Felix.

Does anyone have a work's laptop (ie a laptop which is supplied to their employer for work)?

If so, can they just expect that you will take it home to charge it up after work?
And if it gets damaged/lost/stolen from home, what happens - and who is responsible for its replacement & loss of sensitive data?

1509joe

iTrader: (2)

Would of thought you'd of been the best person to answer that

BMWhere?

I don't personally have one, but many people in my company do.

In our case, everyone has a docking station at work, so the laptops are charged here so are always fully charged at the end of the work day. If people take them home, then either run on battery at home or have a second charger which they can use if needed. Most people don't take work home with them though, they only really use laptops so they can take them to meetings.

As for damage/loss/theft outside of work, then its the companies responsibility for repair or replacement. All our laptops are encrypted and need a password to power-on and unlock the hard drive - the password is also required for wake-up after power-save mode. The same is true for any flash drives. We either have flash drives with a key code, or a normal flash drive which is automatically encrypted when you plug it in - Means you can't plug a phone or a camera into the computer though, otherwise it will encrypt everything and brick your phone!

Felix.

Just got these at work but of course they have not thought about how these will get charged up.

We don't have individual offices but have a large room that we all use. The building is a PFI one, so everything has been put in for a specific purpose. Hence all the sockets are in use for the desktop computers, phones, printers etc. There is one spare socket which the cleaner uses for the hoover - so if was to use this to charge it up when I finish work, the chances are it will have been unplugged when I get back - not to mention, there will be another 30 other people wanting to use the socket to charge their laptops.

Now, I think other people are taking theirs home to charge them up or using member's of the public's houses etc etc. I just wondered what other companies policies are, as I think ours have no policy what so ever.

They are basically expecting us to use the laptops so we are out of the office the whole time whilst on duty. Sounds good, but they have not considered the logistics in charging these things up.

BMWhere?

Do you still need a desktop? Most laptops today easily have enough oomph to replace a desktop for most office jobs!

People here have either one or the other.

Laptop users have a docking station so they don't have to plug in all the cables every time they work in the office. Although even without a docking station, plugging in power, monitor, network, mouse and keyboard is not a major problem each day!

Felix.

Yes, apparently the desktops have to stay for those who are non-operational or office bound workers etc etc.
Also, something to do with re-playing of body worn footage and only be done on them.

Just wondered if I could suggest they buy us a power pack each to charge them. One socket to charge a bank of say 20-30 power packs which you could use to power up the laptops when we are out and about.

BMWhere?

I don't think its unreasonable to expect your company to provide the facility to charge their own laptops!

Rusti

iTrader: (4)

We have docking stations in the office and the 'portable' charger that comes in the box is to go home with the employee, all equipment is asset managed and therefore every employee signs for the equipment and is then responsible for it both inside and outside the office. When we used to have some home workers with desktops the same rules applied.

LewisScoob

iTrader: (5)

Why not just ask your company?

JDM_Stig

iTrader: (3)

Ring 101 and ask lol
Most companies have a policy of what you can and can`t do with their property,
Who issued you with it, might be worth asking them.

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

Tell them to get you ciggy lighter power supplies for your laptops and charge em up in the car.
I know HP make travel adapter kits for our laptops so I assume other companies do aswell.

Felix.

If it costs money i think the short answer will be 'NO'. The long answer will be 'Hell NO'

The lads on the shift that are quite techie say they are the cheapest of the cheap in laptops.
When you try and ask the IT departments, you never get a clear answer on 'How are we supposed to charge them, store them etc' or any answer to any questions

Its as if they have got a cheap deal on these laptops and not thought of any logistics around them.
And they assume we can all use them - now I haven't a clue with laptops but they assume we will all be proficient within days!

John 37

Taking your employers property home without permission is theft.
If you get that permission get it in writing or be sure you can rely on enough of your colleagues to back you up when you say you had permission.
Permission should include the circumstances upon which it's taken home, any restrictions on it's use and who's responsible for it in terms of safety, loss or damage.
Most large employers have an IT policy. Few are ever read but it's a good start. If you rely on it for your protection, print a dated copy as your defence.

Edit
If you can't get satisfactory permission, you can reverse the procedure by emailing your employer stating that your are taking the laptop home but not accepting ownership or liability. End by asking them to reply if your terms are not acceptable. It's not as good but covers you.

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

Or just leave it at work saying you don't want to take it home as it is not required for you to have it at home.

Felix.

Precisely - I think they should have thought more about how to charge these things up before they dished them out to us.