Interventions
• Keeping a record and self-monitoring. These techniques work as
well for telephone talkers as for chatty employees. Adapt the techniques to recording the frequency and length of each phone call.

Some inexpensive software will do this for you automatically. Most businesses actually already have this capability but may not realize it. Ask your information services manager or your telecommunications supplier.

• Peer accountability can be very effective. Ask the employee to
choose a peer to keep a record of his personal calls. Each time the
affected employee makes or receives a personal call, he is to ask
a peer to record the length of the call. Just this bit of accountability
cures some excessive phoners. Reporting to a peer will seem less threatening and punitive than reporting to management. At the same time, the frequency of the phone calls will still be identified, and the employee will become hyperaware of the number of calls he is making.

Does this honor system work? Not with all employees, but it works well for some. Allowing the talker to choose a trusted coworker to monitor calls can have a better feel than having management monitor them. Be sure that the peer wants to take on this role, though, and don’t pressure her if she seems hesitant. And never ask the partner to give you information.

• Establish a phone allowance. Allow the employee so many minutes
a day of personal phone time. If you offer this as a bonus in addition to regular calls, some employees will appreciate your generosity. Not all will, but you will have established limits on the phone abuse.

• Allow the employee to establish her own phone time. In a meeting
with the employee, tell her that you trust her to establish a policy for herself regarding personal calls that is fair both to her and to the company that is paying for her time. Tell the employee that since you know that she has high standards of professionalism, you are willing to try allowing her to design her own boundaries for the use of the phone. Stress that this must be a program that you both can live with and monitor, so established guidelines must exist.

Taken From: 201 Ways to Turn Any Employee Into a STAR Performer