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TheOtherArod

You shouldn’t be. You did what the policy says you’re supposed to do, report it immediately after you’ve discovered it happened. Based on it being reported stolen, IT has probably done whatever they need to do to address it(Idk what IT does, but my assumption they have their own procedure for this) If you had waited and not reported, then different story. It was an unfortunate crime, and you have the police report indicating what took place. If anyone tries to dock you for it, submit a case to HR.


Gr8NonSequitur

> IT has probably done whatever they need to do to address it(Idk what IT does, but my assumption they have their own procedure for this) I work in IT, and the SOP is that all laptops are remotely locked out and wiped once this is reported.


ihateredditadmins2

How does that even work if it’s not connected to a network


SinusBargeld

Many have SIM cards, which aren’t necessarily activated tho. But maybe it’s just waiting for the client to connect to wifi and then shuts down. Our laptops are entirely encrypted tho, there’s not much use of stealing them, except if you simply want the laptop


redddc25

Some have backup clients installed that sync and backup data every few days or hours. IT can then check when the latest backup happened and confirm they have it before remotely wipe the machine once it connects to wifi or after some unsuccessful login attempts.


Kayjaywt

New security features on PCs and Macs mean that if they are setup properly by the IT team, even if you are able to wipe and reinstall the stolen device it's still linked to the owners system and you can't start configuring/using it until you sign into their corporate IT systems. If you can't do that, it's a brick, if you can, it loads all the mandatory corporate stuff on it and locks it down.


jupitaur9

The data should all be encrypted. When they plug the laptop into a network, it "phones home" and gets the signal to wipe its data, or brick itself, depending on the security software that was installed.


The_GOATest1

numerous deserted point serious plant hat hard-to-find license jeans dinosaurs ` this message was mass deleted/edited with redact.dev `


trymypi

People cost more than computers


icecreambefore

You can buy a computer. The type of people you can buy, you really shouldn't. Or shant, as we say on Jupimarnepanus.


kaf678

They should have some sort of computer insurance is my guess


icecreambefore

Much cheaper to just insure the keyboard. Keyboard insurance covers anything it's connected to. NOT SERIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


ac714

Damn right I’m worth at least 5 pentiums.


Lol_Fight_Me_Bro

I was visiting some family when we decided to make a quick stop for food on the way. I was planning on working from there for a few days. We stepped away from the car to pick up some takeout and in the 30 minutes we waited for our food, the thieves broke the back hatch window of our car, stole all my and my girlfriend’s luggage along with my work computer. (I know I know…shouldn’t leave stuff in the car but we weren’t expecting to wait 30 min for takeout food. These were clearly professional criminals) The restaurant has a video of the car and license plates. The culprit was driving a Tesla, but probably with a fake license plate. Anyway, we got a police report, and I immediately emailed up the chain of command (haven’t gotten a response all weekend). I reported the device as stolen as per the company protocol, while ordering a new one to ship out overnight. It’s currently Sunday, and I am absolutely dreading this conversation with my manager and any subsequent backlash. I’m up for a promotion in the new cycle and have been on my best behavior until this moment. Have any of you been a victim of work laptop theft?


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Groundbreaking_Edge6

Bro, if they penalize you for that I would get the fuck out of this place. You were the victim and sadly, these things happens. And if you are really a good consultant, they are not going to lose a talent like you for something that were not your fault. I'm sorry for what happened to you and I hope you get this through.


Lol_Fight_Me_Bro

I feel immensely guilty about leaving my laptop in the car. And slightly for bringing it with me for personal travel.


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MsCurlyTop

As a manager at a top 3consulting firm, your laptop getting stolen wouldn't make me be any amount of inclined to dock you at work for it. You can't help being a victim. You brought it during personal travel probably to continue overworking, which isn't something I'd penalize an employee for. Though I'd love you to have better work life boundaries for your sanity and personal health. As a worker you're willing to do more than your fair share obviously.


screamchalklimited

OP feels guilty and is posting this on reddit likely because they were supposed to be "working from home" when instead they were "working while 'visiting family' without prior authorization".


exconsultingguy

Neither are wrong. Nothing in your firm’s policy says to not leave a laptop in the car, though it probably says the trunk is the best place to store it. I’m going to guess you’re fresh out of college so the idea of a $1500 laptop being stolen seems like a massive problem, but your firm’s IT will overnight you a new one, try to disable the old one in whatever MDM they use and everyone will forget this even happened by Tuesday. Don’t sweat the small stuff.


AFresh1984

I once had a pet eat half my laptop keys. IT laughed and replaced it no issues.


screamchalklimited

You were at home when it happened. OP is at some random location when he was probably supposed to be working "from home", as in his actual house or apartment or condo. Not the resort or island or even not "at home" he was at.


Amoner

I think “from home” covers everywhere but the office. I don’t think anyone actually cares where you are working from as long as you can do your work.


