Using personal phone for work reasons

[Changeymcchangechange]

Work don't provide us with phones, and in general do not expect us to use personal phones for phone calls. However they do expect us to use them for things like, taking photos of meeting flip charts that sort of thing.

I'm quite new and this is the first job I've had since 2008 where a phone hasn't been provided. I don't really mind not having a phone, however I do mind using my personal phone for work. This is because I've always worked in the public sector and have been subject to a number of FOIs (it's not really because of me, just quite common in the role I do). Also the roles are very external facing so I've always had a strict boundary about giving out my number because contacts have called at unsocial times. Also I was once harassed by someone and had to change my number. Hence the need for a non personal phone previously and it does apply now, but they don't want to provide a phone so fine.

That's less of an issue in this job, they don't expect me to hand out my number to anyone, by AIBU that if they want me to use a phone for work, they should provide it? Or am I being weird?

Incidentally, perfectly happy to use it to message my boss to say my computer won't boot up on a WFH day or whatever, just not for the actual doing of work. (name change as about work)

I don't think it's fiar to expect you to use your own photo even for pics. They should provide an alternative way of getting the notes. Like someone with work phone shares it in teams etc.I also think not providing work phones is a bit shitty

Can your laptop take photos? Use that?

Or have the senior person take a photo and email you.

Or take the flip chart paper!

You're not being very solution focused

I think some companies take advantage of employees having their own smart phone. My work refuses to give me a phone but I've had to give customers my personal number and have incurred costs because I've had to call customers with US numbers. I regularly get called by workmates on my personal number. I've complained to both my dept head and his boss and they are apparently going to set up pool phones for people to use when they need a phone (it tends to be concentrated during certain parts of a project) but it hasn't happened yet.

Do you have a camera on your laptop you can use instead?

Laptop doesn't take pictures, and as I indicated in previous comments senior people (who do have phones) see this as the admin and not their job (so I've seen them say something about the pictures need to be taken and then they'll go off and leave the meeting/room/building). And yes we could take the flip chart paper, but we all hot desk and dont always work from the same office. sometimes I've been 100s of miles from home and don't want to be carrying flipcharts paper across the country.

I'm not being deliberately unsolutions focussed, but why's it up to me to come up with the solution? Surely it's up to my employer to provide the tools to do the job

If you want to raise it, focus on the security issue. Say you don’t think it’s appropriate to be sending things from a personal phone?

Places I’ve worked you def have got into trouble for photographing official stuff on a personal phone and emailing the photos from a personal email account. Do the senior people know you don’t have a secure work phone for the photos?

also them not taking the photo themselves is a*hole behaviour

I'm fairly certain they do, I think it just falls under admin detail they don't care about.

I don't necessarily want to raise it but am mindful that my avoidance of being the one to do it may come to a head, at which point I'll say why I won't do it (and it won't be 'because you should give me a phone' am actually quite happy to not have one but it will be because it's insecure, use of data, if it came up in an FOI etc etc)

I do think there is an element of this for me. Don't want to give me a phone? No problem, and they are very happy for me to only make phone calls using teams (we don't have desk phones either) but if you're not going to to provide a phone then don't expect activity that needs a smart phone. I'm very happy to work 100% paperless only on my laptop.

So company information ends up passing through your personal email address? That is absolutely forbidden where I work. So would taking a screenshot on a personal device. Company material can only be on the company network or it is a security violation.

@Changeymcchangechange

Well yes. But you might note it's those that actually take it upon themselves to solve problems instead of complaining that get promoted and get the elusive iPads!

Your choice.

I'm quite happy not to be promoted, been there done that, I just don't want to use my personal phone for entirely valid reasons.

Also, that is absolutely not why those people have been promoted. And in my old organisation, this wouldn't have got you promoted, it would have got you a warning for misuse of data.