What happens when you walk into work one day and you’re told “thanks for all your hard work, but we have to let you go.” You might be given time to pack up your possessions, but what about all the things you have on your computer that the company owns?
In a Wall Street Journal article entitled “Wiped Out: Along with Jobs, Laid-Off Lose Photos, Emails,” Joseph DeAvila addresses this issue:
Michele Wallace had worked for Medialink Worldwide Inc. for 18 years when the New York video-distribution company laid her off last May. When the company’s information-technology staff quickly shut down her computer and her BlackBerry, the senior vice president of client services lost family photos and every personal and business contact on her cellphone and computer.
“I couldn’t even call my sister because I don’t know her number off the top of my head,” says Ms. Wallace, now a 47-year-old managing director at Mega Media Worldwide and living in Asbury Park, N.J. “I know you shouldn’t even have that stuff on the computer,” she says. But in the course of working 10- to 12-hour days for several years, “you don’t pay as much attention as to how much is personal on your computer.”
We normally don’t cover articles about being laid off on this blog, but we covering this one, because it involves work practices that can be followed when someone is employed that will help avoid the scenario described above.
This article can be found here and it is well worth a few minutes of your time to read.