Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3

Original poster

To refuse to use my personal phone for work?

75 replies

MyNewFr · 12/10/2020 15:35

I am WFH (not through my choice, but work insisted due to me being vulnerable).

I work as a paralegal.

The majority of my work can be done on the computer, by responding to and sending emails and working from our system.

One thing I can't do from home is answer or make telephone calls as I have not been provided with a work phone.

I have now been asked if I will speak with some clients using my own phone as some of them wanted to get in touch with me via phone but couldn't.

AIBU to say no? If they want to provide me with a separate phone that is fine. But I know that clients will not respect privacy or working hours if they have my mobile number and I'll be receiving messages and calls well into the evenings and at weekends.

I just also don't want to use my phone for this and don't feel like I should have to mix personal and work like this.

I assist a solicitor on their matters so I am not the only person with knowledge of these matters and so said clients could speak to them on the phone if necessary but they are very busy.

OP posts:

Pumpkinnose · 12/10/2020 17:44

Honestly, law firms are falling over themselves to give jobs to paralegals/trainees. If they don’t have an issue with taking advantage of you like this (which I agree it 100% is) then I don’t think pointing out to them that they’ve got dodgy gdpr/internet safety is going to win you any friends. They clearly think they are being nice already by protecting you by asking you to wfh, even if that is in your view misplaced.

Only you know how important this job is/how strong your position is, but the jobs are offered to those who are flexible and prepared to go the extra mile, especially in a pandemic!!!

Bananaman123 · 12/10/2020 17:46

My employer TOLD us in March to download an app to our mobiles so iits charged through that, no info on security of this app, not please can you download the app. So they were promptly told to get to fuck

TaraR2020 · 12/10/2020 17:59

You're definitely fine to stand your ground on this - at the very least you they should be paying for your phone use. I had this issue when I started a new job in which it's essential to be contactable by phone. I took out a cheap payg but eventually work decided to provide me with one as my counterparts client side commented how odd the situation was.

I'd offer to purchase a cheap phone and contract that they pay for via expenses.

blueluce85 · 12/10/2020 18:21

Well not really... Just because they want to be able to contact you doesn't mean they have to, have an outgoing email that states you will call them back if they email you

I get why people want to talk, sometimes it is much better than email, but there are ways around it

Hopoindown31 · 12/10/2020 18:27

I would not be happy using any of my personal IT and communication equipment for work and neither should my employer, huge security risk. I would expect better from lawyers, but it seems they are pretty crap employers by all accounts.

If you are happy using your own computer (I wouldn't be) then teams/zoom is a very good solution. Otherwise they will need to provide you with suitable equipment.

cologne4711 · 12/10/2020 18:28

I had a situation where I had to provide my own mobile number to clients/contacts, so I used an old phone that still worked, and got a cheap SIM from giffgaff. I tried to engineer things so that clients always phoned me, so I used very little of the £10 credit.

It should be possible to set up your office phone so that it goes through to your mobile (although you may not want this, if you would get lots of calls that the office would otherwise triage on your behalf).

FinallyHere · 12/10/2020 19:53

This really is an argument in favour of Microsoft Teams. The firm can purchase a lice treatment to ring actual phone numbers, as well as people you know also on Teams/email.

'S brilliant.

You can answer on your work laptop or home mobile and show as using your Teams number. Replaces Skype for Business reasonably recently.

Noseofbrie · 12/10/2020 19:57

I have no idea how it works but my company have a number that gets diverted to my phone for work hours and it’s a different number to my mobile phone.
I realise that makes me sound very unintelligent but the IT dept sort it.

tortoiseshell1985 · 12/10/2020 20:01

I'm using my personal laptop have an app on it which let's me dial through to my work computer so the app is a conduit if you like. We also have teams couldn't really work effectively without it tbh

IsAnybodyListening · 12/10/2020 20:26

NO! I have a work phone, and that is bad enough. Had a client one day recently asking why I hadn't answered my phone that morning. When I checked missed calls, he had tried to phone me at 6:50am! I was in bed!

Don't give out your personal number. I am 100% resolute with that, even when asked. I work to live, not the other way round.

Nottherealslimshady · 12/10/2020 20:42

We run a company and some customers have our mobile numbers. They do not respect office hours. We have received calls at 2a.m, on sundays, on christmas day! Do not do it.

yelyah22 · 12/10/2020 20:48

Definitely either charge a cheap phone to them or VOIP. I find it so strange that a law firm hasn't thought of the GDPR issues with you using your own laptop - fair enough at the start of lockdown in the panic to get everyone working at home, but by now they really should have sorted something!

