:The Know-It-All Blog

A survey has showed that using the company provided laptop for personal use is considered by most Brits as part of their perks, just like the use of office stationary.

The survey was commissioned by Vodafone, the UK based mobile giant, and conducted by Opinion Matters. Interestingly, it was revealed that most people use the office laptop for browsing the web. It was found that this was usually done through a personal mobile broadband connection.

Not surprisingly, the survey also reveals that almost 65 percent of the managers thought it was acceptable for the employees to be using the company laptop at home. However, the opinion of the other 35 percent on the issue is not expressed clearly and it not known whether they consider this to be a serious violation and are ready to take steps against it. If you use your company’s laptop on the journey home to catch up with your mates by email, to avoid any such problematic situations with your boss, it might be worth considering some of the free laptop deals. Those with a wireless dongle offer can certainly be useful for the train journey.

Meanwhile, security experts have cautioned companies that use of personal broadband connections can be a serious threat to sensitive company data. They have suggested that companies make sure that their security software is up to date to avoid any leaks.

Vodafone, however, has urged managers not to be very strict with those who use laptops for personal use. The Head of business services for Vodafone, Mike Banwell has said that companies should avoid creating restrictive policies that encourage employees to evade them.