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(BYOD: Bring Your Own Device. Personal devices, primarily smartphones, tablets, and laptops, used for business as-well.)
Would you want compensation, or other perqs, or (will you) migrate naturally to your own devices for business purposes regardless?
(NOT, please, "How would you react to a requirement that employees "must" do this," though per a Gartner study by 2016 about 38% of United States employers will require BYOD. Take that as you will, we'll cross that bridge later.)
Anther recent thread references this issue, from the employee side: "How many of you prefer to use your own equipment". Answers to that covered a lot of ground, the privacy concerns and etc. And that some employers absolutely will not, or cannot, allow BYOD.
Background:
Per recent studies, productivity goes up, not down, under BYOD. People have latest and greatest hardware, and co-mingle business with personal. They own their own application ecosystem, too, other than required clients (if-applicable) for email and line-of-business (Exceptions found, in one study, were China and Brazil. No further analysis of that was supplied). All are online, found w/simple searches.
BYOD is a megatrend of Millennials, btw. Many on this thread are not; I for one am Gen X. Gen Y, more-so than Gen X. Boomers, less than Millennials, Y, or X. Silent Generation and Greatest Generation (those still working) much less than the others. Makes sense, from a "ubiquity of technology" perspective.
Managing enough Millennials, over time I've noted it's best to let them run, they'll get the work done (under a certain level of supervision). I allow myself to take mini-breaks throughout the day, in between productive work. E.g., this post to C-D! And I answer work emails at home, and personal at work. And the work gets done. To many Millennials, it's all on the same continuum.
My primary client doesn't care about devices, they care more about images (and security) on the devices and will re-image laptops with theirs in just a couple hours. Bitlocker is also mandatory for laptops. Ability to remote-brick phones is also mandatory, if enjoined to company Exchange. Laptop antivirus and anti-malware, plus app security patches relevant to the client, are always up-to-date when enjoined to their domains. Everything is scanned, but to what extent few know (or ask, usually). I personally don't think they care what is on the devices, as long as their IP is protected.
My laptop (company issued) could be burned-down/wiped on five minute's notice for all I care. Fine with me since my personal data is in one cloud, work data another.
And that's the point: security for that which matters is controlled elsewhere. I only access company email from my non-laptop BYOD items (smartphone, tablet).
Bottom Line:
I am about to explore recommending a phased option approach to BYOD at my place of business. Brainstorming sessions coming up with a fellow director, shortly, before we do the serious analysis (business case) for executive management. Answer is far from clear, at this time. Though the megatrend, mentioned earlier, is abundantly clear.
I can see it to a point but it all depends specifically as to how much realistically can be allowed back and forth. One company I worked for long ago kept every internal document on one server. Which was fine however it also didn't require a password and granted access to everyone everywhere! Needless to say they aren't a publicly traded company anymore.
Frankly I don't know if I would totally see an employee trusting the security of their employers network and vice versa. Someone has a laptop that is stolen..well there's some apps that block access and that's all well and good but it all depends as to how good the cloud is.
In some cases not everything can be put in cloud. It is not a matter of technology but a matter of legality. HIPPA laws for starters. Personally there's some security standards I think that are good like fingerprint readers and retina scanners but sometimes that can still open things up.
I don't think there's an absolute answer to this as it depends wildly on the organization.
BOYD is a culture in itself that will eventually, eclipse other traditional methods of working.
Most importantly, aside from the change management process it is important to consider the security implications of BYOD.
There are a few things to consider before implementing such a method into your workforce:
Provide easy access to company policies
Give your team the right tools
Teach safe browsing habits
Promote communication with IT departments
I just went to BYOD. My company did not offer money, but what they did do is work with the multiple carriers to get us great rates. My bill went from limited minutes (like 1k/month for the plan), and 2gb of data per phone for $150/month to unlimited minutes, unlimited texts, and 5gb of data per phone for $60/month. So while they didn't exactly give me money, they more than cut my cell phone bill in half.
Our company offers BYOD. Right now I am carrying two cell phones. My work phone is an old but functional LG flip phone. If and when it dies, I'll have to "upgrade" to a Motorola Android. My personal phone is an iPhone, so I would much rather convert my iPhone and carry only one. I like having the flip phone though because I don't have constant access to emails and texting is very limited. I like the idea of keeping work and personal separate, but not to the point of carrying two different kinds of smart phones.
It's a great way for companies to further take advantage of employees. When you get to a certain level it's expected that you'll be working from home, reading and responding to emails, etc. Until you achieved that level and get the money and title that goes with it, this is of no benefit to anyone but the company.
Just another company tactic to screw over the employees.
The thing is, a lot on employees want this. We provide company 'phones and tablets to those who need them, rather than allowing employees to use their own. You could here the whining all the way to Mars from some of them. "Waaahhhh!! I don't want to carry two phones.", "This phone sucks. I want to use mine.", etc.
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