The identities and remedies come courtesy of Robert Half Technology:

1. The Misguided Multitasker. This person thinks that e-mailing or texting during a meeting or conversation demonstrates efficiency. But all it really demonstrates is rudeness. Suggestion: Ask this person to use the handheld device only in an urgent situation and to step out of the room to reply in such situations.

2. The E-mail Addict. If you’ve ever played e-mail tag with a colleague, you’ve likely encountered this person, who relies on a constant stream of e-mails, instant messages or texts to communicate every needs. Why? This individual thinks it will save time. But excessive messaging, particularly regarding trivial things, can be inefficient and disruptive. Suggestion: Ask the e-mail addict’s manager to offer a reminder that often a phone call or in-person discussion can resolve issues more quickly.

3. The Broadcaster. In a meeting, a restaurant or a restroom, this person has no shame when it comes to using a cell phone anytime, anywhere — to discuss anything. When using a cell phone in common areas, it’s not only disrespectful but also potentially off-putting to others. Suggestion: Advise all employees to keep private conversations limited to private places.

4. The Cyborg. Rare is the chance to see this person without the blinking glow of a Bluetooth headset or iPod earbud nestled in an ear. Keeping a wireless earpiece or headphones constantly plugged in signals to others who may need to speak to you that your attention is not available. Suggestion: Teach workers that they should show that they are accessible to their colleagues by using earpieces in the office with discretion and consideration.

5. The Distractor. This person may have good intentions in setting a cellphone to vibrate rather than torturing colleagues with a cheesy ringtone, but hearing it repeatedly buzz loudly on a desktop or during a meeting can be just as distracting. A better solution: Ask workers to set their phone to silent or keep it in their pocket when in the office.

Here’s the typical dangerous scenario:

Two employees have company-issued cell phones. One employee uses the company phone to send harassing text messages to the other employee’s company-issued phone. The receiving employee files a harassment complaint.

What’s the employer’s responsibility?

The various state laws indicate that electronic messages, such as e-mail, are considered evidence in harassment cases, and must be retained by the employer — to support or refute the charge. Following that ruling, most legal observers agree the term “electronic messages” also covers text messages, meaning an employer could be responsible for storing and producing such messages when they go from company phone to company phone.

That’s another headache no employer or HR department needs, so what’s the solution? Ban texting altogether? That seems extreme and impractical, althought least one employer in Florida has done that.

But the more practical option is to develop a policy about employee-to-employee texting, especially during work hours. Employees should understand, via the policy, that such texting should be done only as a business necessity, and that employees will be held responsible for offensive or harassing text messaages.

According to a recent study a crash is 23 times more likely to happen when drivers are texting than when they aren’t.

Despite that fact, a lot of people do it anyway — including employees with work issued cell phones, which could put employers in the hot seat in the event of a crash.

These three apps can be installed onto company phones to help stop unsafe driving:

1. Textecution

Works on: Android (apps for other phones are being developed).

Price: $1.99

Using the phone’s GPS, the program disables texting if the phone is moving faster than 10 m.p.h. One problem: What happens when the employee is on a train?

2. Drive Safe.ly

Works on: Android and BlackBerry. Apps for iPhone and Windows Mobile being developed.

Price: Free for “Basic,” $13.99 for “Pro”

This program reads text messages out loud while the user is driving. They can also set the phone to send an automatic reply when they’re in the car.

3. TXTBlocker

Works on: BlackBerry

Price: $24.99 initially, then $9.99 a month

This app also detects how fast the phone is moving, and will disable texting accordingly. It can also be set to block texting at certain times, but that’s more for parents who know when their kids will be in the car.

Police say Nicholas Sparks of Burt, NY, was at fault when he slammed his tow truck into another car and crashed into a swimming pool. The reason for the accident: Sparks was having a conversation on a cell phone — while sending a text message on a second phone.

Sparks admitted to using two phones behind the wheel and was charged with reckless driving, talking behind the wheel and, for good measure, tailgating, the Associated Press reports.

The truck also sideswiped a house and broke a picket fence before landing in an unsuspecting resident’s in-ground pool.

Makes you wonder how some people get hired in the first place.

“[T]here will be no tax consequence to employers or employees for personal use of work-related devices such as cell phones provided by employers,” he said in statement posted on IRS’ Web site.

He adds that the current law, which requires employers to include in employees’ gross income the value of the personal use of employer-provided cell phones, is “burdensome, poorly understood by taxpayers and difficult for the IRS to administer correctly.”

He’s asked Congress to take action because the “passage of time, advances in technology and the nature of communication in the modern workplace have rendered this law obsolete.”

What else is new
Meanwhile, just days before Schulman’s announcement, IRS issued a notice asking for comments on several proposals that would simplify the substantiation procedures on an employee’s business use of employer-provided cell phones.

Some believe that the IRS notice was intended to draw attention to the administrative difficulties raised by the current law, which could be resolved by Congressional action.

Here are the three methods IRS suggests in its notice:

1. Minimal Personal Use Method – Employers would count all of an employee’s cell phone usage as business related. There are two different ideas being tossed around:

• Companies could count the entire amount as business use if the employee provides the employer with records establishing that he or she has a personal (nonemployer-provided) cell phone for personal use during work hours, or
• An employer could disregard a specified amount or type of “minimal” personal use to determine the amount of personal use. For example, “minimal” might be defined by a particular number of minutes or use for certain personal purposes.

2. Safe Harbor Substantiation Method – Companies could treat a certain percentage of each employee’s use as business usage. The remaining percentage would be counted as personal purposes. IRS and the Treasury Department are proposing a business use of 75%.

3. Statistical Sampling Method – Employers could use IRS-approved statistical sampling techniques to measure personal use. The company would multiply a percentage times the value of each employee’s total usage to determine personal use. The remaining portion of the employee’s usage would be counted for business purposes.

Of course there always has to be some fine print. The IRS Notice adds that employers using a simplified cell phone substantiation method will be required to:

• implement a written policy that: a) requires employees to carry and use the phones for work purposes, and b) prohibits personal use of the phones, except for “minimal personal use” (similar to the requirements applicable to employer-provided automobiles in Internal Revenue Code Section 1.274-6T), and
• reasonably believe that the cell phone is not used for personal purposes, except for minimal personal use.

Employers have until September to send IRS comments on its proposals. It’s unclear, though, whether Congress will respond to Shulman’s request and take any action. We’ll keep you posted.