Opinion: Smartphone etiquette, no-limits vacations trending in offices

Among the news items sent across my desk recently, two stood out for their unique content.

We’ve all been in a group meeting where a colleague or client, head down squarely focused on their smartphone, finger-punches their tiny keyboard or thumb-scrolls their screen to seemingly no end. The outward signs are disengagement with the people and topics at hand.

Don’t be discouraged, though. The cellular industry has noticed, too, and anointed July as national Cellphone Courtesy Month.

Cell companies are jumping on board – from Canadian telecommunications provider Telus running a Twitter campaign dubbed #keepitinyourpants to U.S. Cellular offering cellphone etiquette in the workplace. Here are a few of the tips:
• Silence phones during meetings. We all forget this one, so be sure you know the device’s quickest route to stop ringing.
• Resist the urge to answer during meetings. Only take urgent calls, and politely inform your party beforehand or briefly excuse yourself during the meeting.
• Keep it confidential. Respectfully take calls in a private location where you cannot be overheard.
• Need to discreetly listen to voicemail? Services and apps will convert voicemails to text messages or emails to read them without drawing attention.

If we can’t keep the smartphone in our pants during the workday, we at least can be considerate of our colleagues’ efforts and our employers’ time. And with a national month now recognizing it, we have permission to gripe. Just don’t send a text or leave a voicemail.

Free rein
The Kansas City Business Journal (not affiliated with Springfield Business Journal), reports on a technology company that gives employees unlimited vacations. That’s right, that’s not a typo.

Somewhat of an experiment in the past year, Kansas City-based Saepio Technologies Inc. has removed any restraints on vacation time taken by staff members. Under the headline, “How to treat employees like adults,” the Kansas City Business Journal explores the concept and early results.

Saepio is not alone; one of its chief officers learned the concept from a previous employer, Perceptive Software LLC in Shawnee, Kan. Nationally, the unlimited vacation concept reportedly has been in place at Netflix, IBM and Best Buy, and the results include more productivity and hiring surges but also some abuses by problem employees and more pressure on managers to keep production on pace.

The human resources industry has termed this the ROWE policy – aka a results-only work environment. ROWE has been reported to bolster workforce production and morale without hefty hikes in compensation or employee benefits.

If you’re a traditionalist, don’t be alarmed. Most companies still adhere to a paid-time-off policy that groups vacation, sick and personal days but still gives employees discretion on how that block of time is used. For instance, according to a 2012 Compensation Data survey, between 57 percent and 72 percent of respondents in the hospitality, nonprofit and services industries offer PTO programs.

The big idea is that these companies are thinking outside the box to perk up their business at a time when they’ve struggled to land top talent.

Ollis in Money
I’ve not met such drastic recruitment and retention benefits as ROWE in place among southwest Missouri companies, but one of Springfield’s insurance executives is leading the trends in employee health and wellness. If you’ve read SBJ for very long, you’ve seen the reports on programs in place at Ollis & Co.

In the August issue of Money magazine, Ollis & Co. President and CEO Richard Ollis is called “the boss of the future” because for eight years he’s incrementally improved the health of some 30 employees at the firm. Turns out, the insurance company CEO wasn’t a fan of the rising premiums his firm was paying because of deteriorating health.

Ollis was Amanda Gengler’s lead source in her story, “Worker, Heal Thyself,” on employers shifting more health care responsibility and expense to their employees. At Ollis & Co., employees participating in exercise programs and health assessments are rewarded with lower deductibles. For instance, Ollis offers wellness program participants a $250 deductible health plan and pays the full premium. Employees on the sidelines are looking at a $5,000 deductible and picking up a quarter of the premium bill.

“If I am going to pay for your health care, I have some expectations for you to be reasonably working on your health,” Ollis told Money.

Seems reasonable, plus our health factors into workplace productivity and overall morale.

Springfield Business Journal Editor Eric Olson can be reached at eolson@sbj.net.