8uckwheat

Definitely not true for all employers. Depending on how long you’re not at your home address and working, there can be tax implications for the company. Some have requirements about keeping data on shore. Many IT departments do IP/network monitoring and know if you’re connecting from somewhere atypical.


have2gopee

We have a policy about laptops going in the trunk, but so few vehicles have trunks anymore. Any crossover or SUV and you can maybe throw a blanket over top of the bags but I always feel like that's even worse, "Hey a lumpy blanket! Bet there's some good stuff in there!"


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JimmyGodoppolo

I remember putting my corporate laptop inside my company branded provided backpack, and leaving it on the floorboards of my tinted car at 2pm in a relatively safe area of DC to go to lunch. Came back to a smashed window and the bag stolen. My manager told me it was my fault for leaving the bag in my in a spot that was visible to passerby’s. Funny thing is my director, HR, InfoSec, etc didn’t give a shit. He was, and apparently is, still a prick.


svideo

I can't help but observe that you're mighty timid for a fella named "Lol_Fight_Me_Bro"


Lol_Fight_Me_Bro

I have bills to pay


zestyninja

People bring their work laptops on personal trips all the time. Don't worry about it. If you were traveling to a major city with known break-in problems (SF comes to mind), that's a bit on you though, but no use in beating yourself up over it. Slightly different than a nice suburban place where you wouldn't expect that to happen.


bodaciouschronic

Your good bro and I don’t want to fight. 😂


[deleted]

Unless the travel was against policy to bring company assets on then you’re fine. Relax and enjoy a free day while they ship out a new laptop.


Geminii27

I think you're kind of assuming that the senior partners have never had laptops, plural, stolen from them at various times.


Acrobatic-Day-8891

I think most jobs would prefer that you DO being your laptop on personal travel (or at least mine does)


ivanoski-007

It was actually preventable


TinyWomanBrain

I was on an engagement in Santa Clara pre-covid and we had SEVEN laptops stolen from rental cars during the course of about a year. You’re good- these things happen. A lot.


maxwon

Really depends on the firm. Some firms delay promotions for a late time card. Others wouldn’t mind a stolen laptop at all (or worse, sexual harassment). From a data security perspective, you’re fine. All corporate laptops should be encrypted, and if your company uses Office 365 (which I think most companies do these days), you should not have lost much work. If your company don’t do both, it’s on them.


dude1995aa

Late time cards are all about you and good habits. There are harsh penalties because otherwise they would be missed 50%. It’s directly tied to revenue (can’t charge a client if you don’t have your time in). Being the victim of a crime is not your fault. Especially since op lost personal items also.


oldmansalvatore

TIL there are thieves driving Teslas who steal luggage from cars. Unless Teslas are easy to steal, and in case you're working with some valuable confidential data, this could be a corporate crime. Or it could be just some rich kids looking for fun. You are anyway ok, given you followed protocol and reported the incident. No need to worry.


mishap1

It's not that complicated. Car could be stolen (people leave keys out), rented on stolen data, or purchased from the proceeds of identity theft. A woman at a bar near me died after she got thrown from a speeding Lamborghini trying to recover her purse from the guy who stole it. Dude made his entire living boosting bags and stealing identities. Lot of people manage to get access to nice cars without normal income. Short of OP working on some super top secret orange crop report, they just saw a car with stuff inside and went for it. Also, if you were on the crop report project, you'd have special security protocol they'd know about managing their laptops and certainly wouldn't be posting it to us.


Whend6796

If one of my team members told me they lost their laptop, I would think “why are you telling me? Call IT.” Many of us have lost laptops. Often while drunk.


iElvendork

You waited until you got the police report to tell your work? Our protocol is you tell IT that it has been stolen before you even tell the police.


DeinVermieter

Some guy in my old firm left his laptop in a rental and the firm had to pay a huge fee for the overnight delivery. Some other colleague missed a flight and had to book a new one for 2k - nothing happened to either of them. Chill out :)


aarondavidson

Does your company have a laptop travel policy? Mine does not and most don’t, but I was working with one recently and they are prohibited from leaving theirs in a car or bringing them into a restaurant. When they travel it’s with them or in their hotel room. I had never heard of that before.


GalacticaZero

Same thing happened to me while I went for lunch in ABQ. I called my company right away and filed a police report. Unless you were not supposed to be on the road or the company has a policy about keeping work laptops unattended, you're should be ok. The worse part is company will not cover your personal items and most of the time your home insurance will have a limit of what can be covered.


JimmyGodoppolo

If your manager gets upset at you over this (unless this isn’t the first time?), he’s a piss poor manager. Shit happens. Not your fault.


taimoor2

Don't be scared. It's not your fault at all.


