1. Background: Phone calls cost the University money. Mistakes have been made in the past by members of staff misrepresenting the University, which have incurred a substantial amount of contingent costs. A survey also suggests that many phone calls were ineffective. Sometimes this is caused by the lack of clear objectives, strategies and skills by the callers.
2. Training: Only staffs who have gone through the University’s three days training in telephone communication skills will be allowed to make external phone calls. Staffs who wish to make international calls must go through further trainings to ensure that they understand the differences in culture and subtle differences in the use of English in the countries that they intend to call. Duration of the trainings varies from five days to three months, depending on the countries involved.
3. Approval procedure: Before making an external phone call, an application must be made, stating the objectives of the call, the intended receivers, the conversation plan, the benefits to the University, the estimated call length, the estimated cost of the call and the funding of the call. This application must be approved by the Departmental Budget Committee (members to be appointed by the Head of Department) before the call can be made. Staffs should allow seven working days for each application to be processed.
4. Funding of phone calls: Staff must pay for all their personal calls. To be fair to everyone, each member of staff who intends to make business calls must apply for funding from the University. Applications will be assessed annually, based on the staff’s role and performance. 50% of the costs in business calls will come out of the staff’s personal research/administrative budget.
5. Reporting: A report must be produced within 2 hours after each call is made, stating whether the goals have been achieved. The report should also record the full contents of the conversation and duration and cost of the call. The Head of Department should comment on the report, and evaluate the effectiveness of the call.
6. Remarks: The above policy follows the auditor’s recommendation. We have no choice but to implement it. Universities that have implemented similar policies found that they have substantially cut their phone bills, limited their liabilities and improved effectiveness in their telephone communications.

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