My university is going to “soft phones.” Meaning that we all still have a direct number assigned to us, but no physical instrument. We can route the calls to our personal cell phones or to an app on our computer.
I have one on my desk. Anytime it rang it kind of startled me, usually it was the front desk telling me the person was in the lobby for my meeting.
In office, I have a phone at my desk. Here at home I use VOIP. We used to have county issued phones in our home offices, they were removed and replaced by cell phones, then they were replaced by the CISCO softphone. We all have two lines, one for clients, one for internal calls. I receive many calls a day from clients. The ONLY people who call internally are the county attorneys. It’s a given - if I email an attorney a question, they will call in response. I’d be just fine if the internal line was removed.
We have started a new push to get clients to contact us through email or through web messaging. I’d say maybe 10% of my clients now exclusively contact me through email/ web messaging. Another 10% email / web message then follow up immediately with a phone call to verify I received said email / web message.
I do. (Did? my employment status is in limbo and at any rate I haven’t been in the office in months.) It was vitally important until a few years ago, when everyone I used to talk to on the phone started using chat, email, or videoconferencing, instead. About the only phone calls it ever gets anymore are from vendors, and I never answer it. (Incidentally, based on the messages left, these vendors don’t realize they’ve been sent to voicemail?)
One of my staff members moved desks but did not put in to have his extension moved with him. Eventually, it came out that due to some complication, his extension couldn’t be moved, anyway. Faced with a number of options, we just decided he didn’t need a desk phone.
The company uses an old PBX that’s on it’s last legs. When money is available, they will convert to VOIP. Its expected that more than half of the desk phones will not be replaced.
We have 2 phones and they ring off the hook. No matter how often I tell clients to use e-mail and that I am not going to “write it down” because while we need everything in writing, it needs to be in their writing and not mine, they still call.
Yes, even though I am retired and use to come to my office only once a week (haven’t been there this year). I guess McGill owns the entire exchange (the three digits following the eara code) no one ever makes spam calls to it. At least I never got any. Almost the only people who ever call are my wife and my office mate’s. The latter often starts out in Hugarian until I stop her.
I work with an office of about 15 people. Each person has their own direct phone number. Then there is a branch office phone number. There is also a phone number shared by me and 2 others, to support one specific customer. So yes, I have my own work phone number. No way am I letting the company use my personal phone #, even if they offer to pay for it. If I ever leave the company, they would own the number and I’d have to get all my friend and family to change to the new one.
Sometimes picking up the phone and calling a supplier or a customer can occasionally be the best way to do it. Especially now, when so many of us/them are a bit starved for adult conversation, it makes me a real person and not a random anonymous entity. I just get better results when I sometimes call. Today I think I answered about 8 calls and placed another 5 or so. That’s a pretty typical day.
I have a phone on my desk and a direct dial number. A year or so ago they switched us all over to Skype enabled phones which are integrated into the network. (The network cable essentially goes from the jack through the phone to my laptop.) So even though we all have phone numbers, we mostly call each other thru Skype instead of dialing out on the phone.
Of course since I’ve been working from home the last two months, I just plug my headset directly into a USB port on the computer and that’s my “phone” now.
Oh also, when we switched to Skype phones we all got new phone numbers too. So I had to give up the number I’ve had for 20+ years. After a year with the new number, I still can’t remember it half the time.
Yes, and I am far from a luddite.
I have a real solid wired desk phone with a real number. And people call it all the time. And I even call people!
Many people do have dedicated company cell phones, but it isn’t mandatory, and I don’t want tom be reachable 100% of the time. Like those fools that take (!) calls in the bathroom stalls.
Right now, as I am working from home, I have it forwarded to my home number. Which is also a get-u-ine hard lined Bell phone,