Private number given out

[ShadowGirls]

I've been in my new job four months, I'm very happy and enjoying it but my private mobile number has been given to a manager that I don't know.

I've never met him, never even spoken to him face to face. My close colleague gave the manager in question my number. I think my colleague was trying to be helpful but we all have company emails so anybody can contact me that way

Twice I've been called by said manager in work time about fairly minor things, no reason they couldn't have been put in an email

AIBU to block him from calling me?

I don't want anybody that I haven't given my number to having my number and calling me. The colleague that gave my number out was off for a week recently and said the guy in question rang them every day to ask work questions. Before I know it he could be ringing me too out of work

I just don't want to cause any later issues as at the end of the day I'm in quite a basic role and he's a high flier. I just feel a bit annoyed that my private number has just been given out, I wasn't even asked first. I would have said no

Can you talk to your own manager about this ? Say that you're uncomfortable with your private number being used and is there a need for you to have a work mobile. If they say no then ask them what to do about other manager. With any luck they will volunteer to speak to them and sort it out.

Surely managers have always had access to employee records?

I don't have access to the HR records for any of the people I manage. I have manager access to them in the HR system, but that only tells me what I already know about them and gives me the ability to do various things like absence management, appraisals, etc. None of their private contact details/address are visible to me.

@LIZS

Do you have a separate work number? However if you had given the number to other colleagues to use during work hours then it would be difficult to argue that it was inappropriate.

Define “colleague”.

I’m a HR director. Potentially everyone in the business is a colleague (several thousand). My team have always had my personal mobile number with strict instructions not to share wider. If anyone else needs to get hold of me urgently they can do so by other means.

the issue is that mobiles are obviously so much more intrusive than landlines.

and yes, they can be turned off or have settings altered but this is a situation not of the OP's making, so really why should she have to bugger about

I would repeat my comment with urgency. It sounds like amateur hour at your office and someone will fuck up GDPR wise. And to make it worse they won't know they've done it until the ICOs fine heads your way.

1. All staff that work with personal data - be it staff or customers - should be have appropriate knowledge of GDPR and data protection generally.

2. There should be an appointed person within the company to have oversight of this. Usually the person who would receive any queries for the DPO.

This situation is clearly covered by several intersections of law. The fact so many people don't know (or care) doesn't mean it's not taken seriously. It just means they have a bigger shock when things go wrong.

I already know the answer to the question to the OP: What was said when you registered your phone number with the company ?

@MrsSkylerWhite

Surely managers have always had access to employee records?

I had to give my landline to HR before mobiles existed.

Can’t see the issue.

Only their direct reports and only to be used in an emergency.

OP doesn't even know this particular manager so I would guess he isn't their line manager.

Personal details such as address, personal mobile need to be kept confidential. I have access to everyone's details in my role and we wouldn't even be able to disclose an address for something like a condolence card. We would take the card and address it ourselves.

Just being nosey but how did your colleague have your private number anyway?
Sorry if I've missed it

@MrsSkylerWhite

Surely managers have always had access to employee records?

I had to give my landline to HR before mobiles existed.

Can’t see the issue.

Those are two totally different things, when you are at work no one is going to be ringing you on your home phone.

Some people don't mind everyone at work having their mobile number and other people do, not that hard to get.

The OP is perfectly entitled to be annoyed but the person who gave out the number may be like you and not know that people are different. Hopefully it can be sorted out with polite commnication to both parties.

Surely managers have always had access to employee records?

Any data the employee gives the employer is under GDPR. Which means it needs to be clearly explained to the data subject (usually in a written T&Cs section). It needs to be proportionate. It needs to be kept securely with access to it controlled and monitored. And it only needs to be kept for the shortest period necessary and destroyed when no longer needed.

That's a high level enough view of UK data protection to tell us that things are seriously not working where the OP does.

And if they are that cavalier with employee data, I'd hate to be a customer.

Those are two totally different things, when you are at work no one is going to be ringing you on your home phone.

Some people don't mind everyone at work having their mobile number and other people do, not that hard to get.

The OP is perfectly entitled to be annoyed but the person who gave out the number may be like you and not know that people are different. Hopefully it can be sorted out with polite commnication to both parties.“

Bit rude! I was frequently called at home, part of the job(s) 🤷‍♀️

Given how hot an issue GDPR currently is, I’d say it’s pretty easy to send the message a pp said about him having your number and going forward, please only use the company protocol. I’d be bloody angry at the colleague who gave put my number. I had to be very strict with my manager contacting me outside of work, there is no need for it in my job and if I’m not in work, tough.

