To not give my personal number to work

[Crochetter]

My manager has created a spreadsheet for our booked Christmas leave .
We have enough cover for the holidays.
She has now asked that we add our personal mobile numbers which will be shared with the wider team, many of whom I don't know and don't work within my area of work.
If I am on approved leave why should I be available to be contacted- I don't work in an area of emergency call outs etc.

I would just email back a simple “I do not feel comfortable with sharing my personal mobile number with work colleagues” they cannot legally enforce it

Just say no. If the company isnt paying the phone bill they have no say how you use the phone.

Can you not go back and say you are prepared to give your name to a specific individual such as a manager for the purposes of emergencies but you do not wish to have it circulated wider.

My manager has my mobile number and only they will contact me if necessary. I don't have a business phone.

The chaser up today says ' i notice you have not yet added your number to my spreadsheet. If possible please add these today.'

Reply with, "I will not be sharing my personal phone number."

That's all you need to do.

It is on the protected office systems that are used for emergencies though

I would reply politely "I do not share my phone number except for HR to use for emergencies".

whatever justification they have is irrelevant. In a genuine emergency, they can go via HR.

It also used to be the case that you can't be pressured to do overtime, you have to opt in to any overtime system. Has that changed?

Point of law: it wouldn't be anything to do with a breach of GDPR as it would be the OP herself effectively sharing the number by adding it to the spreadsheet. A GDPR breach would only occur if someone shared her number without her consent and/or knowledge.

YANBU OP. Like others, I'm in WA groups with work etc and don't have a problem with that, but everyone has the right not to give their personal number in these circumstances (assuming HR have it for emergencies as above)

A spreadsheet that was password protected and viewed only by the manager I would be ok about. However, I would not be happy if that sensitive data was shared with everyone.

The manager probably wanted colleagues to add their numbers to it so that they did not have to but sharing everyone's to tel numbers is more than a bit dodgy.

YANBU. My line is, if work needs to contact me out of hours then they can supply me with a mobile phone for that purpose themselves. In my last job, around the time it was inevitable that COVID lockdowns were coming, my work at the time did supply me with a mobile. I've subsequently changed jobs and every time I've been asked for my personal phone number I've declined.

If you're asked for it, and you will be on planned leave over the Christmas, then the acceptable response would be "It's my personal number and I apologise if this causes any inconvenience to you but as I'll be on planned leave over Christmas, I will be out of contact during this time."
If they keep pressuring you into providing it, the next step would be to say "I've believe that I've already replied to your request. However, I understand that HR has all of my details and any requests for my personal contact details while I'm on leave should be directed through them."

Ha! This. You don't work for a University by any chance @Crochetter ?

YANBU. If you haven’t been given a work phone there is no reason why anyone other than HR should know your personal number.

I've got a work phone and a personal mobile. Everyone has the work mobile, only one or two colleagues have my personal number. I wouldn't want it shared with everyone and my colleagues would feel the same about their personal phones.

What Aquamarine says. You don't need to add reasons, explanations, excuses, comments or references to HR having your details, your holidays, your availability or anything else. Your manager ought to be more aware of privacy than to demand personal phone numbers to be shared around.

Perhaps have a word with HR to let them know you are not happy with being asked for this in the first place and then pressed further for it when you have not submitted it.

I gave my number to my old boss so he would have a list of employee numbers. He then gave that list to a colleague for her to distribute to every one else. She did, and a colleague I never met used it to contact me a few times regarding his wages. It was harmless really, and he’s never used the number since leaving the company, but I wouldn’t even advise OP to give her number to management because she wouldn’t be able to stop them sharing it with anyone else.

Get a PAYG sim and give them that number - which obvs they won't get you on.

I would reply politely "I do not share my phone number except for HR to use for emergencies".
and tell them that you only answer if it is a number you know (i.e. friend or relative) so it's pretty pointless them having it anyway.

I have 2 sim cards in my phone, 1 personal and the other if work need to contact me. Usually I have the work one switched off, only 1 person at work has my personal number.

I would just put "N/A" in the phone number column.

HR here - Nope! Definitely a no, you don’t have to do this and they cannot reasonably compel you to do so. Other staff don’t need your number, if there’s an issue management can contact you.

Its not a GDPR breech though, if you’re being asked to add your number yourself and it’s clear who it’s going to, by doing so you give consent. It would be a breach if your number was shared with colleagues without your consent (accidentally or on purpose)

@YellowTreeHouse we have a duty of care to our employees, if they don’t arrive at work it’s reasonable to call them and check they’re ok. If we were unable to contact someone we’d call their emergency contacts. Would only apply if they were meant to be in work and weren’t though.

Just say you prefer to be careful with data (as per GDPR guidelines) so you prefer HR only to hold your personal number.

I think this is a little more nuanced than just say no.

ite not a breach as you know what it’s for and are giving permission by giving it.

it’s clear she wants it in case they have staffing issues to be able to call people on to cover.

so what is your issue, is it you don’t want people to have your number or you don’t want to cover anyone, even if you could.

id personally not just say no. But I’d explain the issue clearly ie if it’s just the number say no I don’t want it shared but you can have it if you need cover. You call me.

of it it’s you don’t want to provide emergency cover just say I am not providing the number as I am not willing to provide cover. In many workplaces this is problematic and can be seen as lack of team player, working to rule etc.

if it is really the latter and you pretend it’s the former you run the risk of saying ok I will keep it and I will contact you.and then you need to explain you’re not available

the other thing is, if it’s not an issue for it to be shared you can just not answer the call if it came through,