Cell phones and work for work

[Duffyjr]

I see this all the time at work, they expect you to use your phone at work for work. I don't do it, I don't want customers contacting me outside of business hours. They also expect you to be available on your days off if you are needed, even if they would pay me I've never done this.

I'm sure this happens all over but how do you guys feel about this?

 

[Rand]

With my current plan If I needed a work Phone I could add one for 5$..
I wouldnt give out my private number.
How it would be answered would be determined by my job.

 

[JTK]

Management and co-workers have my personal numbers. It's mandatory that they have a means to contact us and we don't have work phones. We are often on-call.

 

[LDM]

I see this all the time at work, they expect you to use your phone at work for work. I don't do it, I don't want customers contacting me outside of business hours. They also expect you to be available on your days off if you are needed, even if they would pay me I've never done this.

I'm sure this happens all over but how do you guys feel about this?

We used to have work cell phones but then the company decided it would be cheaper to give everyone a $20 cell phone stipend and take away the work phones. You were suddenly expected to just use your personal phone as a work cell phone, which I told management I do not do. Only my direct manager is allowed to have my personal cell number and only because it is required for contact reasons. I don't make any exceptions to this from past experience, anytime someone at work gets a hold of your personal cell number they believe they can call you at any time for any reason.

In the end the solution was to install Google Voice on my phone and use it with a separate phone number as I wasn't going to spend my money on a 2nd phone and line. Google Voice works well enough although at times it just decides to not work for random reasons. Ultimately this is not my problem, since if they wanted me to have a more reliable solution they need to provide a separate work cell phone instead. The other great part about Google Voice is that when I am not working I can set it to Do Not Disturb, so I will not receive any calls or texts until I go into the program and turn it back on. You would not believe the number of phone calls and texts I had waiting for me when I got back from my 2 week vacation earlier this year, even though I made sure to send out the time period I would be gone to everyone in my area that I work with.

 

[fsdork]

On principle, I believe if the employer isn't paying for my phone, they don't get to expect the benefit of it. If you need to contact me, pay for a phone for that purpose and I'll carry it when I'm being paid to do so.

In reality, however - it's just something you have to look at in terms of total compensation for the job. Are you happy with what you're being paid to do what is being asked? As you mentioned in the OP, once customers have your personal number, you're on call 24/7. If you're not being paid enough to compensate for that expectation, that's something to discuss with your employer.

Personally, I'm on call 24 hours a day during alternating weeks. Work provides me with a phone which I forward to my personal device so I don't have to carry two phones around all the time. If I'm going on vacation, I kill the forwarding function and let work calls go to the work voicemail.

 

[Pew]

90% of my company's employees are field workers/remote and occasionally work outside of normal work hours. Salary or not, we are respectful of other's personal time though and won't contact anybody else unless it's absolutely necessary or scheduled. If I get an afterhours call that's not extremely urgent, I may or may not push it off until the next morning depending on how I feel. We do give out a $55 stipend per month for employees to use their personal phones though, so you better be somewhat reachable or at least have your work email on your phone.

Our CEO was notorious for calling outside of work hours, very often at 8pm or later. We lost a couple good receptionists/admin assistants that way and she finally learned to give people their space.

As of this year, we also have a phone app that is connected to your work number. If the employees decide to continue use of their personal number instead of the work number now, then that's on the employees but our vendors and clients are also very respectful of personal time.

 

[Vil_Riker]

Personal cell phones have been part of my work for a very long time, at least since 2003. Only one place has had a stipend to compensate for part of the cost.

The etiquette is to use discretion when communicating after hours unless on-call. The hierarchy goes email->text->call from least urgent to urgent.

Not a big deal, I am technically at work 24/7.

 

[chainblu]

My personal cell phone is just that. At my last job, a few of my fellow employees had my number. My boss did not. I had a number on file if they needed to reach me.

 

[jeepman3071]

I used to carry two cell phones, what a PITA. I now have just a personal phone and get a stipend. Don't let anyone trick you by saying you can carry a second "work" phone that is only used during work hours, because if they want to contact you after hours and you don't answer the work phone, they will just call the personal one.

I'm not on-call luckily, so if someone calls me after hours that isn't my boss, or a number I don't recognize, it goes to voicemail.

