ajcjobs > BlogBreak > Archives > 2008 > June > 30
Monday, June 30, 2008
The dog ate my BlackBerry?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This Sunday’s ajcjobs lead story, Handle with care, was about the responsibility workers take on when they go home with company-owned equipment, including laptops, PDAs and cellphones. Sources quoted in the story strongly recommended that companies spell out the guidelines for equipment use in advance and make sure that employees understand and accept the rules.
Most employees (we hope!) won’t download pornography onto the company laptop or share sensitive company data with their buddies, but other things can happen - the types of things that happen to our own belongings when accidents occur. Coffee or Coke spills, dents, perilous falls when they’re left on top of the car… Equipment could get damaged, lost or stolen. What happens then?
Do you have company equipment that goes home with you and did you have to sign off on an agreement about how to use and safeguard the equipment? Have you ever lost or damaged your company-issued technology? What’s the strangest thing that has happened to company equipment that you had? How did your boss react when you broke the news to him or her, and did you have to pay to repair or replace the equipment? Is it fair to make employees pay when company-owned equipment meets a bad end while in their possession?
