"Don´t sweat the small stuff." This seems like sound advice, but it doesn´t apply when the little things are the array of diminutive computing and communications gadgets that are proliferating in the workplace.

Whether they´re procured by the company or worn into work by employees, these featherweight devices - including BlackBerrys, pagers, iPods (some with video), cell phones (many with cameras), memory sticks and whatever´s next - create ripples that travel well beyond the IT department. The introduction of these devices into the business and social environment of a workplace sets challenges in terms of productivity, collaboration, culture and even security.

HR Helps Set Policy on Use of Personal Tech.
It´s hard to make a policy for use of employee-owned personal tech when the company doesn´t even have a master plan for the mobile devices it owns and deploys for business purposes.

"Many companies have no central plan for mobile technology," says Dominic Li, senior director of portfolio strategy and management for Overland Park, Kan.-based Sprint Enterprise Mobility, Inc., a consulting division of the telecom giant. "Centralizing gives management more control."

If human resources can prod the IT department to organize mobil devices across the enterprise, the company will be in a much better position to address employees´ use of their own gadgets.

"HR should explain the general policy on gadget use, describing scenarios where cell phone use, for example, would be tolerated," says David Silverberg, a columnist for Business Edge in Ontario, Canada.

"Part of our new-hire training is PC and network orientation," says Fabi Gower, vice president of information systems at Martin Fletcher & Associates LLP, a health-care staffing firm in Irving, Texas. "I tell them what´s prohibited and what´s allowed." Martin Fletcher generally enables the use of audio CDs but disables DVDs except in specific business circumstances.

Some Mobile Devices May Require Their Own Rules.
To cover the complex array of available mobile technologies, a number of function-specific policies may be needed.

For example, "camera phones shouldn´t be used, because they infringe on privacy and can disrupt workflow," says Silverberg. On the other hand, "I don´t believe that listening to music hurts productivity if the individual feels focused on his or her task."
Ultimately, policies on the use of employees´ own mobile gadgets "depends on the culture of the company," says Li. "Entertainment or dot-com companies are more relaxed about how their employees are productive. The factors are a combination of corporate culture and what´s the best way to get people jazzed up to come to work."

Even in informal company cultures, though, some rules may be required to maintain an atmosphere of civilized collaboration. PC loudspeakers and even headsets should be regulated if their output is audible to neighbors; devices such as video iPods which require lots of mental bandwidth may be banned as detrimental to productivity.

Some employees may expect that in exchange for the extra hours they put in, often for little extra pay in the compensation-compressed 2000s, they deserve some slack when it comes to their personal entertainment devices. But workers don´t necessarily have the leverage to push back against strict rules, at least not in a buyer´s labor market. "Certainly, employers ask workers to sacrifice personal time, but guess what -- they´re the ones signing the checks," says Silverberg.

Still, if employers want to recruit from pools such as working mothers, there has to be some give and take. It´s nearly impossible for a company to maintain good employee relations if it bans even discreet and brief use of personal cell phones to conduct personal business such as managing childcare arrangements.

HR Marries People Policy with Security Technology.
Mobile technologies - whether the property of the employer or the worker - pose an array of information security risks. Since policy is as integral to a security solution as technology, human resources can play an important role.

"An employer that has confidential data on its clients needs to do everything it can to protect that data, wherever it resides," says Gregg Lemley, a partner in the St. Louis office of Bryan Cave LLP. "This includes having appropriate policies about what employees can and cannot do with data on specific mobile devices."

Employees´ personal gadgets add a layer of risk to enterprise networks already struggling to keep their own mobile storage devices secure.

"Personal equipment unknown to the employer can become a security hole," says Bob Egner, vice president of product management at Pointsec Mobile Technologies in Mokena, Ill. "The smaller this hardware gets, the more likely it is to get lost." Pointsec addresses the problem with a software product that ensures that all data is encrypted before it´s transferred to another device, no matter who owns it.

Finding that USB ports are not easily secured, Gower of Martin Fletcher searched for years for a security product to cover mobile devices. "Smaller and smaller devices came on the market, with ever greater storage capacities," says Gower. "Eventually I found a product from SecureWave that allows us to control any device that´s connected to any of our workstations."

Human resources can contribute to efforts to secure mobile devices in another key way: by getting the lines of business to work with the IT department to ensure that employees are assigned security privileges appropriate to their positions. After all, no technology - whether it hangs on a lanyard or circles the globe - is secure if the wrong people are given the keys.

John Rossheim is a journalist in Providence, Rhode Island who writes about workplace issues, employment trends and changing relationships between employers and workers.  Johnregularly contributes to Workforce Insights, an online resource about emerging labor trends and issues produced by Veritude (www.veritude.com).Veritude provides strategic human resources and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fidelity Investments. Veritude serves clients throughout the United States and Canada.To review other articles, research and expert analysis relevant to HR professionals seeking to stay informed, please visit www.veritude.com.  For more information, contact: inquiry@veritude.com or call:1-800-597-5537. 

^©2006 Veritude,LLC.  Reprinted with permission.