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If your employer wants you to have Slack on a phone, they should buy you a phone. That’s been my situation across multiple employers for 5+ years. I plug the s

If your employer wants you to have Slack on a phone, they should buy you a phone. That’s been my situation across multiple employers for 5+ years. I plug the same monitor and mouse into a work computer and a personal computer. This isn’t hard - you can use a single dongle with all of your inputs so you only need to swap one plug. Or you could use some kind of KVM switch. I understand that startups may not want the expense of buying hardware for their employees, and you might not want to buy your own laptop, but if you end up building something valuable in your personal time, it’s in your interest to keep these things separate. For example, you might work on a side-project which is somehow related to your employer’s business, and eventually decide to quit and start your own company. You’ll be in a more secure legal position if you used your own device for that. You might judge that you aren’t likely do do that, but you should think through the trade-off. The GitHub agreement sounds like an improvement, but most companies don’t use it. I’m not sure how well it protects your interests. If you’re working at odd hours because you’re receiving notifications on a personal device, while you’re also working on your side-project on a work device, would lawyers agree on what is personal and what is work?

sharken 5y ago
Very much agree, a phone should either be for personal use or work. With 2FA being more common in the workplace it just makes sense to have that on the work phone.
- u801e 5y ago
  I actually have a RSA token key fob which I keep on the same keyring as my home keys.
  - sharken 5y ago
    That seems like a fair mix of workplace and personal stuff. As for a RSA token key fob or phone text for 2FA, i prefer the phone as it can also show upcoming meetings and mails. Though it's easier to forget the phone than your keys i'd say.
mike_d 5y ago
> If your employer wants you to have Slack on a phone, they should buy you a phone ...and if you want to have personal stuff on a laptop you should buy your own.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
stock_toaster 5y ago
> If your employer wants you to have Slack on a phone, they should buy you a phone. That’s been my situation across multiple employers for 5+ years. I wholeheartedly agree with computers/systems, and keeping things separate there.. but two phones? Who wants to carry around two phones just for staying on top of slack during _off hours_? If the company isn't ok with me using slack on my personal phone, then I'll only use slack on the supplied computer during business hours (eg. they get no mobile slack out of me at all). Either that or I find a different job. Life is too short to deal with so many devices and the hassle of it all.
- soperj 5y ago
  why the hell would you want to stay on top of work during off hours?
  - GekkePrutser 5y ago
    Personally I like blurring the lines between work and private life. Do some personal stuff during work hours (no more messing around getting time off to go to the dentist or the bank - I just book a meeting in my calender and go). Answer a quick question while I'm on the subway. Spend an hour at night helping out a colleague in the US with an urgent problem when I have nothing better to do anyway. I'll just sleep in in the morning when things are quiet. I love this. What matters also is that I really like my work. And it isn't forced on me or even expected in the slightest. It's nice when I can pop in when I'm off and help out. If not it's fine too. Flexibility. For me this works. I understand it doesn't work for many others like yourself. But that doesn't mean it should be made impossible for me (like some countries do, e.g. in France forcing work email to stop after hours).
    - ghaff 5y ago
      Same. I don't overwork. Except maybe when I travel but I like travel. If I'm "off the clock" whether vacation or after 5, I'm not going to (nor be expected to) suddenly spend the rest of the night dealing with something. But maybe I can write an email or two or take a quick look at a doc which helps someone. And, as you say, I don't feel guilty going to the store or the dentist during the day.
grillvogel 5y ago
ive got a wireless mouse and keyboard that support multiple devices, so i dont even need to swap the plug. to use my personal computer i just switch the monitor input and the mode on the mouse/keyboard.
rtpg 5y ago
OK so they buy you the phone. Shouldn't the thing _actually be_ "if they want you to have Slack on your phone, they should pay you for availability during off hours"? The phone buying is a basically one-time cost from their perspective.
alkonaut 5y ago
I think most of us are in the situation that our employers don’t explicitly want us to have Slack/Teams on our phones. They want us to be available. Slack/Teams on my (personal) phone means I can run an errand in the middle of the day and still be available. I’m happy to use my personal device for it. The alternative is having much less flexibility. If my employer expected me to be available outside office hours or when not at my computer it would be a completely different story. Like if I was on call. Then I’d demand they pay for my smartphone too.
- ghaff 5y ago
  As someone who worked before there were smartphones--indeed, before there were mainstream cellphones and laptops--I'm acutely aware of just how "chained to your desk" you used to be in that, if you weren't there, you couldn't be reached. Of course, you were sometimes in meetings. But, for the most part, you really needed to be sitting at your desk most of the day if only because someone might call you with a question. (Yes, a sales rep calling me on the phone as a product manager was the norm.)

