected at first opportunity.
- Sig this!
For anything serious you need RAID anyway. To cope with the lower reliability of IDE, you just build in more redundancy (RAID-5 with several hot spares). SCSI still beats out IDE for performance, but I/O is not always the bottleneck. If it isn't, I'd take a serious look at IDE.
If the same user came to you with the same obstinate arguments every hour for over a week, you'd stop answering them too.
As for your comment about how you'd be fired on the spot if you even brought a closed alcoholic beverage to work, what do you think the higher-ups do at Christmas, when it's givt-giving time? Nobody gets a bottle of booze as a gift?
Besides, if you had over 20 years experience, they'd probably let you get away with almost anything, also :-)
You'd get the work done within the parameters that they've made you live in. If that's not possible, that's their problem, not yours. If they won't recognize that and you're letting them get away with it, you're the fool.
- Sig this!
BOSCII beam detectors are available in battery powered and plug in models. Battery powered versions take AAA batteries and last about a month before the battery needs replacing. Both models are very discreet, and undetectable to anyone not specifically looking for them.
The LED notifier is available plain, or mounted in a picture frame. If you have no loved ones, then you can keep the picture that comes with it.
The BOSCII interface device is available for an extra $10.00, in paralell port or USB versions. The BOSCII software is distributed under the GPL. We make our money off selling the hardware. The windows version runs without any icons, and does not show up in the add/remove programs list. The uninstaller is a dos .bat file. The linux version is undetectable without doing a 'ps'.
The BOSCII software is free, and provides many features to make unauthorized goofing off easy and convenient, some of which do not require the BOSCII interface card, or infrared BOSS detector to be useful. We believe it is good advertising for our hardware product.
Coming soon, BOSSWATCH. This fashionably styled watch is powered by the user's own motion! It comes in a customised gift box that can appear to be an employee appreciation award or other plausable reason for a free watch to appear on the desk of your boss! If your boss takes the bait, and decides to wear the watch regularly, you have him bugged! You can then use the BOSSALARM 3000 to specify a range at which to activate your BOSCII interface device.
I also don't mind explaining my code to anyone who wants.
Yesterday I had to make 2 modifications to code I hadn't looked as since last May, one of which was a tax-related calculation, another to add a new feature. 15 minutes. That's not obfuscated code.
My loyalty is to my employer, not to asshats who insist on arguing well past the point of common sense, poisoning the atmosphere by refusing to grow up.
I don't know your management, but my idea would be to tell them your concerns and let them decide what they want to do. I'm thinking if you have caller ID, don't answer any non-work related calls. You can still get your messages from the servers. I THINK that their point is personal calls on company time....which you don't have to answer. Of course I haven't read all 5,000 messages, so this is probably already posted somewhere.
So, make your company pay for your cell phone and service plan. Then, it's no longer "employee owned", you're in the clear, and you save money.
"You're an outsourced IT Specialist? Well, you're fired. Roll the credits!"
Mod Karma -1: I sed bad wurds. If I cep my mouf shut, I wud be at riyses.
I can't imagine a reason I'd allow an employer even to know my personal cellphone number, much less to use it for anything work related. If a company needs me to carry a cellphone for work purposes, then the company needs to provide one. There are no exceptions.
Inform your managers of the production impact of losing it, and turn it in. If you can't monitor servers, bad things will happen. Make sure they understand. If it is out of your control, you did your best to stop it, and couldn't do it, it's not your problem.
Are they offering a text pager replacement?
If not, they need to know when something goes down, they will have to wait until Monday morning at 9AM for support. You could not, and should refuse to babysit stuff on all of your free time. No one pays enough for that.
You never 'need' a cellphone. Human kind has survived for a long time without them. I have been working at a company that has the same policy, for 4.5 years. I was freaking glad to get rid of it when I started. My stress levels are down without it. I have a text pager now. No one ever uses it because they know I can't call them back on it if I am at the ball game, or driving.
I monitor my web servers with it. That's it. They are linux and never go down.
I am in the "I hate cell phones" club now. I had one for 8 years. I was happy to see it go. If I am going on a trip or driving, I borrow my wife's. Work does not have this number.
