Fixing Staff personal equipment

[DrBeaker]

... - 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

 

 

Surely that would apply to IT Techs who have to use their own kit as the school doesn't supply a laptop, phone, tablet etc?

 

These days it should really be as simple as a work device for work and personal for personal. E.g. I can't go to work and start using the work phone (work resources) to call my friends to have a catch-up about their weekend. So why should I be expected to use my personal resources for work purposes? Sometimes it's a bit of give and take but I've found it's mostly take. I know somewhere that brought mobiles for SLT etc but wouldn't buy them for the IT team.

Edited January 27, 2019 by DrBeaker

[Tefters]

Your not PC world, if it’s not a school owned device don’t do it.

 

If their asking can you look at it in your own personal time for a reasonable fee/timeframe then that’s different and a decision to you.

 

BYOD does not encompass fixing people’s own kit, it’s that simple.

 

I don’t care if it’s SLT asking, if it’s not school owned equipment then it’s my decision whether I want to fix it and for how much!

Edited January 28, 2019 by Tefters

[LTurner3692]

I've done it a few times, was always out of hours, always on the basis of if i think ill make it worse or not comfy with how to fix it then i wont! everyone seemed happy enough, must were happy just to have someone take a look!

[ataylor]

I don't mind taking a look at kit during my lunch (Which I tend to work through) most issues are solved relatively quickly, if anything like their OS is messed up, i'll wipe it if they provide installation media - i'll often point them in the direction of an SSD if doing this too.

 

Our staff are very understanding and never approach us with the "its your job to fix this" attitude - We often get rewarded with beverages.

It is always made clear that there is a risk to their kit and they are not covered if anything goes wrong.

[Sonic007]

This is why we havea policy for not bringing in your own equipment.

You would be supporting every product by every manufacturer under the sun otherwise. Make your job easier, not harder.

 

If it is the end of term and I have a little spare time (rarely happens) I will take a look on the odd occasion to help someone out.

But the problem you get is it is often more complex and they expect you to repair it for free. (Same issue with family, friends, etc) and I dont have time.

 

One teacher actually had the balls to say I could take her computer home and fix it there instead.

 

I have a life too.

[Cthulhu]

If the issue is with work related software, such as our VPN client or connecting to our Wifi, then I'll have a look at it. I'll also go as far as recover work related documents if the system will not boot (Even if our policies state they shouldn't be storing work on personal devices).

 

If they have problem with me saying no to anything else, I just pass them over to my manager.

[browolf]

We have both angles covered.

 

One of our guys fixes laptops/etc but he'll take them home and charge them. The other guy sells them refurb laptops (he knows a guy who supplies places like ict direct)

[MkII]

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.

I think you hit the nail on the head with public liability cover. During business hours that completely rules out non officially sanctioned work.

[PotNoodleTech]

In my experience, don't go down the road of "trying" as you'll only end up with "you fixed daves laptop last month and now you're saying no to me???"

 

Just say no to everyone. They can go to PC world if they want. Do you fix their cars for them? What about their central heating? No?

[jthompson]

In terms of staff expecatation, that may depend on what the 'B' in BYOD stands for.

 

If it's 'Bring', then you're not even close to being required to fix it.

 

If it's 'Buy' (as in, the school provides the staff with funds to go off and purchase something of their choice to work on, rather than the school buying and deploying it), then there ought to be something in the paperwork for that that states what your support responsibilities are (i.e. nothing in terms of hardware repairs). That support will be whatever is attached to the original purchase made by them (i.e. whatever warranty it has).

[Bionic]

I am guilty of fixing (or attempting to fix) staff personal laptops in the past; I don't do it anymore. Offerings of incentives "dried-up" after a while (a packet of biscuits would have been plenty, I'm not greedy). It got to the point where it became more than me doing them a favour, it became almost an expectation that I will fix anything for anybody - not any more. I don't like saying no to people, but when people start taking the biscuits (literally), they can go elsewhere!

[DGardiner]

I am guilty of fixing (or attempting to fix) staff personal laptops in the past; I don't do it anymore. Offerings of incentives "dried-up" after a while (a packet of biscuits would have been plenty, I'm not greedy). It got to the point where it became more than me doing them a favour, it became almost an expectation that I will fix anything for anybody - not any more. I don't like saying no to people, but when people start taking the biscuits (literally), they can go elsewhere!

 

yeah ive stopped it too, really busy period was sat having a chat with someone at work and someone who wanted a laptop fixed(id previously said i havent got time atm) came in and said "youre just sat doing nothing you could be fixing my laptop now" so i just said its personal equipment, take it to and havent touched one since.

[HarryMonkey]

Nope, not for me. I won't do it on work's time ... that's not what I'm paid for. Having spent all day at work looking at equipment, the last thing I want to be doing when I get home is looking at more.

[Sonic007]

I am guilty of fixing (or attempting to fix) staff personal laptops in the past; I don't do it anymore. Offerings of incentives "dried-up" after a while (a packet of biscuits would have been plenty, I'm not greedy). It got to the point where it became more than me doing them a favour, it became almost an expectation that I will fix anything for anybody - not any more. I don't like saying no to people, but when people start taking the biscuits (literally), they can go elsewhere!