Why did your colleague have your private number in the first place? Are they a personal friend in the office? If not, then why did they have the number at all? No need for any colleague to have your private number.

The only colleagues who have my private number are personal friends - we’ve worked together a long time and are real friends - for contract outside work, and HR also have all personal contact details for an emergency but this is not accessible to managers or colleagues except under those sorts of circumstances.

I’m a long-term (pre-pandemic) homeworker and if people need to contact me they email or Teams call/video. (I could have a work phone but it’s unnecessary with those options - I had a secondment for a while where I had to go out on site, so had a work phone then.) There is no need to make use of any private details at all. If something needs sending to my house they ask me directly for my address - i.e. as per GDPR, so that I give consent for my personal data to be used for that purpose.

Your colleague, in giving out your private number, is in breach of GDPR and probably also several company or organisation policies, including working hours or work/life balance policies, as well as privacy. I’d suggest having GDPR training across your department - it’s mandatory in my sector to have GDPR refresher training annually - and raise the issue with your HR as there should be guidance on these issues.

*contact not contract! I’m not feeling contacts outside work!!

Seeking contracts (I hate autocorrect!)

OP you've been in your job less than 2 years so don't have much protection. On that basis, do not go making a scene or doing anything that could be interpreted as "awkward" or belligerent.

Best thing to do is drop the manager a very nice email along the lines of "Dear XXX, just wanted to see if you were able to source me a company mobile? That way, it's much easier and faster for you to get hold of me than email if you need to talk through things or need my help. I try to keep my personal number (which I believe XXX passed to you) for emergencies. Hope that's all OK?"

That way, your offering a proactive solution yo be more helpful and more available, but using company equipment.

Please don't go kicking up a stink about privacy, GDPR etc. It really won't reflect well on you.

He calls this colleague all the time you say?

Yeah.

You've been chucked under a bus.

Don't answer your phone and if the manager leaves a voice message, reply to it via email. Every time.

I dont know, I find it very odd to have a business model where the only form of communication is through email, sometimes you need to speak to people! So I'd ask him not to contact your personal no again but I'd also suggest an alternative - you visit the office and divert your phone to your mobile, he texts you or emails you saying he wants to speak and you ring him straight back or you all get company mobiles or something. As if you jusy say a flat no you're basically saying you won't speak to colleagues

Sorry but I don't understand why this is an issue? Since covid we've all been using our personal mobile phones at home. Some things are easier to resolve/discuss over the phone rather than by email. If you were at work you'd be contactable by phone or in person surely?

Why did your colleague have your private number in the first place?

Because data protection there is clearly a joke.

@DGRossetti

Surely managers have always had access to employee records?

Any data the employee gives the employer is under GDPR. Which means it needs to be clearly explained to the data subject (usually in a written T&Cs section). It needs to be proportionate. It needs to be kept securely with access to it controlled and monitored. And it only needs to be kept for the shortest period necessary and destroyed when no longer needed.

That's a high level enough view of UK data protection to tell us that things are seriously not working where the OP does.

And if they are that cavalier with employee data, I'd hate to be a customer.

I agree completely. Especially that last bit.

Ah, I had exactly this happen to me. My personal mobile number was given to a colleague and very soon I was starting to get calls and WhatsApp's at all times of the day, evening and weekend from all sorts of people.

I asked for a work mobile and was told no, and that if people were choosing to call me on my personal mobile I was within my rights to choose to just not answer. So I stopped answering. And very soon, after a week or so of me not answering my personal phone, and explaining that I was following advice from my sector manager when asked, my request for a work mobile was granted.

Honestly at work I have several people
Saved in my phone under two numbers, likely because I had their personal number during their recruitment process and then later added their new work number. It's hard to tell them apart.

This sounds like an accident. Why wouldn't you just send a polite note telling the manager this is your personal number and supplying the right one? Surely blocking is ridiculous?!?

In a similar position. Expected to use personal mobile for work. Fine at the start of the pandemic, not so much two years on. Have repeatedly asked for a work phone and not been given one. Now I ask people to use Teams when they need to contact me. If this makes the service I deliver poorer, it’s not for want of trying. I don’t see why I should pay for the privilege of doing my job!

If you need to be contacted they should provide you with a phone.

Just don’t answer it.

I could understand if someone didn't want to be phoned at all, even regardless of whether or not the phone-call was appropriate, but that's not stated to be the problem.

Given the call are legitimate and I can't get out of receiving them, I don't understand why it would be more annoying to receive a work call on one phone rather than another. I certainly wouldn't want to manage two phones, I'd much rather get all calls I have to take on a single device.

If this is really about not wanting to be called at all, when an email would do the job, then I'm totally on OP's side.