4 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Use Your Personal Phone For Work- Valutrics

We all want to stay connected all the time—whether it is to check up on loved ones, post (and stalk) on social media, have instant access to information or reply to those odd, late night, urgent work emails.

No wonder thus that the bringing your own device (BYOD) to work trend has caught up among companies, where employers encourage (and sometimes ask) their employees to use their personal phones for and at the workplace.

Having access to work contacts and work emails on your personal device is a great convenience, no doubt. However, for me, that old saying of never mixing business with pleasure holds true in the context of smartphones.

BYOD has many unforeseen consequences ranging from mild cases of distraction to breaking the law.

Distraction

Smartphones make information available at your fingertips, anywhere, anytime. However, they are also an irresistible source of distraction while at work.

Whatsapp groups, Twitter feed, Facebook messenger, and Snapchat stories are just a few examples of 3-second phone check gone wrong.

Arguably, the biggest disadvantage of (owning and) using a smartphone at work is the amount of time it allows you to waste.

GlobalWebIndex recent data revealed that people in the UAE on average spend over four hours per day online on their handsets, followed by Saudi Arabia at 3.8 hours.

The best way to resist the temptation of extra screentime is to put your phone on silent and only allowing yourself to check your phone every time you finish a task.

Cost

You’re on your lunch break, and suddenly you receive an urgent request from a client overseas. You want to tackle the crisis head on, and so you pick up your personal phone and you dial your client’s number.

Other times, there is a miscommunication problem with your head office in Singapore. The crisis is averted, but your phone bill can’t be.

A smaller con is the fact that heavy use of your phone can result in shortening the life of your phone’s battery leading to the extra cost of buying a new one.

Discuss with your employers the refund policy on phone calls you make and try to negotiate them into buying you a device.

Privacy

By connecting your phone to your office’s WiFi, you are automatically opening yourself to at least some sort of monitoring—your browser history, personal emails, and, even public social media posts can be accessible to your company.

Any email, text message, or other electronic communication you send via your employer’s networks, depending on their security levels, can be viewed by your employer. So using certain keywords can activate the software leading your IT department to look into your communication. Therefore, makes sure you send any sensitive, personal messages from our own device- only after disconnecting from the company’s server.

Legal Liability

Exchanging sensitive content, using confidential information, or forwarding some files from your work email to your personal account can land you into big trouble.

Due to certain copyright and confidentiality laws in place, if things go sour with your employer, chances are their lawyer can make you look like you have been stealing the company’s trade secrets or breaking confidentiality.

Before you decide to set up your work email on your personal phone, make sure you read and understand your employer’s policies. Do not download company data on your personal device without permission.

And finally, always remember that emails, text messages, and any other electronic documents can live forever, even after you delete them.