RE: Should I furnish computer?

[KMcLauchlan -at- chrysalis-its -dot- com]

David B. Stewart [mailto:dbstewart -at- dswrite -dot- com] said:

>>Why shouldn't a tech writer get a computer with the necessary software
>loaded?<
>
>The situation is not limited to tech writers.  Such items are 
>limited by
>budget and many departments fail to plan for telecommuter 
>expenses.  Some
>companies actually restrict remote/home PCs claiming data 
>security reasons
>of all data being company property and should not leave 
>company premises.

Which last, of course, is nonsense. (Not that you are 
saying it David, but that a company might.)  If I 
have a laptop, (and I do... poor, elderly thing 
that it is...) the company data -- that I handle, 
anyway -- is already moving on and off company 
company premises on a daily basis. I do some of 
my preliminary work from specs, so copies of those 
documents travel with me -- either on my laptop, 
or as paper copy. My backpack or briefcase surely 
ain't company premises.

When I, as a writer, send my material to a contract 
editor, or to a translation firm, that's company data 
leaving the premises AND living on a non-company PC.  
Editing or translation might occur some time before 
product release, and the company might fear having 
the product particulars leaked to competitors.

The fear might be valid, but the response is not.

What needs to happen is that the company and I 
(or you, or...) must come to an agreement about 
how data is to be safeguarded, including that 
work be backed up and that company property be 
kept out of the hands of unauthorized persons.
There's certainly plenty of precedent between 
companies and other companies, in the form of 
NDAs and other standard agreements.  As a matter 
of fact, an NDA was part of my employment 
agreement.

There's really no good reason why employees 
should be treated as less trustworthy than 
independent contractors, suppliers, partner 
companies, etc. What's usually going on is 
that the company has successfully evaded the 
issue in the past, has therefore not created 
policies and procedures to handle out-of-office 
operations as smoothly/securely as in-office 
operations... so this gives them a reason not 
to try.  Which came first -- chicken or egg?

Where the law doesn't compel them, there's 
really nothing to cause the employer to eschew 
arbitrariness... except good sense.  For those 
who are having trouble in this area, I suggest 
that this is an education issue (educating your 
companies) and an issue of simple inertia.

To help in both those areas, I suggest that 
plenty of examples of how it can work smoothly 
and cheaply might provide amunition.

Go get 'em!  :-)

/kevin

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