Phones on Company Time Risks

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In certain jobs, checking phone messages on company time is a no, with the capital letter N.

We are wired. We are online and at work. That is why we check our phones before the staff meeting, during the meeting, during a Power Point presentation and during question period. We don’t know that management or people who pay us are watching and might use our phone use to curtail future possibilities, like promotion.

What kids should be taught at an early age is to be their own boss. Some YouTube content creators are already doing, just that. The post office is no longer an option. The car plant where dad worked before he was laid off, is definitely no longer an option. To be your own boss is a dream, but not a reality for most people. That’s why they have a job, which must be watered and weeded at all times. Cellphones are one of the weeds. You don’t know who is watching. Example. City Hall hired a security company for an open air event in June. Some security guards were glued to their phones. It’s company time and anything can happen, with many people and kids running around.

We are not happy at work, which is normal. Call it an occupational hazard but we dread losing our jobs because of the English proverb, a bird in hand is worth two in the bush. COVID-19 made us realize that there are few birds left in the bush. That’s why businesses like cafes and restaurants did not survive the pandemic. Conferences. We associate convention centres with conferences, but they have many feeder businesses starting from flights to the designated city, cabs to hotels, food companies that supply hotels with bread, eggs, meat and veggies, signage companies, you name it. Ask them if they survived the pandemic.

Most messages in our phones can wait. It is not wise to use company time to check comments about Steve and Marjorie Harvey going through a divorce because of her alleged infidelity. Is it worth losing your job? As Deion Sanders, Colorado University football Head Coach likes to say to players, what is so important in that phone, that is more important than this moment? This is a paraphrase. Actual quote is online.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.

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