I work in tech, and for my past several jobs I have automatically installed work email client, slack, and other work related apps on my personal phone. I've never been exactly told it was “required” but it has always seemed to be a cultural norm in these kinds of companies. Like how to instructions on where to find corporate apps for your phone in your orientation packet kind of thing.
I started a new job this past May, and I decided that I was not going to do this anymore. The only thing I've installed on my phone from my job is the 2FA (two factor authentication) app which is more convenient for me, and only makes any noise when I initiate an authentication request.
I cannot tell you what a difference this has made in my quality of life!
Now, when I'm off, I'm actually off. When my phone dings, I'm not worried that it might be something from work. It isn't!
At least once a week and often more than that, I have someone like a boss or co-worker asked me why didn't I respond to XX email or answer XX slack request, and I always reply. I don't put work apps on my personal phone. No long story. No explanation. Just. I don't put work apps on my personal phone. Only once did I ever actually catch any shit about this at all, from a supervisor. He said that he “advised” me to do “what everyone else in our department does” and install slack. That it's “not a good look” to refuse. Very politely, I replied that if they wanted to issue me a company phone, I'd be happy to install anything they would like on it. But that he should know that that phone will be powered off the minute I clock out. He said “well what's the point of that?”
And I said “having a full life outside of work? Giving my undivided attention to my daughter, or my girlfriend? Not doing unpaid OT? Take your pick.”
I haven't heard anything from him about this since.
I don't hate my job and it's generally pretty cool and pays well, especially compared to some of the horror stories I've seen on this sub. But still. Drawing these kinds of lines will give you much better work-life balance. It's important for basic mental and physical health. Be polite, but be very firm about this. No unpaid labor. No 24/7 on call. No constant need to check in and see what's happening at work. Set it down at the end of the day and pick it back up again tomorrow. Every human is entitled to have time actually off, and it's insane an unsustainable to claim otherwise.