At one point or another it was decided that carrying two phones, a personal and a work phone, was a great idea. Why? It enables you to separate work from your personal life, your company can easily handle billing and expenses, whilst maintaining control of customer communications and everyone will know how super busy you are with two mobile phones everywhere you go.
Technology should be here to improve our efficiency, save time, and improve our workflow. Carrying two phones was intended to be a solution to prevent us from mixing work and personal life, and for employers to ensure that we were always available, but this has resulted in some pretty frustrating drawbacks.
Carrying a work phone means that your personal life is potentially less distracting while you’re at work but you can’t get away from work when it’s time to relax. Many people spend their time off being bombarded by work calls and messages and never really switch off, as they worry about missing important calls. For some, carrying two phones and constantly being busy or in demand is a badge to be worn with pride, but not getting time away from work will inevitably result in a burn out.
Company phones are almost always a brand you don’t like or know how to use. When we pick our mobile phone we tend to pick the brand that suits us, and stick with it, year after year simply upgrading to the next model, it’s a very personal choice. When you’ve been using an iPhone for the past 5 years and the work phone you’re handed is an Android, chances are it’s going to get pretty frustrating, and you’ll spend more time than you’d like to googling or asking colleagues ‘how do I…?’. Or, it’ll end up gathering dust in a drawer so your company will have wasted money and you’ll be back to making and receiving work calls on your personal mobile, so nobody wins.
There are also environmental implications to consider; there are over 14 million ‘second phones’ in the UK. Each phone that is manufactured will use enough carbon throughout its lifetime to power a Boeing 737 for an hour and it takes 13 tonnes of water and 18 square metres of land to make a single smartphone. It is time for both businesses and employees to consider this!
Another Number came about because we wanted to solve these issues that we had once faced ourselves. Being forced to use a phone you don’t like is horrible, so keep the phone you love. We also think your free time should really be for you. Turn Another Number to do not disturb in the evenings, weekends or when you’re on holiday and let the custom greeting you set handle it, letting callers know exactly when you’ll be back in touch.
One perk of having a work phone is the ease of billing and handling expense claims – which is why with Another Number, the business pays for all numbers, calls and messages to keep things simple, via our management portal. So with Another Number you get the benefits of a work phone but, better, cheaper and more convenient!
Take a look here to find out more or start a free trial for your team here.
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