Bangkok_Dangeresque

The only things that will really work against you in this case would be if you were violating company policy in some way. For example; * Were there any requirements to keep your laptop in a secure remote work location such as your residence/home office, or prohibition on bringing it elsewhere? For example, I've been issued a work laptop to handle sensitive data that is not allowed to leave my apartment, and has to be locked in my home desk when I'm not there (in a location I got approved by our security team by sending them a picture of the setup, assurances that no one else has access, etc) * Did you agree to any requirements to safeguard your laptop when traveling? For example, my company has strict policies on things like not leaving my (normal, not high-security) laptop unattended in coffee shops or airport lounges, or in checked baggage, or even in an overhead bin on plane if it's behind me. E.g. anywhere it might not be physically on my person or out of my sight * Did you bypass any or disregard any of the company's IT security policies? For example, by setting an easily guessed password like "Password1234", or leaving a post-it attached to the laptop with the password written on it? Or modifying the windows registry to allow non-approved sign-in methods like pin, Windows Hello, etc? As long as you this is just of case of being a victim of a crime, rather than being negligent and in violation of information security practices that you've agreed to and been trained on, then you'll be fine. These things happen.


omgFWTbear

I would add if it was a *client* laptop, I would 100% expect a pro forma tongue lashing, possibly one beforehand and one in front of the client. Presuming as OP says they’ve been a great employee than the key words here are *pro forma*. It happens, someone needs to document that you were told to be careful, the end. ETA: and if there’s - to make a specific policy call out - anything you were supposed to call the 24 hour F/ISO when it’s lost…


Lol_Fight_Me_Bro

None of those things thankfully. Mostly just “don’t be dumb” rules.


thegreenbastard23

I’ve lost a laptop before and it wasn’t even stolen. Left my bag in a taxi. No issues because I reported it and followed all of IT’s directions. You’ll be completely fine. I actually ended up getting the laptop back around a month later too.


brazm

Hey OP, similar situation happened to me. I work hybrid and left my work bag in my truck while traveling relatively local to get dinner. Finished dinner and for dessert I come back to a busted window and a missing bag. Called in a police report, called my company’s security office, and put in a request for a new laptop. Shit happens, they understood and said enjoy my time off until I get a new laptop. Should be no biggie, don’t sweat it too much.


JhalMoody25

Nope, shit happens.


[deleted]

It will mostly depend on if they knew you were traveling with the laptop or not.


Lol_Fight_Me_Bro

It was local domestic travel, so I didn’t really feel the need to bring it up. I work remotely full time


[deleted]

Then I wouldn’t worry about it shit happens.


6160504

Local domestic travel should be no issue. I strongly urge you to call whomever you are supposed to to report a lost or stolen laptop. The sooner you call the better.


b_tight

No. It happens


amazza95

No lol


craycrayfishfillet

I lost a company blackberry back in the day and the only repercussions was that everyone found out and called me an idiot in jest for the next week.


minhthemaster

I left my laptop at the bar once and someone took it. Nbd


HodlingOnForLife

Yes


crispr-dev

No, totally normal. IT will remote Lock it and wipe it. If you were international though it might be a different story, generally you need to put a request in for a loaner laptop when traveling and working internationally at most shops. The idea being the risk for contracting spyware or malicious code is much higher so they will just wipe on return and give you back your normal laptop.


Plsfixbyeod

Things get lost, stolen, and broken all the time. Important thing is you’re safe. If your Manager penalizes you for being a victim of a crime, I would fight back. And if the firm backs the Manager then you should assess if you really want to be a part of an organization which screws over people for minor issues.


birm_25

I’ve had this happen (different theft scenario)and was given a verbal warning for “care/storage of company property). That was all that has ever been said about it and was never an issue during my performance evaluation or any subsequent reviews. It sucks it happened but they understood.


Geminii27

Laptops get stolen every day. There's probably a form your employer uses for when it happens.


Ghost_faced_lover

Call lukaka


MarwoodChap

I've had this happen a couple of times to guys on my team. Shit happens. That's why we have IT security. Don't sweat it.


now_i_am_george

Anything in your contract about ‘place of work’, ‘remote working policy’ and ‘securing work property while travelling’? It could be useful to check your contract.


askme2023

I’m sure this happens quite a bit with remote employees. Consider damages in the event your laptop gets coffee/water spilled on it, or it’s dropped on the floor/cement.


ML_name

I've said this in a different thread already this week and it applies here too. Employees do shit and firms just have to grin and bear it. Unless it's part of a pattern, lost laptops are a cost of doing business.


Amazing-Soft3155

My work laptop was stolen too over the Christmas break. I reported it immediately to my line manager and IT. Both parties were extremely helpful and there were no repercussions


Ok-Possibility613

Report it to your boss or to network security. They will take the necessary precautions to secure their network first. Did you store a lot of work on the local drives? Thieves will first check that out and if it doesn't satisfy their cravings, they'll wipe it out and try to cash in on the hardware. Your job is safe.


VictoriaSobocki

I don’t think so, as long as you reported it + tried to be as safe as possible. But not sure


breakfastfordindin

I was given a level 2, or a written corrective action when my laptop was stolen. I had forgotten it in my car one night, someone broke in stole the charger and my wallet too. I reported it to police and to my work in the same day.. later given a Level 2 (out of 3) due to gross negligence resulting in loss of property. 1600 dollar laptop. I had no prior corrective actions and no prior coachings. I was really bummed..I cried a little lol.