The Line Is Ringing: A Phone Etiquette Refresher for Fall Onboarding
Are your newest team members novices on the landline? It's not a knock on anyone — many junior team members simply grew up on FaceTime and group chats, so a ringing desk phone can feel unfamiliar.
A recent New York Times piece on Gen Z and Gen Alpha phone habits backs this up: caller ID means you usually already know who's calling, so the old "hello?" ritual just never got built into muscle memory the way it did for earlier generations.
If you're onboarding a new hire this fall, please remember your employee may not have experience using a landline or having professional phone conversations. They may need training on phone etiquette.
Here are a few quick tips:
👋 Answer with a real greeting. "Hello, this is [NAME]" or just "Hi, [NAME] speaking" — especially for calls from numbers you don't recognize.
📢 Say your name if you're the one calling. Don't assume caller ID does the introduction for you.
🕰️ Ask if it's a good time. A quick "Is now an okay time to talk?" respects that a call interrupts someone's day in a way a text doesn't.
🔚 End the call clearly. "Thank you, talk soon!" avoids the awkward trailing silence or abrupt hang-up.
☎️ Save voicemail for real messages. If you leave one, say who you are, why you're calling, and a callback number — don't assume the person will just call back because they see a missed call.
A little coaching now saves an awkward call with a colleague or client later.
