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I'm working at a company that sends work related messages through WhatsApp, like meeting cancelations, status updates, etc.

My number, signed into WhatsApp, is my personal number, paid directly by me.

I have 2 kids and have tons of groups around school, hobbies, friends, family, etc.

Having also work related stuff on a personal account app makes it really hard to prioritize and not miss stuff.

Also, it feels so unlegit/unfair to request me to use personal stuff for work.

We use Slack/teams/gchat (work account) so I think everything can be communicated through them, right?

So is it "fair/legit" to request to use a personal account for work related stuff?

BTW, saw some posts regarding avoiding whatsapp groups and Facebook invites at work. Want to emphasize that this a different question, from the point of view of the relationship between an employer and employees - not searching for concrete advice but trying to understand the fairness/legitimacy of this.

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    You are asking for an opinion, which is out of bounds here and will probably get closed. You might want to consider whether there is a factual question that will address your concern.
    – keshlam
    Commented May 27, 2023 at 12:38
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    Make sure ALL your "personal" messages get copied to the work account - won't be long before others complain to get a work based solution.
    – Solar Mike
    Commented May 27, 2023 at 14:25
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    Have you asked your manager why they use WhatsApp rather than Slack etc? (and if not, why are you asking here first?)
    – Philip Kendall
    Commented May 27, 2023 at 15:04
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    What you/we consider fair or unfair doesn't matter. Is it "legit"? In what sense? Like, is it legal? Maybe. Only an employment attorney could answer that. What's preventing you from creating a WhatsApp account with your work email address and using that? Have you discussed this with your manager? Have you proposed alternate solutions?
    – joeqwerty
    Commented May 27, 2023 at 15:07
  • @joeqwerty, I thought whatsapp's authentication is phone number based and my phone number is my private number.
    – AlikElzin-kilaka
    Commented May 28, 2023 at 5:03

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So is it "fair/legit" to request to use a personal account for work related stuff?

Why does that matter? What would you or employer do differently depending on whether some random people on the Internet say this is fair or not?

You first need to figure out what you want to happen. If you don't like using your personal WhatsApp you should first check what your employee handbook says, what your local labor laws say (adding a country tag would be VERY helpful here) and what the local cultural standards are (which vary greatly all over the world).

You can certainly refuse having your private phone being used for regular work purposes and in most cases local laws will back you up on this. But depending on your corporate culture, this may not be great for your career at this place. So it's going to be a trade-off. We don't have enough information to assess this trade off.

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    Added "Israel" tag, but was hoping for a more general approach, which you kind of provided with "You can certainly refuse having your private phone being used for regular work purposes and in most cases local laws will back you up on this". Also, interesting perspective on the career trade off, which feels like a leverage by the employer to request illegal/unmoral stuff. Thanks for the comprehensive answer. Upvoted.
    – AlikElzin-kilaka
    Commented May 28, 2023 at 12:34
  • Just to point out the obvious: "Your personal account" doesn't have to be the same account you use for other purposes. I'm not sure about WhatsApp, but on most systems you can set up multiple accounts even if they're all personal. You may have too claim one of them is for another member of your family, or for your pet, or for a fictitious employee; I have an alternate identity (with his own email address) who registers for things where I would rather not give them my own name. It's not perfect isolation, but it at least keeps the communication in two separate buckets.
    – keshlam
    Commented May 28, 2023 at 16:39

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