HR MATTERS E-TIPS
THIS WEEK’S E-TIP: Personal Property Brought to Work: What You Should Know
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ THIS WEEK’S E-TIP: Personal Property Brought to Work: What You Should Know Photos, artwork, and knickknacks can personalize an employee’s workspace. But, what happens when these items become distracting or even offensive? Find out what steps to take to ensure that your employee’s personal touches do not go overboard. |
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THIS WEEK’S E-TIP: Personal Property Brought to Work:
What You Should Know Most employers recognize that employees may want to bring personal property to work, such as audio players (radios, iPods), photographs, mementos, posters, or other decorations. Having personal items at work may make your employees feel more attached to or comfortable in their workplaces. However, they also can create a cluttered, unprofessional appearance, distract others from work, or lead to inappropriate horseplay. In addition, items of a political, religious, or sexually suggestive nature may be provocative, demeaning, or offensive to fellow employees or customers. Furthermore, items that may be acceptable for office workers, such as knickknacks and photographs, may be safety hazards in production areas. Below are four tips for creating guidelines to explain what personal items are appropriate in the workplace. Different Approaches for Different Work Environments You can take several different approaches to address this issue. Most employers allow employees to bring some personal items to decorate their workspace as long as they are not offensive or do not create clutter. Many also have different standards for private, public, and production areas. Some simply ban all unnecessary personal property in the workplace. Other employers do not have formal policies and determine appropriateness of specific items as needed. Whatever approach is used, you still should specifically prohibit any items that are sexually suggestive, offensive, or demeaning to protected individuals or groups. In addition, an increasing number of employers prohibit firearms and other weapons on their premises, particularly in states that allow citizens to carry concealed weapons. Finally, you should make sure that your employees understand that all personal property brought onto your premises may be inspected for purposes of enforcing the organization’s policies and to protect against theft (see below). Employees Should Be Responsible for Their Personal Belongings Unfortunately, if employees bring personal items to work, they risk losing the items, having them damaged, or even having them stolen. As a result, many employers disclaim or renounce any responsibility for lost, damaged, or stolen employee property. Some organizations, however, believe that they owe a further obligation to employees if personal belongings are damaged on the job through no fault of the employee. These often will reimburse employees as long as the damage can be verified. Employers reimbursing employees for these losses, however, sometimes restrict coverage to personal items that are specifically related to job performance. To discourage and reduce chances of theft by both employees and outsiders, you should encourage workers not to bring expensive jewelry or other valuable items to work. And, if they do, you should warn them not to leave such items unattended and in plain view. Many employers also provide lockers or other secure areas for storage of employee personal items and valuables. (If you provide lockers, though, you also should provide locks and remind your employees of any policies regarding searches of company property, discussed below.) |
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Storing and Securing Personal Property in the Workplace Lockers or storage areas for personal property usually are furnished both as a service to employees and as a means of avoiding a cluttered appearance in work areas. If these are provided, your policy should include rules governing their use by employees. For example, to lower employee expectations of privacy, you should provide written advance notice to employees that lockers, storage areas, desks, file cabinets, and workstations are business property that may be searched at any time. If you do not reserve this right, you may create a heightened expectation of privacy by employees that can greatly restrict your legal ability to perform any searches. In addition, you should prohibit the use of personal locks and instead should issue locks for which you have keys or combinations. Some courts have determined that employees who are allowed to use their own locks and who have exclusive access to desks or lockers have a greater expectation to privacy. Still, even when lockers are provided, many employer policies state that workers may bring personal property to work only at their own risk and that the organization will not be liable for lost, damaged, or stolen items. Four Policy Considerations Unless your employees do not have any space to call their own, they most likely will want to decorate their workspaces and bring in items from home. So, you need to be prepared to deal with questions and complaints about their choices. The best way to address these issues is to have a policy in place that addresses the following issues:
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Personnel Policy Manual and HR Policy Answers on CD can find a model policy addressing personal property in the workplace in Personal Property, Chapter 603. Not a subscriber? If you would like to order one of our policy chapters, go to: http://www.hrpolicyanswers.com. If you have any questions, please call us at 1-800-437-3735. We'll be happy to help you. |
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