Also to PP saying go back into work if it's covid safe - advice is WFH where possible (i.e. most office jobs) again now.

IntermittentParps · 13/10/2020 09:23

All staff are under very strict instructions, however, that nothing must be saved or stored on their own personal computers or unencrypted memory sticks.

Under very strict instructions, eh? That's all right then I'm not sure that would stand up in court if an employer was hauled up for GDPR breaches.

MaskingForIt · 13/10/2020 09:27

If you have internet you presumably have a landline (unless you’re tethering through a mobile). Ask them to buy a phone to plug in. Get a cordless one if your socket is not convenient. Unplug when not on work time.

middleager · 13/10/2020 09:30

YANBU, but my husband works for a massive employer.

He's been using his own mobile, our own home phone and his old personal laptop since March from home.

Tight wads.

This is frustrating of a weekend and holiday when calls come in.

WhereamI88 · 13/10/2020 09:34

I'm a solicitor and clients will absolutely call you at 2am, evenings, on weekends, Christmas etc. You will regret giving them your personal number very very quickly. Don't do it. Your employer needs to sort out their IT or give you a phone.

Comefromaway · 13/10/2020 09:39

Do you have children? I would tell them that you share access to your personal phone with other members of your family so it would not be appropriate to use it for work purposes.

Sheknowsaboutme · 13/10/2020 09:41

I don’t have a work phone for WFH and I refused to use my own.

Why should you use it? They provide me with a laptop but no phone. Other have been provided but not in our department and we receive calls like any other department.

jojobar · 13/10/2020 09:43

I think in the current climate (I'm in law, and I know a number of firms are making staff redundant or looking to scale back significantly in the next 6 months) you need a can do attitude - that doesn't mean agreeing to their suggestion but you need to give them other acceptable options.

Giving out your mobile no to all and sundry is not appropriate for all kinds of reasons but I can understand why you would need to make and receive calls - if your firm can't offer a tech solution like linking a phone to your remote access (we have Avaya which does this) then ask them to fund purchase of a PAYG sim, gives you a separate number and if you have a spare old mobile you can put it in that and use for these calls only. Alternatively ask them to pay for a basic phone too, you could probably get one for about £10 which would do the job.

IntermittentParps · 13/10/2020 09:48

you need to give them other acceptable options.

No, a staff member is under no obligation to try to do the company's work for them!
It's up to employers to put appropriate, lawful and secure protocols in place.

seayork2020 · 13/10/2020 09:51

My boss got an app from our phone system so I physically used my phone but it rang through the app and I could call out, I was happy for that so my personal mobile number was not out there but I could still do work calls

Lurkingforawhile · 13/10/2020 09:55

It’s fair enough you are wfh still given the advice is to wfh if you can do so. You’re already using your own laptop, and so this is just unreasonable of them. They just need to give you a dumb phone which they pay for. Not difficult at all (whereas all the suggestions with VOIP calls have the potential to be more complicated as you don’t have IT support). I used to be a lawyer and they’ll keep taking until you say no.

JustCallMeGriffin · 13/10/2020 09:55

My work phone is a crappy pretend Nokia with actual buttons and no internet. Which is absolutely fine, it makes calls, receives calls and the contract for my company is virtual pennies for just unlimited minutes.

Suggest this to your company. They get you available during working hours over the phone for very little cost and certainly much cheaper that running a PAYGE phone.

All of the big phone companies will have business plans like this, pick a couple of examples to show the costing and make clear their options are to do this or have you back in the office if phone calls need to be included back in your role because you aren't using your personal phone.

jojobar · 13/10/2020 09:56

Said by someone who has clearly never worked in a law firm or any similar organisation. A flat no just makes you look belligerent. Either a phone option via your remote access (if they have the tech capability) or PAYG sim solution is perfectly acceptable and demonstrates the OP can balance both her own privacy requirements - ie it being unacceptable to use her own phone - and the business needs of her being contactable by phone.

I'm just surprised this hasn't come up sooner, in our organisation the longest it took for anyone to have phone capability was about 6-8 weeks from start of lockdown and that was because of issues with their system set up.

Youcunnyfunt · 13/10/2020 11:24

On Skype you can buy phone numbers and subscription for credit or unlimited UK & Ireland calls. It's a very easy VOIP solution, and bonus - you don't have to buy a handset and when you turn your computer off, no one can reach you, it'll go to voicemail. ;)

Flip

1 2 3