A packet of biscuits would be thrown right back at you if you got me those.

Spending my evening sorting out your virus'd up Laptop and recovering all your files is not worth a packet of bicuits.

If I decide and it is a big IF, then it will be £25 per hour, Thankyou.

[Chockster]

I learned a difficult lesson about this a few years back. A teacher had all their personal photos on an 8 year old hard disk, which started failing. I recovered 3000 or so out of 9000, but that wasn't good enough. "Why can't you get the rest?" he asked. "Because it's f***ed", I replied.

 

This wasn't the reason we fell out though. He stopped talking to me when I refused to install an OS on the same machine on the same hard disk.

 

Never done personal stuff since.

[DrBeaker]

I learned a difficult lesson about this a few years back. A teacher had all their personal photos on an 8 year old hard disk, which started failing. I recovered 3000 or so out of 9000, but that wasn't good enough. "Why can't you get the rest?" he asked. "Because it's f***ed", I replied.

 

This wasn't the reason we fell out though. He stopped talking to me when I refused to install an OS on the same machine on the same hard disk.

 

Never done personal stuff since.

 

I had someone the once come to me to support their personal Macbook. After some "discussions" I advised them if they could afford a device like this, they could damm well afford a £40 HDD to back it up. Never saw them again after that.

 

If they don't respect you during the day job, how are they going to respect you when you're doing it as a favour?

[Griff]

I think it depends on your relationship with the staff....I understand why some people are so against it I was at my last place but we are pretty tight knit bunch here so I am happy to help with their devices in return for beer or snacks. They know if I am too busy I will simply say no or suggest someone local who can look at it. I also won't touch any major works so complete rebuilds or data recovery I just don't have time for it apart from screen replacements which I charge for.

[atcoates]

I think it depends on your relationship with the staff....I understand why some people are so against it I was at my last place but we are pretty tight knit bunch here so I am happy to help with their devices in return for beer or snacks. They know if I am too busy I will simply say no or suggest someone local who can look at it. I also won't touch any major works so complete rebuilds or data recovery I just don't have time for it apart from screen replacements which I charge for.

Yep the school's I work at are all really friendly and I'm happy to advise staff, fix laptops etc etc.

[DrBeaker]

I think it depends on your relationship with the staff....I understand why some people are so against it I was at my last place but we are pretty tight knit bunch here so I am happy to help with their devices in return for beer or snacks. They know if I am too busy I will simply say no or suggest someone local who can look at it. I also won't touch any major works so complete rebuilds or data recovery I just don't have time for it apart from screen replacements which I charge for.

 

Agreed. But when I'd spent hours reinstalling, recovering data etc to be given a 4-pack of Fosters as payment? Worth about £3.79 at the time. It was a insult to me and my skills.

[Griff]

Agreed. But when I'd spent hours reinstalling, recovering data etc to be given a 4-pack of Fosters as payment? Worth about £3.79 at the time. It was a insult to me and my skills.

 

Yep thats why I won't touch a reinstall/data recover any more as they have no concept of the time needed for those tasks or they don't care.. I once got a pack of custard creams for something similar and I know for a fact they had taken them out of a store cupboard lol.

[newmoon1981]

@Simcfc73 I think your stance is admirable

but I view my "accepting wine or chocolates as thanks" as a form of payment which would tie me into some sort of "you-touched-it and-it-now-doesn't-work type-contract"

 

It happened to me in the past so I never accept.. If I want a mars bar or vino I can always pop to sainsburys..

[jthompson]

I like to avail myself of the diverse skills that one tends to find in a secondary school. It's a perk of the job. I'm forever taking legal advice from the Law department, bringing in clothes for the Textiles staff to repair or adjust for me, having DT undent my car and asking the site agents if I can order a new fridge 'through the school' because presumably that'd be cheaper for me.

 

\s

[newmoon1981]

@Cthulhu I tend to help more easily if is this kind of request too, however I did have a teacher come back telling me that since they started work here - which is when I helped with wifi- they now keep getting an error message and it mentions their old school, so how did I know her previous school and I should remove the error..

 

She did flush when I told her that it was probably because her previous employer had removed her cloud access.. Which is why "other school" onedrive kept giving her authentication errors..

[newmoon1981]

In my experience, don't go down the road of "trying" as you'll only end up with "you fixed daves laptop last month and now you're saying no to me???"

 

Just say no to everyone. They can go to PC world if they want. Do you fix their cars for them? What about their central heating? No?

 

 

Very true.. If we give one teacher a wireless mouse and keyboard combo, then the rest of their department screams favoritism.. It just doesn't end..

 

It's like they want to evaporate any good will you have for them and their vocation..!

[Bionic]

Very true.. If we give one teacher a wireless mouse and keyboard combo, then the rest of their department screams favoritism

 

it's not just this school then!!

 

We purchased a second monitor for a few members of staff - mainly those who deal with budgets and timetables (sprawling spreadsheets). All of a sudden every teacher "needed" a second screen immediately to help them teach!! And so ensued a rush to spend thousands of pounds on monitors/splitters/cables, money that could (and probably should) have been better spent elsewhere.