Fixing Staff personal equipment

[newmoon1981]

Hi all,

 

I'm hoping that someone can help unpick this.

I work in a team of 3 it staff, with 2 contractors.

 

The school I work for has a BYOD policy but it doesn't mention receiving IT technical support.

 

We get staff occasionally bringing their laptops in the hope that we will fix their kit.. Sometimes they are generous (!) and give us until the end of the day to fix their personal equipment (!)

 

Most time we try to be helpful but the work load is such that we constantly have to say no, instead making helpful suggestions.

One of these teachers seems to take "No" rather badly and, apart from the state of people's mice and keyboards (yuck), I'm also weary of potentially having unrestricted access to their personal data.

I have tried explaining this and highlighted that kit owned by the school takes priority, but it doesn't sink in, and neither is the suggestion that no one will work on this after hours - much less for free-.

 

My questions are these - I hope you guys and gals can help-:

 

How does your department handle these type of scenarios?

Is your school running a cloud /mobile network?

Does your BYOD policy mention anything about repairs to their equipment?

 

How can I gently but unequivocally let them see they will not be prioritised?

 

Most teachers drive to work: does that mean that the school should have an onsite mechanic or pay for their mechanic?

 

I would welcome some advice on this.. I'mstarting to get the feeling that I will meet a brick wall where management are concerned..

 

Tx

[Edu-IT]

Just say no. Your employer isn’t paying you to fix personal equipment during your working day and it won’t be in your contract to do so I suspect so you are within your rights to refuse. In my opinion.

[elsiegee40]

We have it written in our AUP that we will not fix,or supply consumables for, personal devices Edited January 26, 2019 by elsiegee40

[DrBeaker]

What about "unauthorised access to data" - i.e. why do you want to see or have access to any of their personal data on their device? What about liability for repairs - There's a difference between a competent tech and a "certified" tech when it comes to repairing things. What about insurance for repairs etc?

 

Whole bulk deal on cans of worms there my friend. Short answer is No. Ultimately no - I'm paid to look over work equipment not your own, if they want to pay my personal rates I charge after work hours that's a different story and it's not cheap.

[6Foot2]

I have been accused of causing additional problems after fixing a reported issue on a staff-owned phone (I didn't)

 

So that's nice: Get asked to help with a problem, help with that problem and then get accused of causing a completely unrelated issue.

 

#DontFixStaffOwnedKit!

[Katy]

We don't do it, if someone has a problem with that they get sent off to SLT where they are told "no, and learn to be polite to people".

 

The most we do is guide them through installing Office or ActivInspire, with them stood there doing most of the work on their laptop and us just saying "click next, next, next, finish".

 

They want you to fix their laptop in your own time for free? How about they teach your kids in their own time for free? Bet they turn that offer down!

[fredbayker]

Give them an inch and they will take a mile...

Bottom line is this: be it commercial or education or a charity - in the end they’re all businesses in one way or another, some make profit others don’t. You are employed by these organisations to oversee and administer their IT services. They need to specify what you should spend your time doing as they are paying for your time and expertise/knowledge.

If they would rather you spent time neglecting the infrastructure and school owned kit and prioritised personal devices, that’s up to them. So put the ball in their court, your time is their money.

[fredbayker]

My personal opinion is that I won’t touch personal devices unless sanctioned by the school and I don’t offer warranties or work outside of my contracted hours unless it benefits me. No room for sentiment with me - it’s all strictly business. The reason being is I can see all the money they squander on b*****t stuff and how school resources are abused. If they want me to work out of hours, they have to pay for it. Edited January 26, 2019 by fredbayker

[newmoon1981]

Wow.. DaveP, I hope they were embarrassed when you were able to prove it wasn't your fault.. But better, I hope they never again dared to ask for free help with private equipment after that.. Edited January 26, 2019 by newmoon1981

[6Foot2]

Wow.. DaveP, I hope they were embarrassed when you were able to prove it wasn't your fault.. But better, I hope they never again dared to ask for free help with private equipment after that..

Not a chance of that. I have resolved not to allow myself to fall into that position in the future. This is how good will is lost.

 

[3s-gtech]

You’re not in a position to fix their kit. I’ve done it as a favour during a lunchtime, but that’s my own unpaid time and more fool me. You won’t have public liability for doing this work, you can’t use work time for it; the answer must be unequivocally ‘no’. The teacher who takes that badly can suck it up - that’s the situation.

[DrBeaker]

You’re not in a position to fix their kit. I’ve done it as a favour during a lunchtime, but that’s my own unpaid time and more fool me. You won’t have public liability for doing this work, you can’t use work time for it; the answer must be unequivocally ‘no’. The teacher who takes that badly can suck it up - that’s the situation.

