Creating Company Telephone Policies

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Anytime a business adds new telecom equipment or services (like call accounting or call recording systems) to their company inventory it’s a good time to create a formal telephone policy.  If your company already has a written policy, then this is a good time to review that policy and make any needed changes based on new technology and your company’s requirements. 

Here are some examples of possible situations that impact your telephone bill and what you might include in a written telephone policy for your business. 

EMPLOYEE PERSONAL CALLS

ABC company recognizes that our employees occasionally need to make personal calls to family members, friends, or to take care of personal business during work hours.  We ask that you take care of those calls on your lunch or break and that you not misuse the telephone system with long duration calls or frequent calling.     

DIRECTORY ASSITANCE CALLS (411 OR XXX-555-1212, INCLUDING 800-555-1212)

Directory Assistance Calls or Information calls are not free.  By dialing 411, any area code and 555-1212, or 800-555-1212 from a company telephone we will be charged for these calls.  The charges range in price, but can be as much as $1.25 per call for local information and over $2.49 per call for long distance information.  Please use your telephone book or internet directory research to find needed numbers.  Contact your department manager if you need a telephone book or cannot find a way to access a needed telephone number BEFORE calling for information. 

If you have made an approved directory assistance call please note: IT IS PROHIBITED FOR ANY EMPLOYEE TO DIAL "1" OR SAY "YES" TO BE AUTOMATICALLY CONNECTED TO THE NUMBER REQUESTED! There are additional charges for this service.

"TOLL-FREE" CALLS

ABC Company provides toll-free (800, 888, etc.) numbers for our employees that are in the field and in order for customers to call us in a convenient manner.  “Toll-Free” calling means there is no charge to the caller, the company has to pay for these calls.  These numbers are for customer use only, or for our traveling employees.  Do not give this number out for personal use, and do not give the toll-free number out to our vendors. 

Further, if you are utilizing a company cell phone, do not use the cell-phone to dial the toll-free company number.  This will result in us paying twice for the call: Once for cell phone usage, and once for the toll-free charges.  When dialing the company from a cell phone there is no long distance charged on our plan, so please use the local telephone number. 

LONG DISTANCE "DIAL AROUND"

ABC Company has negotiated long distance rates and volume discounts for our business calls.  Employees are not allowed to dial 1010XXX before dialing any long distance call.  This will result in a “dial around” of our negotiated contracts and will result in more expensive calls. 

911 CALLS

If you need to make an emergency phone call, do not hesitate to do so.  Make sure that when you call you give the operator complete information on the nature of your call including address, type of emergency, and any additional information requested.  If you dial the number accidentally...DON'T HANG UP, stay on the line and explain to the operator that the call was an accident and there is no emergency.  If you hang up, they may dispatch a response team, and the company may be charged for the visit.