I was promised a work PC, but I am still awaiting approval 3 months later so am using my own laptop - is it fair to ask employer for laptop insurance?

Question

I develop websites and run the online magazine for my company (just got hired three months ago), so I run not only development software and tech applications, but also Adobe software and other design applications all the time, usually multiple high-performance applications simultaneously. That means I need a very high-performance computer to work.

My company promised me a work computer, but it's been three months, and they still haven't approved me for one. I get it, a PC with 32 GB of RAM is not cheap. But in the meantime, they're making me use my personal Asus gaming laptop for work. I bought this baby for US$1300 a couple of years ago, and I really need it to last me for a while.

I sit at a long desk next to several other people, and I've seen many drinks spilled and things dropped already. That, and my company has already had one case of ransomware trying to take over our systems and that would've been very expensive to get rid of.

Is it reasonable to ask my employer for written confirmation that they'll pay for any damages to my personal laptop while using it for work? How should I go about asking? And what should I do if they say no?

UPDATE: ~15 Oct~ I took your advice and took a combination of actions. I first inquired about the progress of the request, and when there was zero progress being made I let my supervisor know all the possible risks the company has been taking with this unregulated BYOD policy. I then sent a calm, respectful email stating that in two weeks my personal device would become unavailable for use here unless fully insured by a written and agreed-upon BYOD policy (and I copied my boss's boss on the email). Go figure, after that it only took them about 6 days to provide me with a brand new XPS 8930 with more power than my laptop :) Thanks to everyone for the advice and helping me resolve this issue without it turning into a huge conflict!

Answer 1

Is it reasonable to ask my employer for written confirmation that they'll pay for any damages to my personal laptop while using it for work?

Yes this is a reasonable request. However, this doesn't address the real issue that your company is not providing you equipment for you to do your job. What would they do if your laptop "broke"?

How should I go about asking?

Send an email to your manager, asking them to either guarantee to replace or fix your laptop if it's damaged at work.

And what should I do if they say no?

This is the tricky part. You could say if they don't agree to cover it that you will stop using it for work, but are you really prepared to make good on that threat? Are you prepared to search for another gig?

If they say no, you definitely should ask: "What is the contingency plan should my laptop break?"

Learn a good lesson from this and don't bring in your own equipment into work in the future unless your employer guarantees to cover it while working.

Answer 2

Your employer sells what you do for a profit, and must provide you the tools to do your job.

I read in the comments that companies exist that allow BYOD, but my opinion is that often this happens because of cheapness and a lack of basic IT safety/security awareness. I'm not talking about external consultants, but employees, obviously.

BYOD is a huge liability for the company because:

• the software licenses owned by the company are put on an item that is not company-owned
• the access to company systems is made using an object (your personal laptop) that is not under company control and cannot be tested for compliance to the basic security measures, but must rely on you being careful, caring, etc.
• company data is on an uncontrolled device used for personal matters; should a game played during the weekend trash your disk/memory/whatever all the company assets on that PC are lost (your item, your fault)
• same as previous bullet should the PC be stolen during a trip: your item, your fault

Also note that bullet 3 and 4 outline huge liabilities for you too...

IMO there are very few corner cases where a BYOD policy for employees makes sense and these cases must have policies and rules clearly defined in advance.

To answer your question: without clear rules for BYOD, the reasonable thing to do, in my opinion, is to leave your personal laptop at home and ask for a company supplied one. Put a reasonable deadline, say something "from day X, my personal PC will not be available anymore" and stick to it. Then do your work with the tools provided. If they give you a cheap tool, they will also live with the consequences (delayed delivery & co).

They provide no laptop and push you to use yours? If at all possible brush up your CV and move on...

Answer 3

Is it reasonable to ask my employer for written confirmation that they'll pay for any damages to my personal laptop while using it for work? How should I go about asking? And what should I do if they say no?

To directly answer your question no that wouldn't be unreasonable, however I think that it's burying the lede somewhat - they should be addressing the actual issue i.e. buying you a machine to work on. A half decent PC might seem expensive as a consumer because for the most part they're luxury items but for a business.. it's just not.

You aren't talking about a high-end CAD workstation or dedicated gaming rig here. At the end of the day any modern office desktop with a decent amount of RAM would be more than adequate and what's more it's a fundamental, essential resource for you to do your job. 3 months to "approve" the resource that your role fundamentally requires is, to put it mildy bollocks.

You're using your kit at the moment and that means they don't have to buy anything yet so they're freeloading as long as they can. If they're supposed to be getting you a machine I assume that they aren't running BYOD as an actual policy or anything so providing a computer for someone doing web development is just the cost of doing business.

Honestly in your place I'd be going in tomorrow without your laptop and explaining that it's developed a fault and is unavailable for work and then see how long it takes them to "approve" your work computer.

Yeah involves a bit of lying which isn't exactly the most ethical thing ever - but there's an argument that they started it.

Doing what you suggest is perhaps the more ethical approach.. and to a certain amount might force their hand, but only if it actually ends up costing them money. There's a good chance that they are going to keep spinning that roulette wheel and hoping it never lands.

