To do business today cell phones are no longer a luxury. If you supply cell phones to your employees you need to understand the cost both the business cost and the cost of allowing your employees to use the cell phone for personal use as a perk.
Look at your bills. Most cell phone bills will list the calls per phone and record the numbers called. Usually a simple review of the bill will reveal patterns. You may be able to save money by restructuring the cell phone plan you have with your provider. You may also see if the phone is being used for business or personal use. We had one employee whose bills were always larger than the other employees. When we reviewed the bills it became evident that the bulk of the calls were outside the work hours and personal. If you allow the personal use of cell phones make sure you take it into consideration when talking with employees about increases in pay and benefits.
You may want to offer a cell phone allowance to each employee and have them use their personal phone. This gives you the advantage of predictability and you do not need to monitor the bills. The disadvantage is you will not own the number and should a key employee leave they take the phone number with them. If, for example, you have a lead sales person leave the sales person may be receiving calls on his or her cell phone intended for your business while they are now working for your competitor.
There is no solution that works for everyone. Establish a policy and adjust as needed until it fit your needs.
Original content copyright 2010 Thomas Robinson
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