Work emails on personal phones?

[PumpkinStalker]

Those of you who do NOT have a company paid for phone: How do you feel about this? Hallmark is rolling out a new program called Mobile Connect, in which they will pay for the software/app that allows for secure work email/calendar on my personal phone. Apparently internal focus groups want this capability, and the claim is 75% of other organizations enable use of personal devices for business purposes.

I’m torn, on one hand I support work/life balance and people with company phones are always accessible, putting in 50-60 hours a week because they are responding to emails all the time. Society expects instant responses and I don’t want to get “in trouble” (not officially from the company but just from peers) because I didn’t respond to an email when I “should have received it on my personal phone”. But, I can see some benefits, knowing what meetings I have on a Monday morning without having to boot up my laptop, or being able to fire back easy responses in order to cut down the emails I have to get through the next morning.

What do you all think, would you do it? Is it that big of deal into my personal life? I can always choose to just ignore emails until the next business day, but I question myself if I have the will power to do so.

[heatherkay]

I understand your concerns, but I have found that I prefer to put out fires when they are just starting to smolder, rather than finding a raging conflagration on my desk when I get back from a long weekend. After hours or on the weekends, I only respond to the emails that are really emergencies.

[Eon Blue]

I understand your concerns, but I have found that I prefer to put out fires when they are just starting to smolder, rather than finding a raging conflagration on my desk when I get back from a long weekend. After hours or on the weekends, I only respond to the emails that are really emergencies.

This. Setting expectations is key; if it is something that can wait until the next time I'm in the office it does. My personal rule with after-hours work stuff is that if it's important enough, they'll call me.

[bobbyhawks]

It's like PumpkinStalker is inside my head. A lot of people who aren't super efficient during normal office hours like to play the "how-late-can-I-send-an-email-to-prove-how-hard-I-work" game. I would prefer this not be the norm or for email volume to not become a contest to see who looks best to the higher ups. Outside of those concerns, I'm most worried I will open an email on a Saturday at dinner and simply forget about it by the following Monday. Calendar integration is the feature I most want to have, but many companies are reluctant due to potentially sensitive information being inferred through meetings.

[shinatoo]

The app to connect to an Exchange server has the ability to pull all data from you phone, lock your phone, or wipe your phone. These option can be turned off or on from the server side but I would imagine you will have to agree to that level of access to enable the app. It would protect company info if you go rogue.

I own my phone but my company pays for all of my data and service so I feel obligated to accept. I am in sales and work on commission so I am always working. Never been an issue for me, I rather take care of anything as soon as it comes up than wait until i get to the office. Keeps my stress level down.

[PumpkinStalker]

The app to connect to an Exchange server has the ability to pull all data from you phone, lock your phone, or wipe your phone. These option can be turned off or on from the server side but I would imagine you will have to agree to that level of access to enable the app. It would protect company info if you go rogue.

I own my phone but my company pays for all of my data and service so I feel obligated to accept. I am in sales and work on commission so I am always working. Never been an issue for me, I rather take care of anything as soon as it comes up than wait until i get to the office. Keeps my stress level down.

Yikes. I can get to a version of webmail on my phone right now without any special apps or anything. It's a desktop verison and obviously not the best for a smart phone. They did mention an agreement - not that I would go rogue or anything but that type of permission is not something I want to take lightly. At this point I think I'm going to skip it. I have a laptop, and like Eon if it's important enough I'll get a call.

It's like PumpkinStalker is inside my head. A lot of people who aren't super efficient during normal office hours like to play the "how-late-can-I-send-an-email-to-prove-how-hard-I-work" game. I would prefer this not be the norm or for email volume to not become a contest to see who looks best to the higher ups. Outside of those concerns, I'm most worried I will open an email on a Saturday at dinner and simply forget about it by the following Monday. Calendar integration is the feature I most want to have, but many companies are reluctant due to potentially sensitive information being inferred through meetings.

I am guilty of sending emails late at night, but I readily admit to the person that I was on my computer for 10 minutes to send the email! Usually it's because I knew I needed to do something but put it off as long as possible!

[smh]

Our office doesn't use Exchange so when an email comes to my phone a copy is left on the server. When I get to the office any emails I received on my phone are still on the server and Outlook pulls them off to my desktop. It works out pretty well for making sure I don't forget/accidentally delete an email received after hours.

[aknowledgeableperson]

Since I am no longer part of the work force this is not something I have to worry about, however I can offer some possible insight. My work career goes back to a time before pagers, cell phones, etc. So when you were away from work you were away except if there was a phone call to you or you happen to call in. So it was easy to separate work life from home life. Then pagers came along. It was a little intrusion but at least you could wait to call or respond. But say you were out to lunch and you didn't go to a pay phone and call back fast enough there would be another page, this time with a 911 included. You would wait until you got back to the office and someone yells "Why didn't you return my call?" There was no emergency, the person just wanted to know this or that, something that wasn't a do or die emergency. The person was hurt because he/she felt ignored. Cell phones further eroded the lines between work and home - at least you might be able to say to the other party you were in a dead zone so you didn't get the call.

[shinatoo]

Our office doesn't use Exchange so when an email comes to my phone a copy is left on the server. When I get to the office any emails I received on my phone are still on the server and Outlook pulls them off to my desktop. It works out pretty well for making sure I don't forget/accidentally delete an email received after hours.

Exchange works that way too.

[smh]

Our office doesn't use Exchange so when an email comes to my phone a copy is left on the server. When I get to the office any emails I received on my phone are still on the server and Outlook pulls them off to my desktop. It works out pretty well for making sure I don't forget/accidentally delete an email received after hours.

Exchange works that way too.

Got it. I don't understand them fancy Microsoft products.

[chaglang]

I understand your concerns, but I have found that I prefer to put out fires when they are just starting to smolder, rather than finding a raging conflagration on my desk when I get back from a long weekend. After hours or on the weekends, I only respond to the emails that are really emergencies.

I use my home laptop to check email on the weekends. Keeps the fires out and my phone mine.

[mean]

Cell phones further eroded the lines between work and home - at least you might be able to say to the other party you were in a dead zone so you didn't get the call.

What I find kind of interesting is how the whole "work/home life" separation happened in the first place. It wasn't that long ago that the two were essentially the same thing--indeed, it still often is on farms, ranches, etc. Once food and shelter became abstracted from "work" and "work" became a place you go to do things not directly related to procuring food, so that someone can pay you"money" which you'd then use to provide for yourself, expectations of separation developed. Mildly interesting from a sociological standpoint, but I'm clearly not a sociologist.

[aknowledgeableperson]

I think you are onto something. Of course working for yourself back then meant survival. Including of working for others maybe it was the establishment of the 40 hour workweek that further established what time was for work and what time wasn't.

Society expects instant responses and I don’t want to get “in trouble” (not officially from the company but just from peers)

One thing you might have to worry about is when it comes to your evaluation. Not installing that cell phone ability just could label you a rebel, not a company man, not a team player. Maybe not intentionally but unintentionally.

[Eon Blue]

Another thing I've taken advantage of is the feature on an iPhone that lets you turn off the email function of individual accounts. That way I can still receive personal emails but work emails do not come to my phone for the time being.