Losing company property

[belinda]

Can anyone give me any guidance or examples on policies and forms.

We currently provide our Technicians with iphones and they are continually losing them. We would like to be in a position where we can request compensation from the employees for the loss. Example: we had an employee lose 3 iphones over 3 months.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Belinda

[Qld IR Consultant]

If you have a current policy that would be appropriate to insert a clause in to then go for it. Advise the staff the change has been made and the consequences if one is lost. I'd be hesitant to punish them by deducting it from their wages, but certainly if they have bonuses of any kind or some other conditions that could be reduced to cover the cost i'd be going after them. You have to make a quick example that they need to be more diligent. Were the phone lost or should you be checking ebay?

[People Person]

Give them a phone holding device that allows them to carry the phone around their neck so it can't fall out of their pocket or be left without somewhere to place it. (Men generally don't carry handbags!)

You could also have a policy stating that the cost to replace a mobile phone handset if it is lost will need to be borne by the employee and ask them to sign a form to acknowledge this when they are issued with their work phone. You would also need to have their written permission to deduct funds from their pay in instalments if need be. In some cases, you might pay for the loss of 1 phone but the technician who lost 3 phones in 3 months needs to be taught how to be more responsible for company property. He may not be so absent-minded if he knew he'd be up for covering the cost. Also, if as Qld IR Consultant says, the phones may not have been lost at all.

[Cottoneyes]

Is there a need for them to have iphones for their actual role, or is it being used more as a perk to give them iphones instead of a normal mobile phone?

If a smart phone is not specifically required for the job, also look at replacing lost phones with a very basic nokia mobile as a 'stick' to help them keep track of the company equipment more.

[Martina55]

Why don't you just make a new policy that they needed to pay for their iphone when they lose it? They may have been taking for granted that they were given something for free. Also you can try giving them the iphone and they'll pay for it monthly, money deducted from their monthly salary.

[HRLocalGov]

Not strictly a HR opinion, But in my previous organisation there was insurance available, through the company's insurance policy, that covered the loss of items such as laptops and phones and therefore there was no extra cost to the organisation when this occurred. We had one instance of an employee who was actually giving these items to friends/family members and claiming they lost them(they were dismissed). So it is important that once an iphone is reported lost to call the carrier and have them Lock the phone to any future user.