Here’s Why You Need a Computer Usage Policy at Work

computer use policy work

Company computers are definitely not toys, and they shouldn’t be treated as such. Of course, most people know how to safely transport and take care of their computers from external damages.

But, too many computer users are careless about what they look for and open online. You can’t afford to have employees behave this way on work computers, which is why you need a computer usage policy for your whole team.

Read on for 3 things an employee equipment agreement can do for you.

1. Keep Private Information Secure

The last thing you want is to work so hard on a new project or idea just to have it stolen from you, right? Well, if a hacker gets into your internal information, your game-changing research and innovations can be gone in a flash. Or, they could grab things like personal employee details and private shareholder information.

All of these things are items you need to protect as carefully as possible. Once they get out, there’s no telling the kind of repercussions that could happen.

Lost product information could mean you’ve just invested a lot of time and money into an idea for nothing. Access to personal information of people involved with your company could lead to stolen personal funds and identity theft.

2. Prevent the Attack of Viruses and Spam

Hackers aren’t the only computer danger out there. If employees are opening every personal email they get at while they’re at work, they could release a virus on the whole company’s system. All it takes is a little bit of spam to shut everything down.

This can affect work that people were in the middle of doing and cause them to lose whatever hadn’t been saved. It can also shut down some computers entirely and affect the productivity of employees until a solution is figured out.

You may need to take a handful of company computers to get PC or Macbook repair, (you can google that for your local options) which is an extra expense and time investment that you don’t need to worry about.

*Tip: Before calling a store or showing up at a location with your Macbook, check their online reviews! 

3. Uphold Company Integrity

The final reason to create a computer usage policy is to protect the information of your clients. It doesn’t matter if you’re a small e-commerce company or a consultant firm for multi-million corporations, users trust you when they use your website.

When your company information is breached, their trust is compromised. A hacker can easily access user information once they enter your system. From there, the consequences are out of your hands – and the business of the clients affected is likely to be gone, too.

This is a serious matter. Many well-known, loved companies have taken a lot of heat form credit card breaches and internal computer hacks. These are hard to bounce back from, and some companies never fully recover at all.

Create the Safest Computer Usage Policy Possible

It’s one thing to read about the purpose of a computer usage policy and another to create something that keeps everyone (and their information) secure. As much as it’s useful to have technology in the workplace, it needs to be managed carefully.

Click here to learn about the dangers of computer spam and how you can prevent them from affecting your business.