sharken 5y ago

Very much agree, a phone should either be for personal use or work. With 2FA being more common in the workplace it just makes sense to have that on the work phone.

u801e 5y ago
I actually have a RSA token key fob which I keep on the same keyring as my home keys.
- sharken 5y ago
  That seems like a fair mix of workplace and personal stuff. As for a RSA token key fob or phone text for 2FA, i prefer the phone as it can also show upcoming meetings and mails. Though it's easier to forget the phone than your keys i'd say.

mike_d 5y ago

> If your employer wants you to have Slack on a phone, they should buy you a phone ...and if you want to have personal stuff on a laptop you should buy your own.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

stock_toaster 5y ago

> If your employer wants you to have Slack on a phone, they should buy you a phone. That’s been my situation across multiple employers for 5+ years. I wholeheartedly agree with computers/systems, and keeping things separate there.. but two phones? Who wants to carry around two phones just for staying on top of slack during _off hours_? If the company isn't ok with me using slack on my personal phone, then I'll only use slack on the supplied computer during business hours (eg. they get no mobile slack out of me at all). Either that or I find a different job. Life is too short to deal with so many devices and the hassle of it all.

soperj 5y ago
why the hell would you want to stay on top of work during off hours?
- GekkePrutser 5y ago
  Personally I like blurring the lines between work and private life. Do some personal stuff during work hours (no more messing around getting time off to go to the dentist or the bank - I just book a meeting in my calender and go). Answer a quick question while I'm on the subway. Spend an hour at night helping out a colleague in the US with an urgent problem when I have nothing better to do anyway. I'll just sleep in in the morning when things are quiet. I love this. What matters also is that I really like my work. And it isn't forced on me or even expected in the slightest. It's nice when I can pop in when I'm off and help out. If not it's fine too. Flexibility. For me this works. I understand it doesn't work for many others like yourself. But that doesn't mean it should be made impossible for me (like some countries do, e.g. in France forcing work email to stop after hours).
  - ghaff 5y ago
    Same. I don't overwork. Except maybe when I travel but I like travel. If I'm "off the clock" whether vacation or after 5, I'm not going to (nor be expected to) suddenly spend the rest of the night dealing with something. But maybe I can write an email or two or take a quick look at a doc which helps someone. And, as you say, I don't feel guilty going to the store or the dentist during the day.

grillvogel 5y ago

ive got a wireless mouse and keyboard that support multiple devices, so i dont even need to swap the plug. to use my personal computer i just switch the monitor input and the mode on the mouse/keyboard.

rtpg 5y ago

OK so they buy you the phone. Shouldn't the thing _actually be_ "if they want you to have Slack on your phone, they should pay you for availability during off hours"? The phone buying is a basically one-time cost from their perspective.

alkonaut 5y ago

I think most of us are in the situation that our employers don’t explicitly want us to have Slack/Teams on our phones. They want us to be available. Slack/Teams on my (personal) phone means I can run an errand in the middle of the day and still be available. I’m happy to use my personal device for it. The alternative is having much less flexibility. If my employer expected me to be available outside office hours or when not at my computer it would be a completely different story. Like if I was on call. Then I’d demand they pay for my smartphone too.

ghaff 5y ago
As someone who worked before there were smartphones--indeed, before there were mainstream cellphones and laptops--I'm acutely aware of just how "chained to your desk" you used to be in that, if you weren't there, you couldn't be reached. Of course, you were sometimes in meetings. But, for the most part, you really needed to be sitting at your desk most of the day if only because someone might call you with a question. (Yes, a sales rep calling me on the phone as a product manager was the norm.)