Should You Pay Employees’ Phone Stipend Or Get Phone Lines Installed At Your New Office?

At some point, most types of businesses need their employees to use a phone. Whether calling customers, suppliers, or vendors, calls placed during business hours are key to ensuring that a business survives and thrives. With cell phones being commonplace, some businesses have turned to reimbursing their employees to make calls using their personal cell phones. Many business owners wonder if this is the best option or if they should install a phone line that their employees use instead. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you make this decision.

Tax Requirements

One great thing about phone stipends is that they aren’t a taxable benefit. In other words, adding a stipend to an employee’s benefits package can indirectly increase their pay without increasing their taxes. Of course, if employees are using a business line, this doesn’t affect their pay one way or the other. As a business owner, though, you may be able to write off some or all of the cost of the business phone lines since they are a part of conducting business.

Uniformity

If you opt to utilize cell phones, one thing that will be difficult to maintain is uniformity. Since everyone will be using a cell phone with a different number, your customers will receive calls from different numbers and may not know which number to use to call back. If you utilize business phone installation services, on the other hand, you can program the phones so that all outgoing calls come from the same number, creating a more professional and unified appearance.

Overall Costs

The upfront costs of utilizing personal cell phones are very minimal. The only thing you may need to do is add extra outlets for employees to charge their cell phones throughout the day. On the other hand, the upfront costs for installing phone lines tend to be higher because you’ll have equipment and installation costs. Over time, though, you may be able to save money by using a business line since the cost of a cell phone plan can be quite high.

Potential Distractions

Another thing to keep in mind when deciding whether to reimburse employees for the cost of a cell phone plan is the potential distractions that can happen when employees use their personal phones. Business phones are designed for a single purpose: to make calls. On the other hand, cell phones offer the opportunity to perform other tasks that can decrease productivity. You will likely need to have some type of safeguard in place if you utilize personal cell phones so that you’re not paying your employees to text or watch videos.

Stick With It

When you make a decision regarding your business’s phone plan, it’s important to stay the course. Switching back and forth between cell phones and business phones can be expensive and confusing. Rather than making large swings between the two options, it’s better to examine what does and doesn’t work well with the option you choose so that you can make small changes to make that option work better.