 

If they have a sulk because they didn't get their way, run off and tell SLT - that tells me all I need to know about their teaching and adulting skills and I would deal with them accordingly after that.

[Ditto]

As Zammo would say, "Just say No". I know a case where a teacher asked an IT contractor to fix their laptop. He couldn't get it back to life so completed a complete fresh install of the OS! This came to light because I discovered a huge spike in uploads to GDrive, which turned out to be all the teachers personal photos. Undstandably she was livid as the contractor had not checked with her first! She was adamant that it's a good job she did upload the files, in spite of me pointing out the using GDrive for personal use is against the AUP and probably against Google's T&C's too. How do we overcome teaching professionals complete disregard for such things?!

[mukz]

I make them sign a form absolving me of any responsibility should anything happen to their personal equipment. If they don’t want to sign the form - they can go elsewhere

[Simcfc73]

I always try and help, our staff are nice so I'm happy to. It doesn't usually take long to fix most of their stuff and people know what I like to drink so the rewards are worth it.

 

I've got one now where they've bought a etching pad that wont work on the laptop, had it for over a week as they realise I'll sort it when I have time... stupid framework 4.5 wont install but its Windows 8.. urrggghh/

[6Foot2]

...stupid framework 4.5 wont install...

Does it HAVE to be 4.5? Step up or down versions?

 

Also, Patch My PC will do multiple updates for you:

 

Link: Patch My PC Updater

 

 

[3s-gtech]

8 will patch to 8.1, and that’s still in extended support (and isn’t a bad OS at all). That’ll support .NET 4.7.2.

[SpuffMonkey]

Hi all,

 

 

Most teachers drive to work: does that mean that the school should have an onsite mechanic or pay for their mechanic?

 

I would welcome some advice on this.. I'mstarting to get the feeling that I will meet a brick wall where management are concerned..

 

Tx

 

I did have a Helpdesk ticket to change somebody's car tyre once! I gracefully declined...well not very gracefully tbh

[DanTheLacky]

If the staff are alright, the job will take me less than 5 minutes I will look on my lunch break if it's something that can't come back on me.

Other than that it's pay me for my personal time and I don't take any responsibility for it. That being said I'm sure if anything went wrong with what ever device it was they wouldn't be happy with "I said I take no responsibility".

I once changed an iPhone screen and after I had replaced it the phone required a factory reset. Fortunately I made the member of staff do an iCloud back up which they got a bit funny about, didn't seem like such a bad idea to them afterwards.

[AlanD]

I/We do fix stuff. BUT....I keep telling myself we shouldn't do it. One day, I'm going to get the blame for accidentally breaking something in the process of fixing it....or its owner believing that I broke it even if I never got to touch it.

 

So I do start with a long disclaimer (perhaps I should get one written down and get them to sign it) before agreeing to "take a look" (which they understand to mean that I will fix it, even if it takes 8 hours of work).

 

I do it partly because - they get ripped off when they take it to a high street shop. That irritates me so much, that I take pity on them.

[Wubbalubbadub]

If the techs want to fix someones personal device i say they can, but i give them a firm disclaimer that it must be done in a lunch break / in own time. And they are responsible for any reprocussions of the "fix"

[mikeprice]

There could be a minor thing here if staff are using their home computer for work stuff

 

Clearly if the school supplies a machine for work then they decide to use their own that is their problem - however if the school do not supply a machine for them to use at home (applied to TAs at my last school) then they have to use their own machine - so there is a (weak) argument that the IT Tech fixing it could be justifies

 

Potential minefield obviously if it gets worse

 

and - of course- it is not normally going wrong due to work activities - shopping sites and 'other activities' are far more likely sources of dodgy extensions malware etc etc etc

 

and there is a 'slight' possibility that a child/spouse/random visiter has been using it - but this applies to a lot of school machine 'used for work at home' as well

[6Foot2]

...and there is a 'slight' possibility that a child/spouse/random visiter has been using it...

Pet cat peed on it. This wasn't staff's own kit, it was school issued. It was brought in with the expectation that it would be fixed by the end of the day.

 

#TrueStory.

[mikeprice]

The 'expectation' is the bad bit

 

it is kinda like 'I'm entitled' - close to 'Do You Know WHo I AM' (as it I'm a teacher - and very important)

 

some people don't get the concept of priorities and urgencies

[chris11256]

We look a personal devices on a best endeavour basis. Anything that involves a fresh OS reinstall or a hardware fault is a big no no for us.