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>This is a typical case of a person misusing equipment/breaking the rules... ... in a completely benign way that you might expect of a real human being, not a

• Alupis 11y ago
  > in a completely benign way that you might expect of a real human being, not a slave or serf. No reasonable person can advocate in good faith that employees should actively ignore workplace policies and rules, because they're "real human beings"... and further, that there should be no consequences for these deliberate actions.
  • Karunamon 11y ago
    Sure they can... If those policies and rules are arbitrary, illogical, and backwards. Nobody follows all the rules all the time, and those that do are generally seen by the rest of society as stodgy and inflexible. Also less effective. Example: Shadow IT exists for a reason, and that reason is not some variation of sticking it to the man.
    • Alupis 11y ago
      > Sure they can... If those policies and rules are arbitrary, illogical, and backwards Don't abuse company owned equipment, and don't use company owned equipment for personal reasons (especially during work hours) is certainly not an "arbitrary, illogical and backwards" policy. > Also less effective If you truly believe an IT department ensuring their systems are maintained properly and function as they should is "less effective" than just allowing chaos... I'm not sure what to say really. > Shadow IT exists for a reason Have you worked at a company which had different departments all using whatever they wanted? It's a nightmare, and not just from an IT perspective. Nothing is compatible with each other... transferring from one department to another results in a slew of new applications and practices to learn (and which are not necessarily better)... and when IT does need to step in and fix this new system a bunch of non-IT department staff cobbled together... it gets even worse. Soon these departments complain to the IT department when their "shadow IT" system breaks down and demand it be fixed promptly. It's not a net good for any company. > Nobody follows all the rules all the time, and those that do are generally seen by the rest of society as stodgy and inflexible Don't be ridiculous. It's not your property - you don't get to do whatever you want with it. It's really, really simple.
      • Karunamon 11y ago
        don't use company owned equipment for personal reasons It's a bloody computer, not a backhoe. I know precisely nobody who has a computer at work that doesn't at least check their mail on it. Why companies feel they have to treat their employees as serfs in this matter is beyond my comprehension. Nor do I understand the mindset that treats a mail check as "abuse". Have you worked at a company which had different departments all using whatever they wanted? Have you ever worked at a company which had an IT department that was so bureaucratic and slow moving that it prevented people getting actual work done? Your diatribe ignores the reason shadow IT springs up - because the "official" IT isn't doing their job and providing decent services. I've been on both sides of this. The old quote "the harder you squeeze, the more slip through your fingers" applies. Shadow IT means that things are being provisioned without official approval, not that there's a policy allowing random things to be provisioned without approval.
      • lvs 11y ago
        You have an unnecessarily strict and unreasonable point of view that benefits no one, and I'm quite happy I don't work anywhere near you.
  • tajen 11y ago
    A company who blames the uses of a private gmail is dysfunctioning, and a country should rather get rid of such companies rather than the employees. Economic excellence, by keeping companies who know how to manage the motivation of employees. OTOH there are problems with salespeople communicating with customers on their private emails, like, ugh, the director of the CIA who was recently caught by a teenager.