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Yesterday, I found out that I will not be issued a company cell phone. It’s a BYOD (bring your own device) setup. I would be expected to use my personal cell phone for work. I can expense the bill every month, which is nice, but I immediately thought of the blurring of my work and personal life and I’m not sure of how thrilled I will be about that.
I already expect to work long hours, but my weekends will be mine. My personal number will be given to clients so they can reach me. At recent employers, I sometimes used my cell phone for conference calls when working from home or for co-workers to reach me, but clients never had my personal number.
I’m also concerned with possibly losing my number later, a number I have had for years and the only number many friends and family have in order to reach me. Then there’s the personal information, although I do backup to iCloud, so probably not a big deal there. Work would allow me to expense the monthly plan of the second device, but not the second device itself.
On the other hand, carrying a second won’t be fun either. I haven’t had to do that since the BlackBerry heydays. Phones are larger now too. More to lose and have to keep up with.
I’m still deciding on what to do, but I’m curious for anyone who has the BYOD option, do you use one cell phone or two? If it was your choice at work, what would you do?
A professional company provides its own devices to their workers for free. I worked for crazy IT companies but even they provided me with everything that I needed for after hours contact and support. I had a laptop and phone, free of charge. My last IT company was very sensitive to security issues and didn't want any information on personal devices outside the company's control. That makes a lot of sense. It sounds like your company doesn't know what it is doing, is just too cheap to supply their own devices, or deliberately trying to blur the line between work and personal time in the hope that the employees will be working more during off hours.
I use two phones. My company use to issue phones but doesn't any more. It's all BYOD now. They pay for the service and give me a certain amount towards a phone every two years. So why not get two if they are footing the bill for everything? You will be in the same spot financially since you will still only be paying for your persona line. It's a bit annoying to carry two phones but it's not too bad.
You could get an inexpensive prepaid phone on a service such as total wireless, I bought an iPhone SE new last year for $99 for my wife and I. The service runs on Verizon towers and it's good.
Alternatively you can get a google voice number and give that out as your primary contact number. This would prevent your number from getting out there.
Personally I would never use a personal phone on a business line. The company exercises too much control over it.
i prefer byod. 1 device to keep charged, worry about losing, ...
android/aosp allows for multiple profiles/users on the same device. so you can have your work email/webex/vpn/... on one profile; then, your nfsw stuff on another.
As you move into the professional job force, your personal and professional lives merge. IF you are a 24/7 person, and can be compensated accordingly, then you must be reachable 24/7.
One phone. Who wants to be dragging around two devices? The company pays the bill every month when you submit your expenses, or it is billed directly to the firm.
It's part of growing up. If you don't want to be available to the firm or to customers, don't pursue that sort of career.
As you move into the professional job force, your personal and professional lives merge. IF you are a 24/7 person, and can be compensated accordingly, then you must be reachable 24/7.
One phone. Who wants to be dragging around two devices? The company pays the bill every month when you submit your expenses, or it is billed directly to the firm.
It's part of growing up. If you don't want to be available to the firm or to customers, don't pursue that sort of career.
What does that have to do with having two devices? You can be just as available with two devices; however, there is less of a concern if you leave the company about what happens with access to company information if you have two devices. My sister works for a big tech firm and she has one company phone and her own phone. There is no issue.
I actually get around this by using an old school pager for work and my personal cell (blocking the number) to call back on. My work permits this setup. I have had two phones in the past as well and I still prefer that to one. I don’t use my personal device for work business unless it’s at my convenience.
A professional company provides its own devices to their workers for free. I worked for crazy IT companies but even they provided me with everything that I needed for after hours contact and support. I had a laptop and phone, free of charge. My last IT company was very sensitive to security issues and didn't want any information on personal devices outside the company's control. That makes a lot of sense. It sounds like your company doesn't know what it is doing, is just too cheap to supply their own devices, or deliberately trying to blur the line between work and personal time in the hope that the employees will be working more during off hours.
A company providing cell phones for their traveling staff was my assumption as well. Without giving too much away, this is a very Big IT Consulting company. You would know the name as soon as I typed it. At one point company phones were issued, but that is now no longer the case. Another result of cost cutting measures over the years, I guess. Blurring the lines of work and home may or may not have been the company’s objective at one point, but it is for sure to the company’s benefit.
I use two phones. My company use to issue phones but doesn't any more. It's all BYOD now. They pay for the service and give me a certain amount towards a phone every two years. So why not get two if they are footing the bill for everything? You will be in the same spot financially since you will still only be paying for your persona line. It's a bit annoying to carry two phones but it's not too bad.
Hmmm, I wonder if I could ask for something towards a new device every two years. As it stands now, I wouldn’t get anything for getting the second phone, at least according to HR. I have yet to have this conversation with my manager.
Thanks for the input!
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