I’m considering getting rid of mine. My company uses e-mail or direct messaging (texts) for its primary form of internal communication. That’s just how the company culture has evolved. 95% of the calls I get on my office phone are from unsolicited cold callers trying to sell something to me. I’ve gotten into the habit of just letting calls roll over to voicemail. If the call is legitimate (i.e. a know business contact, etc.) then I will return the call.
I’ve resisted just getting rid of the direct phone line (I also have a company mobile number, which so far hasn’t gotten into the cold-call-ethos) simply because I do use it for joining conference calls, calling others, etc. But with the advent of Microsoft Teams meetings, etc., I could just use my mobile for the other calls I’d make.
Hopefully my mobile number doesn’t find its way into the hands of calling lists that get sold around.
Calling lists aren’t your main concern. Spammers and other crooks don’t use them; they just dial every possible number, then do it again. If your number exists, it will be called.
When I was first working as an engineer in the 90s, much of my job was working with customers and I was on the phone a lot, so much that I bought a headset to use with it. Email was kind of new and not used as much.
I my last job (which ended two weeks ago), there was a phone on my desk but I could go months without using it. There were a couple of co-workers that would call me on it but mostly we communicated by email, text or cell phone.
We do have phones sitting on our desks. Only two people ever called mine - my wife and a co-worker who called people even though we all sit within 50 feet of each other. I finally got her to accept that instant messaging has replaced office-to-office calls. My wife learned that if she wants to reach me she should call my cell phone.
The company is planning to rent new office space. I assume that they won’t bother with installing phones except at reception.
My company has no assigned permanent spaces - our facilities are 100% hotelling, which means you have to go into a reservation system and book a cubicle if you’re going to be in the office. So there’s no phone number for that desk.
However: we have assigned phone numbers that are permanent. When we sign in at the office that day, calls will be routed to a phone on the desk of wherever you’re sitting. I could also have it auto-forward to my cell phone when I’m not at the office.
So I guess my answer is “sort of”.
I virtually never go to that office; when I do, I’m usually in a conference room with others, so I don’t route my phone to my “desk” (and I’ve never routed it to my cell phone either).
I am frequently on conference calls with people from all over - and even if they work for the client “at headquarters” they all use their own phone numbers, not a client number. It can be entertaining to try to figure out who the callers are “OK, who’s got area code 813?”
Yes. Federal DoD facility, and they insist every desk has its own line, even if it doesn’t belong to anyone. Almost all of my interaction is done via email. On average I receive about one phone call every 2 months, usually from one of the older Luddite faculty.
I haven’t had a company-owned phone at my desk in over five years. In theory, I have a phone number assigned to me by the agency for use on VOIP on my computer; I have never used it. I just use my cell phone (on which I have unlimited minutes), though increasingly, our calls are done using Zoom or Microsoft Teams.
I’m not talking about spammers or crooks. I’m referring to sales people that are selling B2B that are calling me to pitch a sales opportunity, such as consulting, advisory services, etc. that I’ve never met, or heard of their companies.
Yes, I have a direct phone line. Our team is sometimes required to provide urgent support to employees in other offices and often talking on the phone is faster than typing in a messaging app.
No. I guess we used to but, at some point before I arrived, went down to a couple “main” lines and the front desk just routes them. Most of the calls are handled there without anyone else being involved anyway.
We use Microsoft Teams, everyone has a Direct Dial number and a headset. I would say that less than 1 in 10 of my outbound calls are to a phone number vs Teams/Zoom/WebEx.
Phone numbers cost me less than $5/line/month and it means my staff aren’t giving out their personal number.
When I was working I and many others in the office just transferred calls on our extensions to our cell phones. Cell phone numbers were listed in the company directory so employees would often just call between cell phones. No outside calls went directly to our extensions though, an operator would receive the calls first and then transfer them, 24/7.
The last time I had an office, it was in a big cubicle-farm room with a dozen other grad students. There was one phone for the whole room, and that was enough.
I have a desk phone and I really like having it. I hardly ever use it for traditional phone calls. I’m on a lot of conference calls and it’s helpful to have a dedicated communication device that isn’t tied to my computer’s speakers. I dial in for audio rather than using computer speakers. That way I can have the volume of my speakers set one way for computer-sounds (or muted) and my phone communication isn’t affected.
When I was in High School, I wanted a job like my dad had, with a desk, a telephone, and a filing cabinet.
I’ve got a desk. I’ve got a phone on my desk. I’ve got a filing cabinet. All of my work, all of my calls, all of my documentation, is on my computer. I use the desk to put the mouse on, the filing cabinet to lay stuff on top of, and the phone…to check that the phones are working.
I include my phone number on my syllabi but I tell my students that I will answer my phone if it rings, though I can never remember how to get to my voice-mail. Regardless, I tell my students to use my email, since “email is the official communication policy of the college”. I get perhaps one phone call a year from a student, and a few more from textbook sales-people (and I tell them that I’m on my way to class and hang up).
Technically, yes. In fact, last I checked I even had a fax number. However, I’ve used neither of them for about a decade, and the phone requires a headset and a computer now. Even a decade ago, I only ever used the phone for the occasional outgoing call (since cell coverage sucked inside the building).
Primary comms have been email since the late 90s. Today, Webex and Slack have made a showing, but I’d say email is still primary.
I have a landline phone on my desk, but it’s not direct dial aside from internal calls. All external calls get fielded by reception and patched through. So I don’t take the calls I don’t want (recruitment agents, am looking at you).