Anchorage Daily News

Q. Can our state require its employees to carry a state-issued cell phone? Apparently our state government has decreed that state-issued cell phones cannot be used to make or receive personal calls. Sounds like too much hassle to me, so can I give the phone back if my manager insists on implementing the policy?

A. That depends on the risk you want to take and the message you want to send to your management.

Organizations often provide managers and employees company cell phones, laptops and cars to enable them to carry out work tasks efficiently. Most employees consider this a benefit.

Employers can make rules concerning employees' cell phone usage. According to the Society for Human Resource Management hot line, employers can terminate employees who don't carry employer-required cell phones.

Do you want to make an issue of this when you can carry your own cell phone for personal calls while handling work tasks and calls using the company cell phone? Although carrying a company cell phone might force you to juggle two phones, the alternative forces the state to pay for your personal calls.

Finally, although your employer can make you carry a cell phone, they can't require you to answer it or even carry it when not at work or on call. According to Anchorage attorney Tom Daniel, employers that require non-exempt employees to carry company cell phones or Blackberries and respond to work-related calls or e-mails after work hours risk being sued for overtime.

Q. Two years ago I made a series of bad mistakes. I got involved with the wrong woman and she ripped my heart out in an off-again, on-again relationship. I wound up having a meltdown and virtually destroyed my professional reputation.

Since then, I've not been able to get rehired in my true profession. As a result, I'm working in a warehouse position and, while I like my boss, co-workers and customers, the work I do is way below my level. It's very hard to keep my focus.

I know the answer is getting a job more in line with my real career desires and skills so I can be motivated and excel. I realize I'll need a reference from my current boss to get my next job. In the year I've worked for him, he's become a friend and so even though I worried he'd be upset if he knew I wanted to move on, I went to him and explained that while I like my job it's hard to do my best because my job isn't challenging. I expected him to say he'd support my trying to get a better job.

He totally blind-sided me, saying while he knew I had skill, I wasn't doing my job well and he would have a difficult time giving me a reference unless I started doing my job better. He said the fact that he liked me had kept him from telling me flat out I needed to straighten up. What do I do without a good reference?

A. Not all employers check references. If you locate the right prospective employer and interview well, you might get hired without your current employer being contacted.

If you want to interview well and for your own sake, you need to stop living in the past and stop excusing yourself for mediocre performance in your current job. Life dealt you a crummy hand. That doesn't excuse you from giving an honest day's work for a day's pay.

The best way to land a different and better job is to pay attention in your current job and earn a positive reference. By saying you'd do a better job if your job was worth your time and attention, you insult your job and your employer and you let yourself down.

Lynne Curry is a local management trainer, consultant and syndicated columnist. Her advice and opinion column appears Mondays. Questions for her column may be faxed to her at 258-2157 or mailed to her c/o Anchorage Daily News, P.O. Box 149001, Anchorage 99514-9001. Her e-mail address is lynne@thegrowthcompany.net.

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