Trust me, you are better off. They are doing you a favor...
l8,
AC
If you are allowed to use cellular phones just that the company doesn't give it to you then by all means do refuse to take work calls on your phone.
If you're not allowed to use cellular phones at all just tell your friends that they can reach you at work on you work phone number. You should be reachable by family if something happens.
Emailed server alerts that go to your PERSONAL cellphone? Get a job with a real company that has the balls to spend the money it takes to do I.T. right, rather than expect their slaves^H^H^H^H^H^Hemployees to remain chained to their unstable servers. Have they ever heard of redundancy? Any company that shores up their meager I.T. server budget with competent, creative, professionals asked to hold the whole thing up like Atlas supporting the world, deserves what they get (downtime, loss of productivity, employee burnout). Don't be a sucker. Either raise your standards or shut your mouth and cover your ass.
Tell management that you will continue to make this noise until (1) They reverse the stupid policy, or (2) They fire you.
Upon getting fired, go stand in the unemployment line, and continue getting paid by your company for the next 12 months.
If they're expecting you to stay on call, then it's their responsibility to make sure that you can do your job while you're on the job.
There's also the issue of what happens when you're on vacation, sick or handling a personal emergency situation.. If the system is sending pagers to your cell phone, I don't think that you should be expected to hand your personal cell phone to someon else.
When I worked for BC-Tel, I signed on to ADSL, and BC-Tel wasn't willing to pay for ADSL (even though it supported me doing my job), so my staff account became my personal account too.
When I left, it probably took a few months to get the last couple of alert messages directed to the right places. Once in a while (5 years later now), I still see little, innocuous, vestigal evidence of the work setup in my email box (mostly in the form of spam).
Free Software: Like love, it grows best when given away.
Quit your job. You obviously work for a clueless organization.
Lodragan Draoidh
The more you explain it, the more I don't understand it. - Mark Twain
if not for me bringing in my own technology.
I'm the webmaster for a fairly large public school system, and I also do all inhouse video production for our local cable access channel. Due to starting my position after the budget had already been allocated, there was 0 $ available to buy necessary equipment for said web design (software, development server, back end logic, etc) or video stuff (cameras, Final Cut, drives, DV hardware, etc).
I'm not in the Technology department (this gives me constant headaches from the technology staff) so I'm constantly told not to use my own gear - bringing in my own stuff violates security policies (laf - when mydoom first started the best they could do is shut off the exchange server - yes, that's good system admining (tongue in cheek)); use the hardware provided by the system (p3 900 w/ 256mb + 15GB disk) for all my work. This is clearly not suitable for my professional needs, and if not for having my own personal DV setup/studio I wouldn't even be able to complete my assignments.
So far, I haven't had any problems from the people who actually matter (my boss, co workers, their bosses - superintendent, etc) but oye vey would my job be impossible if I was forced to adopt this policy.
"I consider my cellular phone a necessity both in my personal and work lives." If it's a necessity than how did we ever survive without them? I thought food, shelter, water, and air were necessities.
The meme police, They live inside of my head
you pulled a daft stunt and could get away with it because you are friends with your boss. This makes your story even less amusing frankly. I'm sure you can't be very popular with you co-workers.
You have much learning to do, grasshopper. First and foremost, any author tag should be either embeded in the background of the title page, or should be loaded as a graphic that also houses some other important bit of information.
In other words, if they delete your name, they screw up the presentation. And if they deleted your name, chances are you won't look bad as a result.
If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
You mean...you brought your DOG to work?
What kind of back-woods place do you work where you can bring an animal to work?
Or maybe I just don't get it...
If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
I personally think getting rid of cell phones is a fantatic idea. I have to listen to lame ass ring tones and people having personal conversations all day long, its a farking joke. When a non-work related call comes in I rarely will answer it. I listent to folks fighting with the wives, get milk, get that. Its bullshit. Granted, at least the company isnt paying the phone bills anymore, but instead are paying more for non-working folks who always have an excuse as to why this wasnt done on time, and its never "well i had to spend half my week on the phone trying to decide what to do on mon, tue, wed, thur, fri, and the weekend". Cell phones suck.
with HIS boss.
I hate you! I hate you! I hate you! Rot in hell, bastard!