Free PC Usage Policy
Every business, school, club or committee needs to roll out a PC Usage Policy to try to manage their network and PCs.
I am not a solicitor, but without a PC usage policy, there is very little to stop your employees carrying out all kinds of bad practices and you can do very little. As an employer, manager or chairman, it is also fairer to educate people so that they know exactly what is and is not acceptable.
The attached document has information relating to the storage of personal data, client records, and so on. Some of this may not relevant, please delete/edit it to make it match what you need. I strongly recommend that you make the PC Usage Policy part of the induction process and get the front sheet signed. I would also recommend taking existing employees through the form, and collecting the signed document.
Please click below for the Word or PDF edition of policy.
Free PC Usage Policy - Word
Free PC Usgae Policy - PDF
A PC policy could have helped the companies below.
Norwich Union 1999 - Perhaps the most serious libel case of recent times was against Norwich Union. An employee circulated a series of internal emails claiming one of Norwich Union's competitors (Western Provident) was being investigated by the Department of Trade and Industry. These emails found their way to Norwich Union's competitor who promptly started legal action. The result was that Norwich Union paid £450,000 in compensation.
Chevron USA Inc. - Last year the oil company paid $2.2 million to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit over its email content. The allegations were made by a group of women employees who alleged a Chevron subsidiary allowed its internal email system to be used to transmit sexually offensive messages.
A dismissed employee of the IT department encrypted the entire database of his ex-company. He demanded £1 000 000 in ransom. The company was preparing to call his bluff, when it found out that not only had he actually succeeded, but it would cost at least £5 000 000 in computer and employee time to undo the damage. The compromise was that the company gave him a generous consultancy "fee" to sort out the problem and agreed that no crime had taken place.