Company cellphone vs Personal

[FlightlessDuck]

Does your company issue you a cellphone? One you aren't supposed to use for personal use? How do you handle both that and a personal cellphone? Do you carry both around with you everywhere? Leave your company phone in your desk when you leave for the day?

Asking for a friend. Yeah, that's it. A friend's company has decided recently to switch from office phones to cellphones. Yeah... not me at all

 

[siren0119]

I'm in a leadership position and sometimes have the opportunity to work from home. So I just got used to carrying my work cell with me all the time. During the work day it sits on my desk or in my pocket. At the end of the day, it goes in my work backpack along with my laptop, and pretty much stays there unless I am working from home. Then it's on the couch arm or next to the dog LOL

 

[FlightlessDuck]

it sits on my desk or in my pocket. At the end of the day, it goes in my work backpack along with my laptop

Yeah, that's might be what I end up doing. Honestly nobody ever calls me. We always use Slack, Zoom, or Skype for voice communication. I think my phone has rung 4 times this year. Then again, I don't talk to customers anymore.

 

[siren0119]

Yeah, that's might be what I end up doing. Honestly nobody ever calls me. We always use Slack, Zoom, or Skype for voice communication. I think my phone has rung 4 times this year. Then again, I don't talk to customers anymore.

I honestly get more telemarketing robo calls than I do work calls on the cell phone. But apparently cell plans are less than maintaining internal phone systems LOL.

 

[GreatLakes]

We don't issue company cell phones but if you need to be accessible 24/7, as I and all my direct reports have to be, you get a monthly stipend towards your cell phone and home internet service. I would not carry two phones. Even if I had a work phone it would just be forwarded to my personal phone.

 

[soccerdad72]

We have a policy where I work that allows for a monthly stipend to be paid to employees who show a need for using their personal cell phone for business purposes.

I get somewhere around $70 a month in my paycheck for my cell phone stipend.

 

[Klayfish]

I work from home twice per week, but my work phone functions through my laptop even while at home. However, I still do have a cell phone for work. It wasn't issued by my company, but they do pay me monthly. It's separate from my personal phone. I have one of those cell phone plans where I get 5 lines for $100/month, so it really doesn't cost much to have the separate work phone.

I don't carry it around everywhere with me. When I'm on my personal time, it means just that...my personal time. I make a point to try to keep home/work balance as strong as possible. Sure, there are exceptions, and I don't mind that. But for the most part, when I'm done work for the day, the phone doesn't get touched until the next day.

 

[siren0119]

It's interesting to see folks who are willing to use personal cells for work purposes - my first concern would be that work-related people (clients, other employees, vendors, etc) would have my personal cell number rather than a work-specific number. That to me seems problematic for work/life separation as well as if I ever changed companies?

 

[soccerdad72]

It's interesting to see folks who are willing to use personal cells for work purposes - my first concern would be that work-related people (clients, other employees, vendors, etc) would have my personal cell number rather than a work-specific number. That to me seems problematic for work/life separation as well as if I ever changed companies?

This starts going back to last week's thread here regarding voice mail - very often, if I don't recognize a number on my cell phone, I let it go to voice mail. I will say that while my cell phone is on my business card, I have only had maybe 2 or 3 outside people call me on my cell. Persistent vendors who are constantly bugging me (and I frequently ignore )

 

[OhDannyBoy]

I was on 24/7 parts callout years ago at our shop and had to carry a company phone.

After being woken up for the 5 time at 2AM for a wrong number, I gave the phone back and said if carrying this is a job requirement, I quit.

The have someone else dong that now. LOL

 

[wenrob]

The new iPhones are dual SIM so you can have two lines on one phone. Maybe that’s an option with the brand of phone you prefer?

My brother uses his personal phone and makes himself available 24/7. Not something I would do even just for the work day.

Very briefly the plant my DH works for wanted to issue them work phones. They have “Call Out” pay in their contracts, basically 2 hrs of OT if they’re called whether they go in or not. Pretty much the company realized it would cost them quite a bit to have these guys formally available 24/7 rather than casually. The idea was dropped pretty quick.

 

[Kellydelly]

It's interesting to see folks who are willing to use personal cells for work purposes - my first concern would be that work-related people (clients, other employees, vendors, etc) would have my personal cell number rather than a work-specific number. That to me seems problematic for work/life separation as well as if I ever changed companies?

My husband has a personal cell phone that he uses at his job. He is reimbursed monthly for his full bill. He could not work without a smart phone. I don't think he has any problem with work associates or customers calling him, he rarely gets calls after 5 pm. I am pretty sure there is a desk phone at his work I could call him on too (he's only been there four months so I haven't needed to find that out).

 

[tvguy]

There is a cell phone in my work area for when our VoIP landline system goes down, but it doesn't leave the building. Those who go in the field, and managers are the only ones with company cell phones.

 

[tvguy]

We have a policy where I work that allows for a monthly stipend to be paid to employees who show a need for using their personal cell phone for business purposes.

I get somewhere around $70 a month in my paycheck for my cell phone stipend.

That's a sweet perk....about twice what a typical cell phone costs per month.

 

[sam_gordon]

It's interesting to see folks who are willing to use personal cells for work purposes - my first concern would be that work-related people (clients, other employees, vendors, etc) would have my personal cell number rather than a work-specific number. That to me seems problematic for work/life separation as well as if I ever changed companies?

I also get a stipend for my personal phone. I've been "on call" basically 24/7 for the last 18 years. When I was an employee (vs manager), we had rotating on call lists for weekends, but employees could call whoever. Only the designated on call person HAD to answer the phone. Now that I'm a manager, I'm on call basically all the time.

I might average a call a week after hours through the year. Most of those times the call is less than 5 minutes. Not having to carry two cell phones is worth the minor inconvenience of employees having my personal number.

 

[sam_gordon]

That's a sweet perk....about twice what a typical cell phone costs per month.

What "typical" cell phone (and service) are you getting for <$40/month?

 

[soccerdad72]

What "typical" cell phone (and service) are you getting for <$40/month?

 

[sam_gordon]

But the service is still $40/month.

 

[bigbabyblues]

It's interesting to see folks who are willing to use personal cells for work purposes - my first concern would be that work-related people (clients, other employees, vendors, etc) would have my personal cell number rather than a work-specific number. That to me seems problematic for work/life separation as well as if I ever changed companies?

This would be a big NO from me. I don't want to give out my cell # to people other than family and friends, and I do not want to receive work-related calls or texts when I am not at work.

 

[ronandannette]

This would be a big NO from me. I don't want to give out my cell # to people other than family and friends, and I do not want to receive work-related calls or texts when I am not at work.

Most staff members in my department are theoretically required to carry a company cell. I do, and don't have a personal cell because personal use of the company phones is allowed, within the guidelines of our standard IT policies (same as our desktop computers).

Two of my staff pushed pretty hard NOT to have to take a company cell because they didn't want the hassle of 2 phones and felt the personal use guidelines were too restrictive with the company phones. We agreed to allow them to decline the company phones as long as they were prepared to be available and responsive on their private phones and give the number to anyone reasonably requiring it for work purposes. 100% their choice.