Our workplace is flooded with PDAs, cell phones,
flash drives, and the like. We’re worried about
security and productivity. What are you doing to
deal with the proliferation of miniature electronic
devices in the workplace?
400+ pages of state-specific, easy-read reference materials at your fingertips—fully updated! Check out the Guide to Employment Law for California Employers and get up to speed on everything you need to know.
Here’s what you had to say:
- We have been the victim of slurping. (“Slurping”
refers to employees downloading company information
to their personal devices and then taking
it off premises.) We had some company data
compromised. We’ve now dealt with that, but
one of the interesting things we discovered is
that we had to revise our discipline system. Our
normal four-step system would have allowed the
employee to do more damage. Now if we suspect
problems, we “unplug” the employee, prohibiting
access to our systems until we resolve
the problem. —S.D. - When we realized that we had significant exposure
because many of our employees had free access
to proprietary data, we took steps to protect the
data. It was pretty technical (I certainly don’t
understand it), but we were able to set up systems
that allowed access but not copying or downloading.
Talk to your IT people and see what they
recommend. — A.J. - I had our HR department put together a whole new
set of guidelines for our employees that helps us
deal with the issues raised in this question. We
allow employees to access the Internet and personal
e-mail, but we let them know that we do monitor
such use and that we expect that it will be kept to a
minimum. — K.S. - We’ve discovered that we need to review our
polices quite often. The electronic world is changing
so fast that there’s a new gadget on the market the
week after we issue a policy. — N.C.