One employer I know found out that his brokers were running up bills amounting to thousands of dollars calling 900 numbers that had nothing to do with the stocks they were selling. Only one broker had to be confronted with documentation. When the word got out, all phone abuse stopped. In extreme cases, certain numbers that are an employee’s biggest time wasters can be blocked—if no one is endangered by this move and if ample notice is given.

• Confront the employee with the cost of his lost time. If the
employee is an hourly worker, use that rate; if he is salaried, use a
prorated amount of his income to show what his time on the phone is costing your company. Don’t forget to count about half as much more for benefits and embedded costs.

If incoming calls are the culprit, reconfigure the phone system to put all the employee’s incoming calls through the receptionist. This is a last resort, since it is humiliating to most employees and may be expensive for you. It can be effective, since employees realize that the receptionist will know when the same person—not a customer—calls repeatedly and holds long conversations. The receptionist should be instructed to ask for the name of each person who calls and to record the number, which should be readily visible via caller I.D. Use this method only if you are willing to lose the employee, who may not be that productive in the first place.

• Extreme solution: Change the employee’s job. In extreme cases,
the many phone calls may be a sign that the employee is in the
wrong position. Does this employee need more social interaction
than her job provides? Consider putting the employee in a position
that offers more customer contact. At the very least, the customer
interaction should leave less time for unproductive personal calls.

A second type of job change requires review with legal counsel. Consider offering the employee a part-time position. If the phone calls are certifiably excessive and relate to personal issues that are not covered by the Family Leave Act or other legislation, the employee may need to consider the possibility that a full-time position is not practical for her or him at this time.
These solutions should be considered only after other interventions
have been exhausted

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