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I work in finance and, for compliance reasons, we've been trying to stamp out employees using WhatsApp but it is basically impossible. No matter how much we th

I work in finance and, for compliance reasons, we've been trying to stamp out employees using WhatsApp but it is basically impossible. No matter how much we threaten disciplinary action in our handbook, people still use it, they just hide it more. Obviously we have no way of proving it, but we can see people doing it when the office is open. The financial regulator says we should use technology to reduce WhatsApp use - but given it's happening on personal phones, I'm not sure what we're supposed to do. Obviously nobody would accept company spyware on their personal phone. Is there some solution to this issue that I'm missing?

throwaway_2009 5y ago
Lobby to change the rules because they're ridiculous, or develop a method that makes it impossible for them to get caught? It just makes no sense to me on the face of it. What do you do if they have a chat in the pub after work, bug the table?
- MR4D 5y ago
  For clarification, a chat in the pub is not “written communication”, and therefore has a different rule. Yes, it’s dumb, and your point stands.
salawat 5y ago
Why exactly is WhatsApp a problem? After further reading I'm torn. This feels like regulatory overreach. The only measure I can think of is supplying a company phone and doing everything possible to encourage people to only use their personal phone for non-business work. This is up to and including being tolerant of personal use of company phones within reason. Otherwise, you're hosed. There's really no way to comply. Strangely enough, I'm both in favor of, but abhor this type of regulation. Yes. White collar insider trading needs this type of draconian control to chart info flow... Yet yeeech! It makes me want to puke. I do not envy you. Godspeed.
- kolbe 5y ago
  > The only measure I can think of is supplying a company phone and doing everything possible to encourage people to only use their personal phone for non-business work. This also assumes life can be neatly separated into business and non-business.
  - salawat 5y ago
    That's less of an issue. If it has to do with a client. Keep it on the official medium. The more interesting bit is how to balance regulated comms with labor organization. Now you're looking at 3 phones. Which is why this entire drive to have records of every comm is smelling of overreach; but again, with financial crime, the only way to stamp it out is following this type of draconian paper trail practice. I don't see a non-paimful solution here except potentially those who work in the financial sector agreeing to be bugged, and even then, if they're just going to get fined anyway... I don't know. It just doesn't seem that hard to keep client related comms to official channels.
    - kolbe 5y ago
      > If it has to do with a client. Keep it on the official medium. I worked for a BD where we had zero clients. Your rule would have gotten us fined. Trust me, it's not as easy as you think. We've spend tens of thousands on lawyers who have in-turn spend thousands of hours thinking about this topic. You nor I nor the smartest person you know could stamp this out over an HN discussion.

throwaway_2009 5y ago

Lobby to change the rules because they're ridiculous, or develop a method that makes it impossible for them to get caught? It just makes no sense to me on the face of it. What do you do if they have a chat in the pub after work, bug the table?

MR4D 5y ago
For clarification, a chat in the pub is not “written communication”, and therefore has a different rule. Yes, it’s dumb, and your point stands.

salawat 5y ago

Why exactly is WhatsApp a problem? After further reading I'm torn. This feels like regulatory overreach. The only measure I can think of is supplying a company phone and doing everything possible to encourage people to only use their personal phone for non-business work. This is up to and including being tolerant of personal use of company phones within reason. Otherwise, you're hosed. There's really no way to comply. Strangely enough, I'm both in favor of, but abhor this type of regulation. Yes. White collar insider trading needs this type of draconian control to chart info flow... Yet yeeech! It makes me want to puke. I do not envy you. Godspeed.

kolbe 5y ago
> The only measure I can think of is supplying a company phone and doing everything possible to encourage people to only use their personal phone for non-business work. This also assumes life can be neatly separated into business and non-business.
- salawat 5y ago
  That's less of an issue. If it has to do with a client. Keep it on the official medium. The more interesting bit is how to balance regulated comms with labor organization. Now you're looking at 3 phones. Which is why this entire drive to have records of every comm is smelling of overreach; but again, with financial crime, the only way to stamp it out is following this type of draconian paper trail practice. I don't see a non-paimful solution here except potentially those who work in the financial sector agreeing to be bugged, and even then, if they're just going to get fined anyway... I don't know. It just doesn't seem that hard to keep client related comms to official channels.
  - kolbe 5y ago
    > If it has to do with a client. Keep it on the official medium. I worked for a BD where we had zero clients. Your rule would have gotten us fined. Trust me, it's not as easy as you think. We've spend tens of thousands on lawyers who have in-turn spend thousands of hours thinking about this topic. You nor I nor the smartest person you know could stamp this out over an HN discussion.