I have been an HR professional for more years than I care to say - and telephone use in the office for personal reasons has always been a problem of contention for HR. However, when an employee is using company property, it is easy to develop rules and guidelines AND monitor whether these rules are being followed. With the advent of the cell phone - that wireless beast that has invaded our personal and business life - it makes it so much more difficult for companies to ensure that rules about limiting personal calls during worktime are adhered to. We were subjected to the incessant ringing...or worse...someone's favorite song! Ok...now we said... "please make sure your phone is on vibrate". Anyone who has a cell phone knows that depending on the phone - you can still here that low...yet...definite vibration sound. Now...what do we have? We have folks walking around with ear pieces and seemingly talking to themselves.
I think that cell phones have made it seem that we must always be available to each and everyone who has our number - no matter where we are....in the bank, in the supermarket, in the movies and worse at work.
In the case of work, however, I think we need to stand firm that unless there is a business reason for a staff person to walk around with a cell phone earpiece, we should absolutely not tolerate it in a work environment. At the very least, cell phones should be placed on vibrate or turned off during meetings or employee gatherings.