If you worked for a company where you were able to check your work email from your phone by downloading an app, would you do it, or would you refuse and only check your work email when you’re at work?

In this story, many employees jumped at the chance of being able to check their work email from their phones. But one day, that all changed.

Keep reading to find out what scared them off.

Don’t check emails outside of work? No problem!

Old workplace made an oops…. For convenience, a lot of employees would install a popular email app on their phone and check their work email on it.

Never was a requirement, no one was expected to, just made it easier to not have to find a computer (limited workstations) to check your messages.

Apparently someone decided to put in for overtime whenever they answered an email off hours…seems their supervisor made it seem like it was a requirement to be available to work on projects.

Good for them. Eventually it added up high enough to flag in the system.

Now, nobody wants the app.

Cue a strongly worded letter from a higher up that said do NOT answer emails outside of work hours and by having your work email on your personal phone your personal phone is now discoverable for legal purposes .

As in…everything you have, pictures, messages, etc becomes evidence.

Cue hundreds of employees immediately deleting the app off their phones.

This is going to slow down productivity.

Shortly after it becomes apparently just how much business was being taken care of this way…so now instead of a quick email and a problem is fixed, supervisors have to wait until the person comes back on shift.

Text message? Nope, once people found out talking work via text also makes your phone into evidence messages mysteriously stopped getting answered.

Calls? Same thing.

Wait. They weren’t supposed to see that.

Shortly after…an “explanation” email comes out saying that oops, that was only supposed to go to that person’s supervisors. And yes you can read your emails outside of work, but you won’t be paid and please don’t put in overtime for it. HA.

Too late, damage done.

For the next 2 years that I know of (I left), every new person hired was warned by the existing employees about this. Enough people kept the email that it stayed in circulation.

And now I will never allow a work app on my personal phone!

It’s better for the employees not to work from their phones when they’re away from the office.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

And this is why everyone deleted the app and refused to reinstall it.

Here’s a similar story.

Another employee wanted to be reimbursed.

They should pay for the phone if they want you to use the app.

Checking your work email from your phone has consequences.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.