Pornography
amercy
35 Posts
Hello!
The recruiter for our company was told by a IT person that the COO brought his laptop in the first day of work and asked him to fix it because this would be the laptop he would be using because he was more comfortable with it. He also told her that there was lots of porn on his laptop. The IT person and the recruiter are very close friends and so, the recruiter thought it was funny and told the Dir of HR and me as a ha,ha.
Well, now the Dir of HR wants to do an investigation and report her new boss...I told her I disagreed because he wasn't viewing at porn in the office - this porn was in his computer before he started at the company.
She said the minute he brought it in to the company it became a violation.
I don't care what she does however; I can't get over the fact that it wasn't done or viewed during business hours.
Can anyone set me straight? tell me the facts.
The recruiter for our company was told by a IT person that the COO brought his laptop in the first day of work and asked him to fix it because this would be the laptop he would be using because he was more comfortable with it. He also told her that there was lots of porn on his laptop. The IT person and the recruiter are very close friends and so, the recruiter thought it was funny and told the Dir of HR and me as a ha,ha.
Well, now the Dir of HR wants to do an investigation and report her new boss...I told her I disagreed because he wasn't viewing at porn in the office - this porn was in his computer before he started at the company.
She said the minute he brought it in to the company it became a violation.
I don't care what she does however; I can't get over the fact that it wasn't done or viewed during business hours.
Can anyone set me straight? tell me the facts.
Comments
Linda
Two things strike me as a real life concern:
1) A business person who has a laptop computer that is broken and asked or directed the IT guy to fix it on company time and with company resources! "CHEAP CHARLIE COO.
2) An adult that finds it necessary to down load porn or even view porn for whatever reason on his personal laptop is a SEX Starved nut and the Board of Directors should look at this character flaw and decide whether they made the right choice or NOT. Sure I know all about freedom and apple pie and motherhood, and America, but after passing 35 there are much better things to do for self-gratification by viewing PORN on a laptop computer. It is a violation of company policy and and he must be made aware of it and should he bring the personal laptop in for repairs, he will be billed for any service work on company time.
PORK
When you say he has porn on his laptop do you mean he has downloaded and stored photos on his computer? Or do you mean that his internet log will show that he has visited porn websites in the past?
I think the distinction is important. If he has stored porn on his laptop that an IT person would likely encounter while working on his computer, I would say that this COO has made a serious lapse in judgement.
I would compare it to intentionally leaving pornographic magazines in your office so that a female co-worker would likely see them.
>such a short timer he could sit on the edge of a
>dime and dangle his legs.
That's a great line, Larry. I'm gonna steal it.
He brought in his own personal computer & wants the IT person to fix it. It sounds as though he intends to use this computer for work, so here lies a problem. Anytime his computer crashes in the future & needs IT time, the IT folks get exposed to porn on company time.
Another issue is this, how much respect will others have of the COO knowing that he unabashedly views porn. What happens in private, should stay private - but he has now exposed his private life to the work place.
Finally, I'm concerned that the COO does not seem to be embarrased on even cautious about his behavior. It seems completely out of line to ask someone at work, demand it really because of his position, to fix his personal computer for him on company time.
No, I think your HR person is right. It may be his personal computer, but he is using company resources and exposing the company to potential liability (sexual harrassment - who's to say that the IT people will always be so willing to turning a blind eye to porn if they continue to work on his personal computer) so it should be stopped right now. Give him a new laptop and ask him to adjust to the new one & remind him of company policy regarding proper usage of company resources (i.e. no porn on the computer).
Fortunately for me, I've got a pretty thick skin when it comes to visually verifying policy violation. I can't imagine a situation where I'd feel compelled to file a harassment suit dealing with finding porn on a work computer unless the offender didn't pay heed to my first warning and continued to mess up. Of course, I'd be more offended about having to repeatedly fix the computer than looking at nudity!
No, before IT, I was in insurance policy administration. Then I got a job as secretary here, and our sole HR person was my supervisor. She retired and they "offered" me the job (they were eliminating my IT position) of coordinating benefits - NOT HR. But as is the nature in governmental settings, I got to keep the IT hat when I added all the current ones like work comp manager, health/dental/retirement administrator, payroll manager, personnel administrator, etc. (with no raise, I might add).
And seriously, I don't like People; I'm a Person person. But I keep hearing that this attitude is what makes me fit into HR - I guess it comes down to impartiality based on apathy.
Okay, okay, folks - don't start hollering that I'm the type that gives HR a bad name. If I was really apathetic, would I be visiting this excellent Forum for real-world education?
Some aspects of HR do require if not demand impartiality. I have never thought of this until your post but I think you're right. For some parts of the HR spectrum (administration, payroll, benefits) it is indeed an advantage to be able to assess situations with a clarity that is not influenced by emotion or favoritism.
Treating everyone in the same professional, competent manner is actually a way to show you care about them or at least make it look like you do.
Sounds like this individual is pretty comfortable with having it on their PC which makes you think about how long this has been going on. Not impossible but it's hard to get people to change and would bet that he has been doing this for awhile and would love to know if his former employer(s) were aware of this proclivity.
You have to live in a cave or in a marshmallow world of "that happens to other people but doesn't apply to me" to not know that this is wrong especially when you are the new person at a company. The press that has been out on this topic never shows that evidence of this behavior has a postive effect on the co's reputation or the individual's.
If it was our co. in this situation, I would bring it to the attention of our CEO. Allowing this to continue gives the perception that this is somehow tolerated which is compounded since it's coming from someone pretty high up in the organization who should be setting a good example.