Comments on: Workers Paying for their own Laptops, Gadgets

By: Steve Laser

Steve Laser — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 03:46:23 +0000

Great point srctec. I love knowing my gadget is mine to do anything I want with.

By: srvctec

srvctec — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 02:17:31 +0000

The powers that be where I work (for nearly 20 years now) won’t buy us any gadgets or laptops except for the company cell phone to be used for business phone calls. In fact the original reason and 90% of why I got my x51v was for work. Of course after getting it a year and a half ago, I realized how much I could utilize it for personal use and am glad it’s mine and not the company’s. Now i can’t imagine managing my life without it.

When I told the head honcho that I got my PDA to use mostly at work to improve my productivity and that I paid around $700 for it with all it’s accessories, he just said “That’s good.”

By: Zealot

Zealot — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 21:02:05 +0000

For me it is half and half…the company bought my laptop and therefore are free to manage it’s configuration and security. It does after all belong to them and is counted as an asset at tax time. They also pay a certain amount of my cell phone bill.

Other things, I pay for. Such as my Eee, such as any number of PDAs. Some things I buy, like external hard drives or flashdrives, I pick up the tab for simply because I don’t want to have to go through the whole purchasing dance over a relatively minor amount.

I think businesses are beginning to see the value of mobile tools in certain departments, but how much budget they are willing to put behind that value depends on the economy, and the companies bottom line.

By: "John Doe"

"John Doe" — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:58:19 +0000

My company in particular matches up quite well with the “penny-wise / pound-foolish” saying, unfortunately.