You should be able to simply sit down with your manager and explain that you were happy to use your machine as a temporary measure while a proper solution was sorted but that you aren't prepared to do so indefinitely and establish a clear deadline by which they need to have a work machine sorted for you in the near future. If they are reasonable they will agree a timeframe and you can take it from there - and stick to your guns. If they aren't then you're going to have to take the call of whether this is a hill you want to die on. I wouldn't blame you if you started polishing the CV up and looking elsewhere. This is the approach I'd take personally - if they choose to be unreasonable over something like this then it's good that you can start looking for a suitable escape hatch sooner rather than later.

Answer 4

I get it, a PC with 32G of RAM is not cheap

This is wrong - it is cheap compared to the overall cost of employing you (I hope) - but it's not free.

They're making me use my personal ASUS gaming laptop for work

How did they learn about your gaming laptop? Honestly it sounds like you've brought it up and suggested you use it whilst waiting for a work machine to be provisioned.

You've made a mistake here. Guess what, now there's no urgency in provisioning said work machine, hence the absurd delay.

It's a convenient situation for the company - free is better than cheap - what incentive do they have to change it? It's probably not malicious, just them doing nothing and letting a convenient situation continue. They likely assume you're happy with the arrangement since you suggested it.

Is it reasonable to ask my employer for written confirmation that they'll pay for any damages to my personal laptop while using it for work?

No, the way out of a hole is not to keep digging, it's to find a ladder :-)

If you don't want to use your personal machine, just go and tell them that, today. Don't ask what to do with your own personal property, tell.

Answer 5

There is a simple fix for this. Your laptop needs to 'break'. How it is 'broken' is up to you. Opening up the chassis and unplugging something may be sufficient.

If your work is valued, the process of obtaining a laptop for you will be expedited.

Answer 6

For various reasons, there is a rule of thumb that many companies prohibit the use of personal devices at work - even to forbidding the physical presence of the objects on the premises: laptops, memory devices, photo-audio-video recording devices etc. The main reason: protection of the intellectual property, safety etc.

Exceptions exist, of course, and the most common exception is the smartphone.

However, this makes it obvious that the company should not allow you to use your personal stuff for work. Why? Because you can claim that the work you do on your laptop belongs to you. And a court might even rule in your favor.

If you are not ready to change the company, then try to find a middle-ground. Some ideas:

• ask them to pay rent;
• ask them to reimburse the cost of the laptop in case that it breaks - even if it breaks when you are at home; the extended use ages the components faster;
• as another colleague here suggested: "break it". Make a backup at home, and then clean reinstall the OS. Claim that you lost all the work done in the past XY days - since you last committed. The more, the better. You should do this unexpectedly. If you start other discussions first, and then you "break" the laptop, they will see it as a dis-honest game from your side.

All promises MUST be recorded in a WRITTEN form, possibly a supplement to the contract - for this, your local laws and regulations apply.

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If the software on the laptop is yours, you might actually be breaking the license agreement of those pieces of software, and since it is your property, it is your fault.

Answer 7

As a business owner, I prefer to supply my employees with everything they will need to be productive and reasonably happy.

If I had an employee who had your concerns, I would appreciate them having a simple conversation about their issues with me.

Have you tried having a one on one with your manager / boss?

Answer 8

More and more companies are practicing "Bring Your Own Device". If you are required to use your own device to do your job, you should ask for some assurance, in writing, that anything which happens at work to your device is covered.

The reasons for BYOD are varied -- a lot of developers prefer what they use at home to whatever their employer would purchase. If that's the case where you work, you may be stuck. But if they are just exploiting your "kindness", you need to put your foot down and ask for a work computer.

I'd start by asking the employer to buy you a device. It may not be as nice as your gaming laptop, but it would end this problem.

Answer 9

Hi Dave,

I no longer feel comfortable bringing my personal laptop to work, as that was not part of our original employment agreement. When can we meet to discuss options?

Best, Peter

At worst, that will provide written evidence that you were encouraged if not coerced to use your personal laptop for work. At best it will resolve your issue.

Personally, I'd avoid the insurance option, because there are plenty of unnecessary conflicts waiting for you:

• Screen breaks at home - who pays?
• You want to upgrade your personal laptop - do you need approval now?
• Hard disk dies of old age - who pays, and who's liable for lost data?
• Did you consider the programs and plugins you installed that offer a free license for personal use?
• Who's liable if your personal data gets lost due to a work accident?

These questions and others may have obvious answers. The problem is that your obvious answer may be different from the company's obvious answer.

Answer 10

1. Upload the files to a company server for backup.
2. Non-suspicious time later: Leave your laptop at home.
3. Claim it has been stolen.
4. Enjoy not having to work until they give you a computer.

