Should I accept a Company Mobile Phone?

Tim76

Hi all,

I've been offered a company mobile phone which would end up replacing my existing personal one.

I'm a bit reluctant to accept tho. Despite the advantages of having bills paid & upgrades looked after I have concerns about privacy when using the phone out of office or on weekends, not that I’d be up to anything too scandalous! But I remember something being on the radio a while back about some guy getting fired for using a work phone for personal emails etc., can’t remember the exact details tho.

A phone these days essentially becomes your personal computer & the fact the company could have access to it anytime they want makes me uneasy.

Has anyone out there got any advice on the matter?

Trojan

Ask what your company policy is for usage of a business phone. Find out if they're ok with it being used for personal use also.

JustShon

Since this is largely related to the company and their policies relating to phones usage / possibly laws relating to same you might get better answers in the work & jobs forum. Might be worth asking the mods to shift it there.

athtrasna

I have both. The work one goes off at weekends and after 10 at night. I'd never have a single phone if one was needed for work

Alanstrainor

I wouldn't want it to replace my personal phone. Running two devices isn't so bad, and it means you can switch off the work phone on the weekends/holidays etc.

Tim76

Running 2 devices cancels out all the advantages of having one provided from work gratis. You still have to upgrade & pay your own monthly bills and then work get unlimited access to u (within reason) on the work phone. Sounds like a bad deal imho.

animaal

Agree with the posters above, I wouldn't mix my work and personal phone use.

Are you thinking of using your current phone number for work? Or getting a new work number, and using that as your personal number? Either way, you might be inconvenienced if/when you change job.

In a previous employment, we were allowed personal use of work phones. But a colleague was given grief for using it too much one month.

With the cheapness of plans that are available these days, I don't think use of a work phone is much of a benefit.

Paulw

athtrasna wrote: »

I have both. The work one goes off at weekends and after 10 at night. I'd never have a single phone if one was needed for work

I'm the exact same. I have a work phone and a personal phone. Work phone is only for work use. Personal phone is for everything else (evenings, weekends, etc).

_Kaiser_

I've had 2 phones for over a decade now.. my personal phone and the office one and they're kept entirely separate. I prefer being able to (literally and figuratively) switch off from work at night and the weekends, and with the way apps are increasingly integrated with (email/user) accounts, I wouldn't want all my personal stuff tied to my work accounts and vice versa.

I don't find it a problem.. you get used to two handsets very quickly - plus it's a bonus sometimes if one of them isn't getting a strong signal (assuming they're on different networks)

Elemonator

Not sure about this but from what I remember from my Leaving Cert Business all those short years ago is that you may (or may not) have to declare the phone as a benefit in kind to the Revenue.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong though.

Tom Cruises Left Nut

Tim76 wrote: »

Running 2 devices cancels out all the advantages of having one provided from work gratis. You still have to upgrade & pay your own monthly bills and then work get unlimited access to u (within reason) on the work phone. Sounds like a bad deal imho.

Depends on if the company IT policy only lets work emails be viewed on an approved device

Thats my situation but I would still not lose my personal phone, its great that my work number is seperate and I can just turn it off

Kensington

Tim76 wrote: »

Running 2 devices cancels out all the advantages of having one provided from work gratis. You still have to upgrade & pay your own monthly bills and then work get unlimited access to u (within reason) on the work phone. Sounds like a bad deal imho.

If your usage of a business phone is anything other than "incidental", i.e. extremely occasional use, then as someone else pointed out you have to declare it as a benefit in kind and you will pay tax on all usage accordingly.

Some other things to think about:
- The employer will own the number, they may not allow you to retain it if you leave nor will you have any idea of who might get use of that number after you
- You have no control over who your employer will share that number with, it's their number, they are free to disclose it to whoever they wish
- The employer will own the handset and if they allow you to keep it or buy it off cheaply after an upgrade, again, that's a taxable benefit
- You may set an expectation that your employer can call or text you any time of the day or night and they will expect you to answer that call

For me, I would run your existing personal and the new business alongside each other keeping them totally separate.
My personal phone is kept to myself and my work phone is on Do Not Disturb silent mode outside of the hours of 7-7 Mon-Fri.