Alappuzha: The Kerala government has sent a strong signal to its employees to curb the excessive use of mobile phones and social media during office hours. A recent government order directs employees to limit the use of mobile phones in offices which was seen as affecting work and troubling the public.
The order has been issued through the vigilance cell of the Labour Department after repeated reminders on the matter fell on deaf ears. The order has to be read out in an all-staff meeting in every government office and sent back with the signatures of all employees.
“The government admits that the employees use mobile phones in a manner that troubled the public and the functioning of offices has been affected by this,” the order said. Each office superintendent has been given strict orders to ensure that the employees reporting to him do not use mobile phones and social media excessively during duty hours.
The authorities have also found out that some of the employees even use office computers to log in to social media such as Facebook. The use of office computers for private purposes has been barred.