Leaving your work cellphone behind as you embark on a days-long hike or head out for dinner at your favourite restaurant is a clear indication: you’re off the clock.

But that separation of devices also means you have to carry both your personal and work phones during work hours — juggling texts from your child’s daycare on your personal phone while taking calls from clients on your work device. And sometimes, work obligations could mean carrying both devices outside of business hours.

For some, separating work and personal lives with two cellphones seems like a necessity and to others, a hassle. But experts say it comes down to your profession, life priorities and comfort level with your company’s data privacy policies.

A professional in banking or health care, for instance, would typically carry both a personal and work cellphone for data security and personal safety reasons, said Lisa Stam, managing partner and owner of employment law firm Spring Law.

Meanwhile, a small-business owner would likely assume that employees use their own phones at work, she said.

At her law firm, Stam said employees use their personal phones on the job, but there are policies to safeguard work data and privacy while laying out expectations about job-related data on the device.

She says employers need to think through bring-your-own-phones policies: whether workers are expected to work after hours, if employers contribute to the phone plan and what happens to data on those phones if a worker resigns.

Stam recommended employers pay a portion of their workers’ phone plan if they use their personal device for their jobs.

“If you’re asking the employee to use their device but you’re asking them to put on some of your applications, your apps, then in that case, contributing to the data plan gives you a seat at the table about what to do with that phone and the data that’s on that phone,” she said.

Many companies have been using security measures such as multi-factor authentication or ring-fencing, which virtually separate apps and safeguard the company’s data on a worker’s personal phone. It allows companies to remotely erase work-related data from an employee’s phone without affecting personal information when that worker leaves.

Jane Arnett, cybersecurity expert at Check Point Software, said these security layers often work like a container, protecting work-related apps inside it, holding files, emails and work chats.

“Your employer is very concerned that their data is protected, and their customers’ data is protected,” Arnett said. “If your device has been compromised and you … connect into where their data resides, their data is now compromised.”