employees using personal computers at work

#EMPLOYEES USING PERSONAL COMPUTERS AT WORK SOFTWARE#

At a minimum, you’re going to spend some time explaining what you were doing. And that opens up a huge liability for you personally. “They’re gonna go through that huge audit trail, see, wow, you moved a bunch of data off this laptop in the week before you left. “Let’s say you’re going to work at a competitor,” Toohil says. “In most companies, the moment that you’re let go, that generally is kicking off an automated process that disables your access,” Toohil says.Įven if you leave your company with plenty of notice, moving a bunch of things off your work device in the last few days of your tenure could raise some eyebrows with IT - who, remember, can see everything you’re doing on that device. In these cases, you may have the time to move personal files off your laptop before turning it in, but depending on the circumstances of your termination, you could be locked out of it before you have the chance. Even if your employer doesn’t have such a policy, there’s still the possibility that you could be fired or laid off at short notice, or your company could collapse without warning. Loading some personal photos or text messages onto your work device for safekeeping might seem harmless - you’ll just wipe them off before you hand it in, right? But some companies ( such as Apple) won’t actually allow you to wipe your device before handing it in, regardless of how personal the contents are. It’s not just your activity that your co-workers might be able to see - they could also get access to anything you download. It’s enrolled in a corporate IT product where they’re going to be able to track where you go on the internet.” Toohil emphasized that not all IT departments are regularly digging through their employees’ web history - but there’s always a risk that they could. “If you’re on a work laptop, you should assume your IT can see everything,” says Ryan Toohil, who has worked in IT for 20 years and is currently CTO of Aura, a digital security firm. Even if you have separate personal accounts for these services, it’s still more likely that you’ll mix them up if you’re logged into both on the same computer. Your novel you’ve been writing at night? Your Slack messages complaining to your co-workers about your boss? IT can see all of that. Over half use some sort of monitoring technique, and their usage has become more popular throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.Īnd, of course, your company can see what you’re doing in company-run programs like Slack and G-Suite Enterprise.

#EMPLOYEES USING PERSONAL COMPUTERS AT WORK SOFTWARE#

Companies have all kinds of tools available to monitor their employees’ devices - keyloggers, biometric tracking, geolocation, software that tracks web browsing and social media behavior. The most important thing to remember is that if you’re using a work laptop, you should assume IT can see what you’re doing. Here’s one good, affordable option for a personal laptop: HP’s Pavilion Aero 13. Most of all, it may seem like a good cost-saving measure.īut I’m here to be the bearer of bad news: Don’t do that. Keeping work tasks and personal tasks in one place may feel like an easy way to simplify your life, and it might save space on your desk.

The prospect of using your work laptop as your only laptop - not just for work, but also for Netflixing, group chat messaging, reading fanfiction, paying bills, and emailing recipes to your mom - is understandably tempting, especially for folks who work from home.

Surveys have shown that over half of workers use work-issued devices for personal tasks - whether sending personal messages, shopping online, accessing social media, or reading the news. It’s about time I got rid of that 10-year-old MacBook Air. You’ve got a new job, and they’ve just given you a brand-new ThinkPad.

It’s a decision that may seem like a no-brainer.

Employees using personal computers at work