Shawnee Love   •  
June 9, 2016

I am not a fan of asking employees to supply their own technology.  The principles behind this aversion are the same whether I am referring to tablets, computers or communication devices, so for purposes of this blog, I am going to use smart phones as the example.

Let me start by acknowledging some of the reasons that bring your own device (BYOD) is so popular:

• People are very attached to their own smart phones,
• People are very familiar with their own smart phones and thus navigate them easily- aka higher productivity,
• It is efficient to only carry one device where personal and professional information is centralized,
• It is convenient for organizations to have easy “access” to their staff outside of work,
• It can be less expensive to provide an allowance to an employee for using a personal device than to purchase the device and contract, particularly for smaller employers who don’t have bulk buying advantages,
• Many people (particularly in the younger generations) ask to use their own device instead of having to use their employers’ devices and some studies have shown they may prefer companies that offer BYOD.

Saying all that, I still would only offer BYOD as a perk which I would only offer to those who:

• Have proven themselves reliable, confidential, and responsible,
• Have jobs which fit a BYOD arrangement, and
• Commit to backing the personal device up and synchronizing with the company’s information regularly.

If you don’t want to manage a perk arrangement (which includes assessing eligibility and saying no to those who don’t qualify), I recommend organizations provide the devices they want employees to use.  Come back next week and we will explore why I believe providing a company owned device is usually a better approach.