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Therac
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How to politely ask an employee to avoid personal texting during meetings?

I have an employee at a small IT startup, that's texting during our Daily Standup meetings. It's not a lot of texting, but it's romantic, which is very visible.

I'm fine with people doing personal things at work, but want to avoid this during the 10-minute window when we're supposed to engage each other as a team.

What would be the least intrusive way to ask an employee to avoid personal texting during meetings?

The options I've considered include:

  • Discussing group norms without singling anyone out. My concern is that it would be obvious who it's about.
  • Mentioning this "casually". I'm worried that it might feel like I'm intruding into their personal life. I'm aware of their office romance, but don't know if they know that I know, and would rather leave it private.
  • Asking them not to use the phone during meetings at all. My concern is that this feels rigid and might increase our power distance.

In general we're OK with checking our cell phones in meetings, but only when it's work-related, like a calendar check. I'm not the employee's line manager, which I'm still hiring, so it falls to me.

Therac
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