I’ve recently been promoted and now have an employee working under me. I don’t have any complaints about her apart from the fact that she spends an awful lot of time on the telephone making loud, personal calls. It doesn’t interfere with her efficiency because she often stays late, but I’m finding it quite annoying.

Every office has different etiquette but if there’s one thing they generally agree on, is that personal calls should be kept to a minimum – unless of course they are made during break times. It’s irrelevant whether your employee stays late, the problem is that when she’s on the phone, she’s unable to meet targets according to your deadline, which is fundamentally why she’s there. Schedule a meeting and set boundaries – reminding her that the office phone is not free.