Tiskane izdaje
Q. Your company allows employees to bring their own portable electronic devices - like phones and tablets - to the office. Does that mean you should feel free to use them whenever you see fit?
A. Although these devices help keep you accessible to colleagues and clients, they should be used with discretion and in ways that help you do your job, says Anna Post, etiquette expert at the Emily Post Institute in Burlington, Vermont.
As much as possible, give your full attention to those with whom you're speaking or meeting. "The perception of you when you are typing on a device is that your attention is divided," Ms. Post says.
Q. During meetings, you like to take notes on your tablet, smartphone or laptop. Is that acceptable?
A. Smartphones and tablets are a fairly new presence in meeting rooms, and unlike laptops, they are usually associated with games, texting and other nonwork activities. That can send a message that you aren't paying attention, says Matt Eventoff, owner of Princeton Public Speaking, a communications training business in Princeton, New Jersey. "As soon as you take the device out, tell the other attendees, ‘I use my iPad or phone to take notes,'" he says.
Q. Is there any harm in discreetly reading personal e-mail messages or text messages on portable devices while in the office and among coworkers?
A. Even if you are discreet, it's easy to get caught up in reading and answering messages. You may wind up spending so much time hunched over your device that you miss important social cues and signals that can only be picked up face to face, says Rachel Weingarten, a business etiquette expert and president of Interrobang, a marketing strategy firm in New York.
Q. What about answering your cellphone while at work?
A. If you are in a meeting, take only urgent calls. Let others in the meeting know that you're expecting the call, set your phone to the vibrate mode and leave the room to answer it, Mr. Event -off says.
Don't wear your Bluetooth or other wireless headset, says Mark A. Gilmore, president of Wired Integrations, a consulting firm in San Jose, California. "No one wants to stare at your blinking blue light during their presentation," he says. "It's rude."
Q. If you are running a meeting or a presentation, how do you make sure that attendees pay attention to the speakers and not to their phones and tablets?
A. Set ground rules, Ms. Post says. "Good manners are really concerned with social expectations," she says, "and when you make those expectations clear, it's easier to raise an eyebrow if someone picks up a phone."
Q. Although the mobile devices are yours, the Wi-Fi network you are using belongs to the company, as does some of the information you view and store.
What precautions should you take to protect your company and yourself from liability if you lose your phone or tablet?
A. First, find out whether your company already has an "acceptable use" policy for mobile devices. If it doesn't, put your own protections in place, says Kieran Norton, a principal in the secu-rity and privacy practice of Deloitte, the professional services firm.
"Make sure a PIN number is required to unlock your device and if possible enable auto wipe, which allows you to remotely wipe all the information if the device is lost or stolen," he says.
