The pros and cons of employees using personal phones for work
For some employees, separating work and personal lives with two cellphones seems like a necessity and to others, a hassle.
But experts say it comes down to their profession, life priorities and comfort level with their company’s data privacy policies.
A professional in banking or health care, for instance, would typically carry both a personal and work cellphone for data security and personal safety reasons, says Lisa Stam, managing partner and owner of employment law firm Spring Law.
Read: Information security, data privacy an increasing concern with flexible working: study
Meanwhile, a small-business owner would likely assume that employees use their own phones at work, she said.
At her law firm, Stam says employees use their personal phones on the job, but there are policies to safeguard work data and privacy while laying out expectations about job-related data on the device.
She says employers need to think through bring-your-own-phones policies: whether workers are expected to work after hours, if employers contribute to the phone plan and what happens to data on those phones if a worker resigns.
Stam recommends employers pay a portion of their workers’ phone plan if they use their personal device for their jobs. “If........
