5 ms·
on the positive side, it's a small thing monetarily, but retention of company laptops is a nice goodwill gesture
by zem 2y ago
on the positive side, it's a small thing monetarily, but retention of company laptops is a nice goodwill gesture
- bmulholland 2y agoEh, from the company's perspective this is logistically easiest--the laptop's value is hardly worth the effort.
- zem 2y agoa lot of companies ask for equipment to be returned due to security concerns, or just on principle
- igleria 2y agoklarna allowed us to buy our work phone and macbook paying only the tax value. We had to give them the devices so they would be wiped out by a third party, then they mailed them to my home.
- runako 2y agoThis is a G move, without a doubt the best way I've heard of this being done.
- OptionOfT 2y agoMacBooks and iPhones are amongst the easiest to wipe remotely. You can wipe them fully (which would be the recommendation for MacBooks) and remove just work-installed apps on an iPhone.
- kstrauser 2y agoAbsolutely. I was in charge of that at a previous job, and telling Jamf to nuke the device did the job the next time it was turned on.
- deelowe 2y agoWhen I left microsoft, I kept everything EXCEPT data bearing devices. I got the sense they REALLY didn't want to have to collect the laptops either, but the VPs were forced to by compliance.
- jelder 2y agoA company which is even moderately "OK" at IT will already have the means to instantly lock and securely wipe devices of any employee at a moments notice. Doing this during a RIF is a hell of a lot better than making the mail room deal with a bunch of filthy laptops.
- oblio 2y agoA large bunch of big companies, including some of the biggest on the planet don't even sell past-end-of-life laptops to their current employees. Let that sink in. They're not even willing to <<sell>> old laptops, they would rather scrap them and contribute to pollution and overall waste.
- preinheimer 2y agoIf you scrap a laptop you get a nice, auditable, chain of custody from the end user to the company that will certify it's been destroyed. If you sell someone their old laptop you need to ensure that it's actually been wiped, not just "I copied my files over and started using the new one". I've seen a few IT departments be not great at "Sam got their new laptop two weeks ago, someone should follow up now to see if the wipe on the old one happened". One choice won't get you fired, the other might save you a bit of cash.
- AlotOfReading 2y agoOne former employer had this policy, and also refused to provide a way to ship said equipment back. No one was happy with my alternative solution: leaving it at the police station instead.
- kstrauser 2y agoIs that what you proposed or what you actually did? I want a story!
- AlotOfReading 2y agoI actually did it. This was back in the times when you could get a job the next day, and my new employer didn't want me keeping anything from the old employer by the time I started. Old employer was dragging their feet on the shipping label and made it clear that failure to return the equipment would be considered theft. I gave them a week of daily reminder emails with an approaching deadline (no response), then handed it to the cops as abandoned property. Got a few HR calls immediately afterwards asking how to pick it up, and an annoyed police call asking me not to do it again.
- kstrauser 2y agoI love this. Bravo.
- goldchainposse 2y ago> made it clear that failure to return the equipment would be considered theft Is "please arrange for a courier to retrieve it" not the end of your obligations?
- AlotOfReading 2y agoIn a situation where everyone (including me) was acting reasonably, sure. But I was slightly gruntled from being pushed out for filing a safety report, and keeping it in my possession would have technically violated my new contract. Giving it to the police was clearly not stealing it and didn't require going out of my way to help them solve a problem of their own creation.
- javawizard 2y agoAnd yet only one company I've ever worked for went this way. I wish more did; it really is such a small goodwill gesture to departing employees.
- etchalon 2y agoWe always let our ex-employees keep their laptops because a. why not? and b. I don't need laptops for positions that no longer exist.
- gopher_space 2y ago“Welcome to your new job at HighSpeed TopFlight. Here’s an old, used laptop.”
- ornornor 2y agoI’ve had that happen to me at a new job. It disnt make my new employer shine.
- gopher_space 2y agoOne of my key metrics for evaluating employers is Time To Second Monitor.
- MDGeist 2y agoI was at a company that let people keep laptops (after they were wiped) largely because the severance was so meager it seemed they expected people to sell the laptops for some extra cash. :p
- dylan604 2y agodoubtful it was considered extra cash, but just now not needing to spend cash on replacing the laptop with personal money
- slt2021 2y agocompanies that collect their laptops from laid off => where do these laptops go? how they recycle them?
- viraptor 2y agoIt's a huge "depends". Different areas have different recycling opportunities. Some hardware providers have their own buyback/replacement programs. Also some companies may want to reimage and reuse the returned hardware. Finally you want some stock of temporary laptops available for people who are waiting for repairs so some functioning used ones are great for that.
- sgerenser 2y agoYeah at the BigCorps I was at, old laptops (as long as they weren’t more than 3-4 years old) were usually reimaged and kept on hand as spares or for interns, etc. But I imagine after a large layoff they ended up with way more than they’d ever actually need.
- rs186 2y agoRedistributing them to new employees/interns is very common, especially if the laptop is only 1-2 years old.
- icedchai 2y agoMany of them are fully depreciated and worth nothing, or nearly so, on paper anyway. Any new employees won't want an old laptop. And it will cost time and money to deal with shipping, storage, cleaning, re-imaging, etc. On average, the bean counters must figure it's cheaper to let people keep them.
- rs186 2y agoWorth maybe $1000, not even half a month's rent in almost any major US city