Last month, Dick Kusleika, at Daily Dose of Excel, said, “Get the same laptop at work that you have at home. I liked my D810 so much that when I started a new job I got a virtually identical machine. Now that my personal D810 is at Dell getting fixed, I can use my work laptop by just swapping hard drives.”
They’re using a similar idea at Citrix, where employees can buy their own laptop and maintenance plan, then use it at work, as well as home. The company provides $2100 for the purchase, but if employees leave within three years they’ll have to repay some of the money. Maintenance will be the employee’s responsibility.
What’s the advantage?
Why would you want to buy your own computer and use it at work?
I guess it’s a nice perk if you can’t afford your own computer at home, since you’d own this one after three years. Maybe the policies on what you can install are less strict than usual IT policies, so you can have games or other personal favourites on the machine.
What happens when it’s broken though? Do you use a sick day to take it to the repair shop?
Given the option, I’d leave the laptop in the company’s hands, assuming I could take it home when necessary. Life’s complicated enough, without having to be my own IT department.