We currently provide a reimbursement to employees that utilize their personal cell phones during the course of business. Some managers are provided with a company cell phone who would not be eligible for reimbursement. However, others choose to utilize their personal phones and obtain a reimbursement in lieu of carrying two phones.
What is the usual and customary reimbursement for the use of a personal cell phone for business?
Answers
I've seen from 100% to amounts that exceed the basic plan to flat amounts per month, like $75. If they call internationally, then those calls are covered regardless.
I know the law says businesses have to reimburse employees "some reasonable percentage" of the bill. Perhaps I'm in the minority, but if an employee has unlimited minutes and data, I don't see any expense to the employee by using their phone.
I'm not sure which law your referring to, but putting that aside, the employee is under no obligation to use their own phone for company business.
Here is your logic.........The company will have someone use one of the rooms in your house too. You pay for the mortgage/rent anyways and you don't have additional expense...so no need to reimburse or pay you.
My .02
Whether the employee uses their own phones or not should NOT be a factor. It is a company expense and it is the company's responsibility to provide the employee all the resources he/she needs to do the job....PERIOD. If the employee opts to use their own phones/plans, the right thing to do is to "reimburse" them the full amount of what the company SHOULD BE PAYING as if the employee had no plan. (of course minus the cost of the phone)
In fact, as I have said (much like using the employee's credit card) before......with an accompanying THANK YOU NOTE! for letting the company use their phones.
These types of policies DEFINE the company's relationship (culture) with it's employees.
Wayne, have I made a convert out of you? :D
Thank you all for entertaining my opinion. I see your points, but if I may, I'd like to present my point of view because it doesn't seem so "cut and dry" to me. I don't have a company phone, yet I do conduct company business on my phone. It's just no big deal for me to do so and doesn't cost me anything. I do have a 6GB data plan, so if it came to the point that I was using up a lot of my data, perhaps I'd ask my company to pay the difference in plans. That I could justify, but using my phone for personal use 90% of the time doesn't justify (in my mind) me asking my company to pay 100% of my bill.
If I could turn the tables for a minute on Emerson's analogy, it would be like expecting my company to pay for my personal phone/data in my house. Does that make sense? I'm not saying my way is right. Perhaps I'm trying to reconcile my point of view because I had an employee ask for reimbursement even though the employee makes just a few company calls on his phone. It didn't seem right to me, but I did work out an agreement with the employee (we pay him $30 a month).
Anon....the point is......the decision (choice) lies on YOU (the employee), NOT the company. If you decide to let the company use your room (or cell/data plan) without pay, that is YOUR choice. The company canNOT and should NOT force to use YOUR resources EVEN if they say they are going to pay for it!
The occasional phone calls for normal communication (say, there is a change in your shift) is fine! But if it is going to be used in the normal course of business (say, the company gives out your personal number to clients and they expect you to answer)...then it is a different story.
Anon, here are other points.....
1. If you had a business and a home office, would you claim portions of your house payments, electricity, internet etc, as business expenses?
2. If you were sent to a location where the company knows your parent's house is nearby, can the company force you to stay with your parents house (say you don't get along) and not provide for lodging?