 

[PontiacHO]

Always had both a work and personal phone. The work phone has always been an “albatross” that I was expected to carry and answer 24-7. If however it was ever decided to go strictly personal phones only, I’d answer at My discretion. Hence - the “always available” status is the reason for our work issued cell phone.
Edit: About 12 years ago I was vacationing on the Outer Banks of North Carolina surf fishing in the fall. We had Nextel at the time which had little to no coverage out there. THE BOSS apparently was attempting to contact me for several days and couldn’t. Another Division Director called my personal cell (Verizon) and told me I’d better check in with THE BOSS. I did and was told that I “should have called in to inform Executive Staff to call my personal phone since Nextel coverage-work phone was useless.” After the beat down THE BOSS couldn’t remember the reason for the initial call in the first place. I’ve had more dressing downs over phones etc than any other aspect of my entire job…..

 

[MNgopher]

Ahh, the good old days of Nextel...

Family cabin had zero Nextel coverage. Had a higher up trying to reach me for two days once, and was mad as all get out I didn't answer. I responded with: A. See my email with notification I will be out of nextel coverage on such dates and to call the next person on the list... And B. Nextel coverage stinks even where we are located. Shouldn't be surprised.

Had a family member traveling and folks from his office trying to reach him. They called me wondering why he wasn't picking up. I responded with: Have you looked at Nextel coverage in Montana? (Hint: There was NONE at the time). Company switched carriers a year later...

 

[nomas]

Retired now , but the company paid me $45 a month stipend for my cell phone . It was my personal phone . I used it for everything . I worked for the power company so I was subject to being called at any time . Every six weeks I was the Duty Foreman for a week so it was a sure bet I would be called at all hours .Obviously I had the option to get a second phone but I preferred letting the company pay me for the use of my personal phone . It wasn't a big deal .

 

[dlundblad]

I see pros and cons to either or.

If a customer is calling you after hours and you’re not on call for them and/ or it isn’t an emergency, I’d call them back first thing next business day.

A co worker of mine has his work phone and personal phone on the same device. 2 different numbers. Pretty slick.

 

[BHopkins]

Retired last year, but had a company provided cell phone. If you didn't take the company cell phone, you could get a $400 annual payment for use of your personal phone for company business. The company phone was a real good deal, both for the employee and the company. The company loaded software on the phone that allowed me to access the company phone directory. I could also access the company computer network. So it really made the employee much more productive.

If you were using a personal phone, they wouldn't install these features, for security reasons. I was also allowed to use my company phone for personal use. This only became a problem for a few that abused the privilege, by downloading tons of music and movies, and going way over on their data plan. Those that excessively abused this had to pay the overages.

 

[tbm5690]

I have a Google voice number that is given when needed for work purposes that will call/text to my personal phone...I can then go DND on that one if I ever actually need to and my personal number will still be active for personal contacts.

 

[bdcardinal]

As a general rule I don't give my cell number out to customers, either retail or wholesale. People have no concept of boundaries anymore. I have a couple wholesale customers with my number and they respect it and will only text me during work hours, unless it is something not work related like an inappropriate meme.

One of our wholesale accounts would call a previous manager at 10 and 11pm at night, our hours are M-F 8-5 and Sat 8-4, demanding status updates on parts ordered or wanting to order parts. Then they called the store the next day to complain to the GM about us not helping them.

 

[Skippy722]

If they’re helping cover the cost, that’s fine, but I’d be using google voice or something similar. Otherwise absolutely not.

 

[spasm3]

I use mine for work. I'm required to be able to be contacted by text and phone for call. But I use my phone during the day for contacting physicians, texting info . It's easier and faster for me than using the desk phone. I'm not always in one place in the building.
We will probably be issued vocera phones, but those only work on hospital premises. I don't need staff having to figure out which number to contact me, so the vocera will probably get limited use.

 

[GMFan]

I have a work cell phone. I’m expected to be reachable between 9a-3p M-F. I don’t work in an office as I’m either on the road or in the field at a customers location.

My previous company used my personal cell phone all the time for business reasons and I hated it.

 

[wwillson]

I have a work cell phone and a personal cell phone. No work calls on my personal phone (my rule) and no personal calls on my work phone (employers rule). I shut my work phone off on the weekends.