Other people's passwords... and more!

It's not uncommon, at this time of year, for companies to reduce their staff.  Once upon a time, when you let someone go, all you had to worry about was getting back their keys to the front door and seeing that they cleared out their desk.

Nowadays, employers have another issue to contend with: being able to access all the files on someone's computer and otherwise making sure you can get at company e-mails, so there is proper follow-up on any issues that arise.

Having some strategy to deal with this is important, as you never know what people have been getting up to.  Several years ago, after laying off a member of my staff - who was of long service and someone I thought I could trust - I found that she had been using the company's e-mail address to operate her translation business.

I had long known she had offered translation services from home and didn't have a problem with that, but when I found out that the company's e-mail had been used for her business - and she had no doubt been doing her translation work when she was at the office - I saw red! 

There is an old saying that it takes many years to build a reputation but only a few months to destroy one. Witness the many prominent politicians who have been brought down in a short space of time when an unsavory behavior comes to light.  The same thing can happen to companies. When a person will be leaving but they don't yet know they are leaving, is the ideal time to take over e-mail accounts and make sure that any messages sent out are the ones you want sent out. This way, you can ensure such messages reflect favorably on the company.

A disgruntled employee can do a lot of damage if they send a negative e-mail to your entire customer list.

Given that the equipment that employees use at your premises are the property of the company, as an employer, it should be within your rights to know their passwords as a matter of course. Having a policy that they must not only let you know any passwords but also update you if and when they change their passwords is essential. Another option is to discourage all personal uses of company equipment, such as computers and any company-issued cell phones.While these things are hard to enforce, having clear policies about what is and isn't allowed, will protect you legally if and when you terminate any workers.

Copyright Deborah C. Sawyer

For either the print or electronic versions of this book, go to:

http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/other_peoples_problems/9268001

To contact the author, go to:

www.deborahcsawyer.com/dcs_005.htm