By Robert W. Wendover

This is the first instalment in a three-part article featuring a five-step process for addressing smart phone use in today’s workplace.

Josh and his smart phone are one. Whether he’s sitting at his desk, in a meeting, in the car, or on the couch at home, he is always connected. In the space of 15 minutes, he might send and receive 10 text messages, answer three business-related e-mails, Google a restaurant’s location, search for a document on the company’s website, and check a Twitter feed about his favorite band. The one thing he rarely does is actually talk on the phone. “My thumbs are so much faster,” he says.

Julie, his boss, uses her smart phone as well, but with what she considers discretion. She refrains from checking e-mail during meetings. She is careful to silence it when in conversation face-to-face, and will let a caller go to voice mail if she’s driving. While she has a Linked-In profile and checks Facebook every few days, all this social networking is something I get to when I can.”

Julie understands that Josh is of a different generation and that he has grown up in a digital world. “Just the same,” she thinks, “he and his peers should respect those around them and not be so tied to these devices. After all, texting friends while conducting business with a customer is something you just don’t do.” But she has seen it done numerous times.

Situations like this are playing out in workplaces worldwide. Employers, large and small, are struggling to understand and navigate the ubiquitous use of mobile devices and worker expectations that being in touch, regardless of the environment, is an inalienable right. Considering that cell phone use, let alone smart phone technology, has only proliferated in the past several years, it is understandable that managers have been taken by surprise with its demand and invasiveness. But the universal question has become, “How to you manage it?”

Allow me to suggest a five step process for addressing this challenge:

1. Begin by brainstorming a comprehensive list of the ways in which smart phones are being used in your workplace.
Obviously, some will strike you as inappropriate time wasters. Others may impress you as strategies for increasing productivity, improving customer response, or enhancing communication. I recommend asking a selection of colleagues for the ways in which they see people using these devices. When you do, make sure to include people of all ages to capture the subtle uses of which others may not be aware.

2a. After you have developed this list, consider the environment in which you and your colleagues work.
If you’re in an office setting, the use of smart phones may be largely superfluous. After all, people sitting at their desks generally have a computer available to them to get their work done. Phone use is usually limited to texting, social networking and other personal desires. At the same time, however, these devices have sometimes proven themselves to be a convenience in meetings and other settings where another computer is not within reach.

Outside of the office, smart phone technology presents different challenges and opportunities. Those working in a warehouse, on a construction site, or in a customer location require a level of trust and judgment about what is appropriate. It can be very tempting to steal away for a few minutes to check Facebook. But those few minutes can add up if it’s done every quarter hour.

That said, smart phones are now being used to assist on-site service providers and a host of other workers by providing instant access to the answers they need when problems or questions arise. Equipment repair specialists, for instance, can now search the company’s on-line database for troubleshooting information or schematics rather calling a help desk or returning to the office to get what they need. This, and a host of other uses, are proving that there is certainly a place in today’s organization for smart phones and other mobile technology.

2b. At the same time, consider the costs and benefits of smart phone use within your workplace.
On one hand, you may find that the organization is saving thousands of dollars per month by providing technicians with instant access to drawings they need through a handheld device. However, some of these same technicians may be addicted to checking Facebook or texting friends throughout the day, costing the organization thousands of dollars per month in lost time and wages. While calculating these costs is not an exact science, attempting to quantify them for illustration is a worthwhile exercise.

Assume, for instance, that prior to smart phones, a technician had to call into a support center to seek the solutions he or she needed. This required the time of someone on the help desk which might have taken 30 minutes to resolve since the help desk staffer had to research the problem and then explain details that the technician couldn’t see. If this happened four times per week and the combined hourly cost of these two individuals was $50, then the company was spending $200 per week. With the use of a smart phone, this cost might be cut in half. Multiply this savings by the number of technicians and the company is saving thousands of dollars per year.

Now also assume that this same technician spends a total of 45 minutes per day texting and checking Facebook on the job. (That may sound like a lot, but research on smart phone use supports this assumption.) While the company may be saving money through more efficient field support, it may be losing this same amount of money on smart phone use that is not a part of the job. Quantifying both the savings from one and the cost of another will provide you, and your management team, with a more meaningful view of smart phone economics. More importantly, it will provide you with some solid information that will support the parameters you propose for the use of these devices.

Continue to Part Two.

Robert W. Wendover is Director of the Center for Generational Studies and author of the forthcoming book, Common Sense by Friday: The Future of Critical Thinking in a Menu-Driven World. Contact him at robert.wendover@generationaldiversity.com.

This article was originally published on www.generationaldiversity.com. Reprinted with permission.