Work Mobiles

stimpsonslostson

I've been given a "work phone" because my job means I'm rarely at my desk, but am first point of contact for certain circumstances. I said I don't want to share my own phone due to cost & intrusion on my home life. 

Unfortunately the work mobile means that I've got 24/7 access to my work email & am constantly contactable to any of my colleagues who has the phone number (the entire department- it's on the wall as an emergency contact). 

I'm not sure about turning it off outside working hours- I AM an emergency contact, but similarly in only being paid to work "normal hours" & call outs are rare. I generally leave it on a shelf & check it for notifications every so often. 

I certainly won't take it on holiday with me as I'll arrange cover. 

Anyone else have this issue? How do you deal with it? 

Veganic

I had this issue. I ended up getting a new job.
It seems like nothing when you are given it but you become the 'first point of contact' for the company 247 365.  It is in your head even if they don't call. 

I realize changing jobs may not be an ideal arrangement so here's my thoughts.

1. You say you are 'emergency cover.' Someone must have told you that.  Who? What did they say? 

2.Turn off email notifications. 

3.  You need this obligation in writing.  No one will thank you for the times you do answer, you will be thinking of excuses for the times you don't. 

equalsql

Are you paid a retainer for being on emergency cover? i.e. Are you expected to drop everything no matter where you are if an emergency arises? If I wasn't paid to be available I would turn the phone off outside working hours. This is what I did with my company mobile. I agree with @Veganic on this, the company should not be owning your life outside work.

Emp_Fab

I had a company phone for years.  If you are an official emergency contact then obviously you are expected to be contactable.  I found that nobody ever rang outside of working hours anyway so it was never an issue.  If you find that your lot do phone you out of hours for non-emergency stuff then that’s just down to you to tell them this isn’t an emergency, phone me back tomorrow.  If you feel unable to do that then that’s a different issue and you’re just hiding behind the ‘uncontactable” mask.

BahHumbug

I had similar-ish some years ago.  I think it’s important to be clear in your own mind what you have been given the phone for and what eventualities it is reasonable for you to be expected to respond to.  I say ‘in your own mind’, because if nobody else has properly defined the requirement then it’s up to you to look after yourself.  There shouldn’t be carte-Blanche for everybody and anybody phoning you out of office hours unless it’s been formally agreed, and you are getting paid for it.
And you should definitely treat email as office hours only.

EricTheWeary

I have a work mobile. Ostensibly for safety for lone working it does give me access to email. That’s kinda handy if I’m hanging around somewhere for ten minutes but I have colleagues who spend Sunday evenings on their mobiles so there are no Monday morning surprises. Mine is switched off if I’m not working. 
There was some research that said something like you work an extra 20% of hours if you have a mobile working device. 
Sorry, no help - just get clarification on when it is supposed to be on. 

Wolfetone

If you are an out of hours call out contact, you need to agree when and for how long you are on call. Not doing this puts you in a permanent position of responsibility, which, if things go wrong, would make you liable for any service failure .

Furthermore, you should  be compensated for being on standby. I presume that you need to be sober and in a position where you can access information for advice? This means that your personal life is no longer your own which is unacceptable.

I work in the conveyor belt industry. The standard is a rota whereby the person on standby is on call but compensated for that period. he must be capable of conducting a call out which means that he should be legal to drive and not  out of the area. he also gets paid an hourly rate which reflects the hourly rate charged to the customer including travel. The fitter also gets a portion of the call out fee. Any times he is not on standby, the call out is by negotiation.

Finally, if the call out finishes after midnight, he is not obliged to attend work until 12 the following day so he can get some rest.

So, to condense things, you should agree with your employers your standby obligations.

boogieman

Wolfetone said:

If you are an out of hours call out contact, you need to agree when and for how long you are on call. Not doing this puts you in a permanent position of responsibility, which, if things go wrong, would make you liable for any service failure .

Furthermore, you should  be compensated for being on standby. I presume that you need to be sober and in a position where you can access information for advice? This means that your personal life is no longer your own which is unacceptable.

