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Cell Phone Do’s

**Do keep your phone stored away and muted at work

**Do tell friends and family not to call or text you while you’re at work.

**Do use your phone only on breaks, standing at least 10 feet away from people (or better yet, outside) and speaking softly.

**Do use your phone for purposes requested by your supervisor.

**Do use a professional tone and language when using a cell phone in the workplace.

**Do be discreet about personal and workplace information on your phone.

**Do keep your phone off or muted during meetings and in workplace conversations.

**Do keep your phone off or muted on job interviews.

**Do follow your employer’s rules and any additional instructions regarding cell phones.

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Cell Phone Don’ts

**Don’t text or answer your phone while on the job.

**Don’t check social media or use other apps while on the job.

**Don’t use your phone in the workplace bathroom.

**Don’t use your phone in the workplace without permission.

**Don’t use profanity, whether speaking or texting.

**Don’t share company information on your cell phone.

**Don’t text during a meeting or when with a colleague or supervisor.

**Don’t take out your phone during an interview unless asked to do so by the interviewer, such as to set an appointment.

**Don’t try to sneak a peek at your phone while on the job.

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Cell Phones and the Workplace

Ask work contacts, such as your supervisor or coworkers, how they prefer to communicate. Some bosses prefer that you communicate with them via text, others will want to communicate with you only by email or by phone.

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Cell Phones

**Distracted workers are not productive workers. Your employer wants you focused on your job, not your phone.

**Many jobs require workers to have their cell phones off and put away while they are on the job, but sometimes they will be able to use their phones to do specific tasks and solve problems. Cell phones can do almost everything a computer can do, so you may be called on the kind of job you have.

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Cell Phone Work Scenarios

Click on the link to complete the Cell Phone Scenario Assignment: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZNyyhTsi77dFGyC2SJPT80V9u4JkNc-kQfbPxDMUXdE/edit

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Cell Phone Productivity at Work

Sometimes at work you may need to use your cell phone. Some bosses may require it. Click on the following list of scenarios. Send me a short video explaining how you could use cell phones productively in the workplace:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1z6lRQ7vx2LQQ6iRKul1ciHv2nSHaNeoPqwu6_QR1Rys/edit

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Texting Professionally

How many texts do you send a day to your friends?
With whom do you communicate via text?

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Texting Professionally

Even if you have a job, you won’t text nearly as much with your boss or coworkers as you do with your friends and family. And you won’t text them in the same way, either.
However, texting has become an increasingly common way of communicating among bosses and coworkers, even when a job requires you to have your cell phone off during all or most of your working hours.
If you have a job that requires you keep your cell phone turned off, texting can only take place when you are off duty and when your supervisor has shared his or her cell phone number and said you should communicate that way.
In some jobs, you might text during work hours. A boss might text you asking for a quick update, an errand, or to look up some information. Coworkers might communicate via text in certain situations.
Personal texting is different from professional texting and you should never use emojis and acronyms in professional texts.
Remember, your coworkers and bosses are not necessarily the same age as you. The use of acronyms and casual texting language (for example, “UR” for “your”) is fine for casual texting, but you need to spell out words and use good grammar when communicating with coworkers.
Students should think of any text with a coworker or supervisor, even when off duty, as a professional communication, with capitalizations at the beginning of sentences, proper spelling and grammar, and rare or no abbreviations, acronyms, single letters in place of words, and emojis. It might feel weird to text using full sentences, but you’ll come across as professional. And that’s the first step toward career success!

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Texting Scenarios and Review Questions

Complete the following scenarios and review questions via video on flipped grid:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IpdyJQIoVQ2rm29aGDmRHRDD2imrLUJ81xO572seb3U/edit

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Main Idea

Main Idea: Cell phones can be a touchy subject. Many employers ban their use and will punish or even fire a worker who breaks the rules. Others take advantage of their computing power to increase worker productivity.