APU Careers Careers & Learning

Are Your Employees “Intexticated?”

By: Matt See
Online Career Tips Staff

Definition of “intexticated”: Someone so taken over by texting that their work suffers and falls short.

Technology is great but when it comes to your workforce, it can sometimes become a headache.

Just like the baby boom generation, a new whole generation of text happy employees have been hitting the workforce and they are causing a new concern for managers everywhere.

How do you keep someone who is used to being in constant contact with their friends, family, etc. focused on the task at hand?

Some quick tips for quelling an intexticated employee:

  • Fully engage your little texter, keep them connected in what the business is doing at all times. If your employees have a clear vision and are fully enveloped in what your company is trying to achieve then they will be more likely to tell their friends to hold until they are off work.
  • Don’t make your company policy on texting to strict. I once worked for a company that told all employees to keep their cell phones either at home or in their cars during work hours. This directive sets the guideline up for failure.
  • If you supply your employees cell phones, their text messages should only be about work related business. The Supreme Court ruled in 2010 that that if an employee has something to text that they do not want their bosses to see, do not use employer-provided cell phones to do it.
  • Lastly, reprimand on a case by case basis. Don’t punish the entire office with a no cell phone policy; it will only cause problems in the long run.

[Polish up your managing skills with the latest from the Manager’s Desk.]

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