I work in the conveyor belt industry. The standard is a rota whereby the person on standby is on call but compensated for that period. he must be capable of conducting a call out which means that he should be legal to drive and not  out of the area. he also gets paid an hourly rate which reflects the hourly rate charged to the customer including travel. The fitter also gets a portion of the call out fee. Any times he is not on standby, the call out is by negotiation.

Finally, if the call out finishes after midnight, he is not obliged to attend work until 12 the following day so he can get some rest.

So, to condense things, you should agree with your employers your standby obligations.

This ^. You need to sort out exactly what’s expected of you by your employer and how you’ll be compensated if you’re disturbed out of hours.  

Our call out procedure at my old workplace was governed by strict contract : call out period was maximum one week in three. Three hours minimum pay for each call out, no matter how brief. A late start the next day if you were disturbed. 

spark240

Dude, everyone in our work circle has my number and email and it’s on from 6.30am till around 11.pm...

Thats how it is,,..I’m not stressed about it at all, I get a decent salary and run my own projects as I see fit, if I  need a few hours in the day for myself I work this in, ...

Its only what you make it,

thecolourbox

What are the consequences if you just don't answer?

munckee

I've had one so long I got rid of my own phone. I've never spent enough on it to raise any questions. 

Because clients have it to I get the odd weekend call which I don't answer if I don't fancy it. 

I do do reply to some emails because it saves me time during the week. 

stimpsonslostson

Thanks for the advice folks. 
I think I need to sort out the boundaries between work & home- it's good to hear where everyone else is at.

I don't mind being called in a genuine emergency, who would, it's more the definition of emergency that needs to be clarified. 
I  think technology has made separation of work/private life more difficult- I've had several occasions in my earlier job where I got an email at 1900 on a Friday & another on Saturday asking why I haven't responded (my answer was "I wasn't working this weekend") I ignored WhatsApp/texts too, after a month or so people got the message & waited till office hours.  
I'm new to this role so will have to set ground rules about what constitutes an "emergency" & what doesn't, apparently my predecessor would usually answer all the time- so folk would call any time to report minor things for him to do during office hours. 
 
MrsLostSon is probably more concerned than I am- I can have trouble switching off at the best of times. 

I'll chat to my manager & see what he says. 

grungebob

I have it. Being the operations manager anything that goes wrong I get a call. It doesn’t help that I’ve moved up the ranks so know first hand all the aspects of the job. 

My my phone is set to do not disturb 10pm-7am I’ll only know about something if someone calls three times in quick succession. 
On weekends and holidays I’ll look at it once a day that’s it. Unless I literally am the only one who can solve something or I have the literal key I don’t get involved. Or phone them back. 

You cant be emergency cover all the time they shouldn’t do that to you. We have a manager on call rota. We can all answer our phones when we want to but if you don’t want to and the problem really is important they’ll call the on duty manager, now given this can sometimes be the director it better be a real crisis. Often it isn’t hence why I don’t bother answering. 
The team soon learn what to bother you with and what not to. 

strtdv

If you're providing a 24 hour on call emergency support line then you need to be paid as such. Otherwise I'd only have the mobile switched on during normal office hours

RandallFlagg

I work at a large power plant and am duty manager for an important 1/2 billion+ £ national infrastructure asset every 4 weeks, the plant is manned and available to run 24/7 365 and I've had a work phone since 2003 so being connected and receiving calls any time of day is a way of life. Us managers all read emails on holiday, take calls, answer texts, whenever, wherever etc.

All to help keep your amps running and lights on...

The money is very good though.

hywelg

RandallFlagg said:

I work at a large power plant and am duty manager for an important 1/2 billion+ £ national infrastructure asset every 4 weeks, the plant is manned and available to run 24/7 365 and I've had a work phone since 2003 so being connected and receiving calls any time of day is a way of life. Us managers all read emails on holiday, take calls, answer texts, whenever, wherever etc.

All to help keep your amps running and lights on...

The money is very good though.

As we used to say at British Coal, Management is Continuous. If you are on holiday and a problem crops up at your Colliery,  get your arse back to the UK, pdq.

Duty manager (and this was before the days of mobile phones) had to call the control room and inform them of the pub/restaurant/hotel phone number in case of emergency. A few even had their mistress's phone number on file under a cryptic pseudonym. 

Was very relieved when I bailed out of management and went to specialist services.