Answer 11

Some years ago, in a Company I worked for, something quite similar happened: they had no money (so they claimed) and therefore said they could not pay for people on night required availability. Luckily, even in this difficult financial situation the company always found the resources to provide the executives with luxury corporate cars. Many people complained, but this money for people working at night could never be found. Until... these colleagues stopped working at night for free and started making excuses ("I was not informed"... "I never got the phone call"... and similar); they were calm, because they knew nobody could touch them since their night required availability was never been written in their work contract, otherwise they would have been payed according to law. At the beginning this caused some problems, but manageable. One night a big issue with one of the main customer came up and nobody took care of it until the day after, when also a request for compensation came from that customer (I do not remember the exact amount of money, but it was a lot). That very same day night required availability was added to the contract and the company started to pay...

What I would like to tell you is that your company is happy with things the way they are now. Is it fair?No, but (from their point of view) who cares. Step up for yourself or nobody will. Inform your local trade union and talk with them; getting a new pc requires just a few days, if they did not do it by now they never will. I would start giving them a 3 days notice, saying that after that the company has 3 options:

1. giving you a new pc (which you will set up during WORKING hours, not during your free time);
2. paying you 20$/€ a day for the use of your pc as compensation costs (so that it would not be taxed);
3. paying you every month for sitting at your desk waiting for tasks you can accomplish without a pc.

Answer 12

My immediate concern would not be "what happens if my laptop gets broken at work" (they ewxpect you to claim on your own insurance just as if you'd spilled beer on it at home) but "what happens if I get a virus on my laptop whilst using it for my personal use and bring that virus into work and infect evertyone else on the network".

As a consultant, I have several million pounds worth of personal liability (and other) insurance when I go on-site. A company like this, that is penny-pinching, will not be one I'd trust.

Leave your laptop at home ("hey boss, I could 'work from home' from now on") and inform your boss circumstances have changed and that it cannot be brought into work any more.

Answer 13

Is it reasonable to ask my employer for written confirmation that they'll pay for any damages to my personal laptop while using it for work?

Definetely yes.

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How should I go about asking? And what should I do if they say no?

I would reccomend to write a polite, but pretty clear email, where you are asking for a company insurance for your own laptop. If you won't get any confirmation, let's say for a week, you can write a second email, where you will give a deadline for confirmation. If your boss won't accept/answer for any reason, just write third email with notification, that your own laptop will not be used in work anymore.

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PS In the section above I have tried to answer your question. Now I want to give you some advices.

Never mix your work life with private life:

1. if your employer cannot supply you with stuff you need for work, consider to find another employer
2. once you bring your own stuff to work, it becomes a work stuff for your own money
3. if you want so hard to "help" the company, first clarify "the rules" and only after do something. But I would not do it anyway

Now you are in the situation, where your employer is not motivated at all to buy stuff for you, since you have it already. While you are using your laptop at work, you are consuming it's resources like battery life and etc. And nobody will pay you for this. This is not acceptable. Next time you will be more experienced and won't work on your private laptop.

You may say: if I would not bring my own laptop, I would be forced to work on corporate one, but a bad one. That's true, and your performance would decrease. And even your boss could ask you why your performance is not very high. But in this case only one thing you should say, is that you have bad laptop and you have asked for a better one. This would motivate your boss to buy a good laptop for you.

Answer 14

Is it reasonable to ask my employer for written confirmation that they'll pay for any damages to my personal laptop while using it for work?

Chances are this will not be possible. I know my employer has no provisions to insure personal items against damage, even if it's not forbidden to bring them to work.

The real solution is to stop using your personal laptop for work. No need to lie that it's broken or stolen. Inform them a couple of weeks in advance that you will stop using it at work and don't bring it to work anymore from then on. If you have to lie (some people simply cannot say "no" just like that), tell that a friend / relative needed to borrow it: you practically can't get caught lying in this case.

Also consider this: if a colleague tries to unplug your laptop's power cord and they get a shock while doing so, you may be fired for cause because you created an unsafe work environment resulting in an injury.

Answer 15

There are several corporate issues at play using own's computer, ranging from software licensing (OS, Office and productivity tools licensed for personal use, for instance) to software/security compliance, and not forgetting backups. In a big utility firm I worked in the past, the point of entry of a big malware attack were personal laptops infected at home.

Also if some accident happens at work, for instance, power problems frying your laptop, it will neither be paid, nor their insurance will cover it.

I would advise stop bringing it to work, and not opening that door in future jobs.

There is also another added factor, that is cost. I went that road in the past a couple of times, and got ruined batteries, had to replace chargers and a broken computer after roughly 2-2.5 years, which was then replaced by a company issued one, which obviously had to surrender when I left. For avoiding having such costs, the better option is not to bring personal equipment to work. And I am not mentioning loss/theft. It also opens the door for colleagues asking for it, which creates a dilemma between lending them a machine with my personal data or saying no. (eg a possible scenario: I am having a presentation tomorrow, and yours is the best suited laptop. I just need it a couple of hours.).

I would simply stop bringing it. There are a range of excuses, from "it is ruining my back carrying it everyday around" to "wifey needs it", or quite common "keyboard needs repairs, they will take at least 1 month".

TLDR Carrying around your personal computer involves added costs and complications. Make it the exception and not the rule using it at work. The work global blanket insurance policy is for their equipments, and even if they would pay it, it does not cover depreciation/wear and tear.