Mobile phone offered by employer or not? thoughts?

[womanofdulwich]

Once upon a time an employer offered a mobile phone with the job, and now as its " work from home", I would have thought even more so.I'm not keen on giving clients my own personal number. I'm a bit out of date- what's the norm on this? I used to like to switch my work mobile off at 6pm. what do others do? Should I dig my heels in and say no I want a work phone? ( its a small charity employer)

[Pugwash]

Most people I know who are working from home have a work mobile phone, I have never heard of having to use your own phone.

Were your employers going to pay your phone bills?

[KidKruger]

Employer pays for device and network cost.

[JohnL]

iPhone 8 at the moment and there is no way they can guarantee you'd have your own with freed up data so pretty standard in IT - especially with on call - unless we go back to pagers :).

[SpringTime]

You should have a work mobile with appropriate security installed. If you use your own phone which is then lost or stolen, and clients' details are then disclosed it's potentially a big GDPR issue and you yourself could be accountable as well as your company.

At a personal level it's much better for your own personal wellbeing to keep work and your own family/friends/pursuits in separate places.

So get your employer to provide another phone as KK says, and they pay network fees too.

[feefifofum]

Yes, definitely get a separate work phone. I have one phone for everything and it makes it very hard to switch off from work - especially now that I get texts amd WhatsApps about work, as well as calls and emails.

[JohnL]

feefifofum Wrote:

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> Yes, definitely get a separate work phone. I have

> one phone for everything and it makes it very hard

> to switch off from work - especially now that I

> get texts amd WhatsApps about work, as well as

> calls and emails.

I know a few that have a single phone (some use their work phone for everything). You find out when people leave and ask to keep their work mobile number - I'd have no reason to do that - some do.

[malumbu]

It all went horribly wrong when I at last took on a work Blackberry. I'd resisted for years. But once it was in my hands I was then expected to be on call 24/7. It was wonderful for a few years in terms of flexible working until they became all but obsolete. A move to a state of the art smart phone transformed work in terms of synchronizing with the desk top, I fortunately did not have to suck Apple Corporate cock but can't get away from Microsoft. But back to the original theme, there is still this feeling you should be checking and responding to e-mails at all times of day (Whatsapp just makes it worse) and at times a long hours culture of colleagues competing to be the most accessible.

Apologies for my crudeness - a mate coined the term years ago when they were forced into taking out a package (may have even been dial up) with AOL.

[Jules-and-Boo]

I use my own phone, works out fine.

No one calls without booking time first.

I don't want to carry two phones around and I don't want to be constantly available with apps (teams etc) on my mobile)

[JohnL]

If people expect you to answer emails at all times then they also must expect you never to be drunk :) The etiquette seems to be if you're offline on Skype/Teams and not on call - go to servicedesk or send an email and it'll be checked when appropriate - if there's 10 missed calls you get a hint it's a big issue.

Note: lots of firms have managers being always on call for emergencies for no extra pay - that's a downside of being a manager.

[womanofdulwich]

Am I correct in thinking you can make a call from your phone but add a certain digit first that makes your number " invisible" so they cant see it?

Thanks

[JohnL]

womanofdulwich Wrote:

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> Am I correct in thinking you can make a call from

> your phone but add a certain digit first that

> makes your number " invisible" so they cant see

> it?

> Thanks

BT Landlines can do that https://btbusiness.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/9325/~/outgoing-caller-id%3A-how-to-show-or-hide-your-number/c/5089/#:~:text=Business%20Calling%20Features-,Outgoing%20caller%20ID%3A%20How%20to%20show%20or%20hide%20your%20number,this%20or%20the%20056%20number.

I think there's an option in iPhone to withold your caller ID in settings->phone

[womanofdulwich]

ThanskJohn, all that calling students years ago who had not come to courses, sadly I don't have an i phone. :( Ill try my samsung settings

[KidKruger]

WoD, you just put 141 in front of the no. you dial.

I think that makes you an 'unknown number / number not recognised'.

So you may have someone hang-up on you if they can't see who's calling.

[JohnL]

Yeah - seems 141 works on mobiles too

https://bigtechquestion.com/2019/04/17/phones/withhold-mobile-number/#:~:text=Simply%20type%20the%20numbers%20141,the%20same%20on%20a%20mobile.

[womanofdulwich]

way to go, Im interested to know what others have done since they started WFH. Does their work give them a phone or do people get a phone package through their laptop?

[JohnL]

Just a thought..

If your clients use your personal number won't you be more likely to take them with you if you left.

[Donna101]

I think it would be a bit ridiculous giving clients your personal phone number because they will phone you out of hours.

If your employers want you to make and receive calls with clients/customers then maybe they should get you a work phone.

Or you could try to get by with just email and zoom.

Or maybe they could get you a cheap smart phone that will run WhatsApp and you can use WhatsApp with your customers via your wifi.

In any case it doesn't seem practical to use your own phone.

[Alan Medic]

womanofdulwich Wrote:

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> way to go, Im interested to know what others have

> done since they started WFH. Does their work give

> them a phone or do people get a phone package

> through their laptop?

I decided to bail out of the office before the company made any decision and took a suitcase into the office to collect my stuff. We use these internet phones and I took mine with me. It connects to my WiFi and has the same office number as before.