Can I use a business computer for personal gain?
I have a regular day job that gave me a laptop computer to use when I work at home. Lately, I’ve been working on a contract basis as a freelance writer for a couple different places.
Is it okay for me to use the business computer for my side work?
- The "official" company policy just says to use common sense, so it’s pretty vague
- I am doing all the side work on my own time
- I am not using any "consumable" items like paper, toner, etc. Just the computer, logged into my own home network, along with MS Word/Excel, Firefox, etc.
I would feel odd if I was just checking the news or email, but I’m using the computer for personal profit.
Is this appropriate? Am I over thinking?
Company policies vary depending on who is interpreting vague rules so play it safe.
Ask the company you work for clarification of their off hours policy.
If possible, get an OK in writing that grants approval for your specific intended use.
Don
Yes, it would be inappropriate. Your company owns that laptop and using it for personal reasons was not the intentions of the company. They paid for the rights to the software, etc. it is still there laptop. If you get fired/quit it is their property, not yours.
I would say that as long as you’re not doing anything that is in competition with or taking business from your work, don’t worry about it. If, say, you worked for a CPA and were doing bookkeeping or tax work with the company computer, that’s not good. But if, working for a CPA, you were writing articles on gardening for a garden supply, there’s no real issue. While using "common sense" sounds pretty vague, if you think about what you’re doing you should be able to figure it out.
Where I work we can get on the computers and do what we want as long as we are not clocked in for work.