H1N1 - Ideas to Help Cover Phones When Employees are Absent

 

If your department is short of staff because of the H1N1 flu, or if you are short of staff for any other reason, this web site may give you ideas for handling phones calls and voice mail while staff is out for extended periods of time.

• Forward Phones
• Conference Calls
• Change Voice Mail Greeting
• Voice Mail Individual Attendant
• Consultation

Forwarding Phones:

If a staff member needs to answer phone calls because another staff member is ill, those calls can be forwarded to another phone.  Or, if an employee would like to Telecommute and send all of their calls to their home or cell phone, calls could be forwarded to another location.  In order to forward a phone, please follow these instructions:

From a CSB Phone:

• Go to the phone you would like to forward and Enter * 3.
• Enter the phone number where you would like calls forwarded.  To forward to an on-campus/SJU phone, enter the 4 digit phone number only.  To forward a phone off campus, enter 9, and then the 7 digit number.
• To cancel call forwarding, go to the phone being forwarded and enter # 3.

From a SJU Phone:

• Go to the phone you would like to forward and Enter * 2.
• Enter the phone number where you would like calls forwarded.  To forward to an on-campus/SJU phone, enter the 4 digit phone number only.  To forward a phone off campus, enter 9, and then the 7 digit number.
• To cancel call forwarding, go to the phone being forwarded and enter # 2.

Conference Calls:

During a time when many staff members are ill or are working from home, you may want to consider meeting over an audio conference call rather than in person.  Please follow the directions below for setting up a conference call:

From a CSB Digital Phone:

Allows up to seven parties to be joined in once call.  It is recommended that no more than 4 parties be external.

To Add Additional Parties To An Existing Conversation:

• Press CONF button and listen for dial tone.
• Key in number.  (Include "9" for outside line.)
• Announce conference.
• Press CONF button and all parties will be connected.
• Repeat above steps to add additional parties.

If The Number Called Is Busy Or Unanswered:

• Hang up the phone.
• Lift handset and press the CONF button.
• You will be connected with the original party or parties.

 

From and SJU Digital Phone:

Conference:

Allows you to add parties to a call, so that you can conduct up to a 3 way conversation. (If you wish to have more than 6 parties, call Voice Communications for assistance) Use to set up time-saving conferences, or to spontaneously include a party important to a discussion.

Press Conference button, your call is put on hold, and you are given a new call appearance; all other parties remain connnected to each other.

Dial number of new party and wait for an answer. Note: You can privately discuss the call with the new party at this time; if no answer or busy, press fluttering button to return to held call.

Press Conference again and all parties are now connected.

Conference calls for more than 6 parties:

If you have the need to make conference calls with more than 6 parties, please call the CSB Telecommunications Office or the SJU Voice Communications Office.  We will provide with numbers to make conference calls with many parties through an outside conferencing company (Premier Conferencing). 

 

Change Voice Mail Greetings:

If you are out of the office, you may want to change your voice mail greeting to inform callers of your status, or give them information on who they can contact in your absense.  To change your greeting, follow these steps:

• For CSB Voice Mail dial 6700, for SJU Voice Mail dial 2000
• Enter your Extension and #
• Enter your Password and #
• Enter 5 - For Administrative Options
• Enter 4 - For Personal Prompts
• Enter 1 - To Record your Standard Greeting
• Follow the instructions given to you by the system

Voice Mail Attendant:

Each phone with voice mail has the option of having a personal attendant.  This will give your callers a way to transfer out of your voice mail to someone else in your department that may be able to help in your absense.  Within your voice mail greeting, you will need to tell callers to Press 0 to be transferred. 

In order to set up your personal attendant, you will need to call the CSB Telecommunications  (5566) or SJU Voice Communications Office (3482).  Once our office sets up this attendant, it will always be available for you to use.  If you need to change your attendant number, please contact our office. 

 

Consultation:

The staff in the Telecommunications/Voice Communications Offices are here to help you and your offices manage your phone and voice mail services.  If you are having concerns and are looking for ideas to help manage your service, please contact us and will will try to help you resolve any issues.