Safety Knights

I have always taken the company issued electronic leash, if I choose to leave a company I don't want people calling me for things I am no longer associated with.

I've done both...As much as I absolutely hate carrying two phones, for me it's the lesser of two evils.

Having done both, two phones is definitely the way to go.

One phone and get the reimbursement. Less things to carry and worry about charging and all that stuff. If I were to leave I have zero problems not answering numbers from my old employer or numbers I don’t recognize .

I have had only one phone for years in the fire service and on my full time job and i would never switch , carrying 2 phones is a (pita) but the company i work for they reimburse me.

I put my work line on my personal cellphone. One, because I have ADHD and would absolutely lose the second phone. Two, because I constantly left my work or personal phone in my office when I needed one or the other on the floor. I had an extra virtual SIM card slot so we added that number that way.

I have made it clear that I will answer emergency calls/emails only after hours and haven't had any trouble with it at all. And honestly it's super convenient to have them merged; I can shoot off emails really quickly since I use Outlook for work email. I also love being able to upload stuff directly from my phone to Microsoft Teams/Drive which is what we use company-wide. Sure, I could do that with a separate work phone, but then I have to handle/deal with it.

Everyone needs to keep in mind, if you use your personal phone to receive work emails, take work photos or have work conversations on your personal phone and you get pulled into any legal work matters, your personal phone could be confiscated for evidence.

Having a distinct work phone, that cannot be left at the office, should only be necessary if you are a first responder or have a safety related work responsibility, such as first responder or Safety Manager who must evaluate the accident's effect on adjacent employees.

In this case, take the separate phone and give it a ring tone that is distinct from your usual ring tones to alert you to respond ASAP, not after dinner, as lives may be on the line.

That being said, your employer should agree to some sort of control or recompense when you receive a call not related to an immediate response emergency. This will allow the ring tone to actually mean something.

I have done both and prefer to just have two phones for mental health. Getting a cellular enable Apple Watch helped for my personal phone while at work. If I got a text or voicemail I could see it right there without carrying both phones all day while on site.

I have been in Manufacturing for over 50 years! We did not have cell phones for the first 25! I have been a manager in Mfg, HR, and OHS for 46 of those 50 years. At first I thought it was cool to have a notebook pc and a cell phone. I soon discovered I am was on a tether, and with the pc they expected me to work from home too at all hours and days!

As an HR Manager I will tell you to keep business, business and personal personal! The law is very fuzzy if you use your personal phone and keep business information on it! Who owns that information on your phone? You might say, ""My phone, my information!" But I am telling you the law is very fuzzy on that, especially in many states! My last employer we signed NDAs an in the NDA was a clear statement of that their information belonged to them where ever it was! If you are going to conduct any business on the phone, even business email always do it on your work phone never EVER on your personal phone! On the same token never do personal business on a work phone, including looking for other jobs. If the company is paying for the phone the law is much clearer about the information on it! That incudes being reimbursed by the company for your personal phone. Keep them separated!

They just had a segment this very morning on GMA (ABC) on work phones and personal phones and the guy from Shark Tank agreed with what I am saying especially in the law being unclear.

I faced the same option at my current employer. I chose to get a stipend to help offset my own phone bill. I get $50/month and so every 6 months or so I'll submit an expense report and get a $300 check in the mail.

I prefer to get that booster check than to deal with carrying two phones around.

As far as the legal ramifications of potentially having your phone confiscated, I seriously doubt that. It is a violation of your privacy. From my experience the way it works is that you are would be ordered by a court to not delete any evidence. You would potentially have a hold placed on you limiting you from destroying potential evidence. If you violated that you'd be in contempt of court.

As a consultant, I wanted everything to go through my personal phone and receive the work stipend. That way my clients could always find me.

As a plant EHS Manager, I wanted the ability to turn off my phone and not check emails when I was off the clock so I could unplug. I was in a position where nothing was "that urgent" that it couldn't wait or someone else could handle.

If you're in the position where you can't unplug, keep the 1. If your company doesn't do a good job of respecting boundaries, go for the 2.