I think I’m going to lose my job- please help

[Terrifiedterrance]

anyone Lost any work property? Laptop, phone, tablet? What happened? I’m terrified im having a panic attack- I don’t know what happened

I used to look after laptops / phones for a company of about 500 people. This would happen several times a week. We would literally log on, block the number and reissue a new phone. If it was a repeat offender then we would warn them that next time they would be charged, but I can remember actually doing that once in about 5 years. It wouldn’t even be on my radar, you won’t get sacked!

Deduction of wages for instances such as this is illegal in the UK.

I would report it to your line manager and go from there: I've never known anyone to be sacked for this type of thing. However my work are super strict about leaving laptops in cars etc. x

Head of IT here. Your company will see this all the time and will have a process in place for sorting it. If companies fired everyone that lost a piece of IT equipment there'd be absolutely no one left! Deep breathes lovely - you'll be fine x

Its not a disciplinary offence to lose something and as other posters have said, its the whole reason why we have encryption and passwords. These things happen every day, we are human.

What is important now is to report them lost/missing as per your employer's policy and procedures. Follow everything to the letter and as soon as possible x

Ok that's great. So first thing tomorrow call them. As long as you alert IT security you'd be fine where I work.

Try to remember the last time you had it and follow your day through in your mind in that way looking around as you go.

I know of someone who lost a set of keys to a prison...believe me that's when its time to panic

The first thing I always do now when I've lost something is check the places where it ought to be/where I thought it would be/where it's most likely to be at least 3 more times each! So often it HAS been in the place it should/where I thought it would be, but just hiding somehow e.g. slipped down the back of a drawer, got stuck inside something else (in a notebook for example) or something silly like that.
Also, have you checked ALL the pockets/bags it could be in? (Trousers, coats, raincoat, shopping bags if you did errands on the way back from work, clothes in the wash basket,... or places it could have fallen into FROM a pocket, e.g. loose in washbasket)? Good luck!

I've lost my work phone today. Haven't seen it since last week and no idea where it's gone except it's not in the house. Work were fine and are just sending me a replacement. And my phone has a lot of confidential information so I was worried too. Try not to panic, these things happen and probably more often than you think.

You’ll be absolutely fine, even when working for a bank it happened all the time. No one was ever sacked, sometimes warnings were issued but only if it was down to negligence that it was lost, such as leaving customer paper work on a parking machine, leaving laptops in cars over night sort of stuff. Losing a mobile phone as part of day to day life, is literally that day to day life.

Thank you for that! You made me LOL

Any HR policies around disciplinaries need to be able to be applied across the board. So imagine if your CEO lost their phone, do you think it likely they would be out on their ear?

Ok, in terms of searching for it, trace your steps backwards. Exactly when did you last see it? Then work backwards, to whatever you were doing before then, then move forward (almost like a very boring feature film) to after that point. Any revelations?

Did you leave the house? Did you use the car? Did anyone come over? Did you open the door to anyone?

If it’s phone sized these are easily lost… my OHs lost phone had trickled between the pages of a magazine under the coffee table (by the sofa where he was sitting). How this could even have happened is black magic. But trace to where you were last sitting etc.

of course, maybe you’ve done this (& some) given your “bomb site” description. But even weird things (if it’s a phone) like absent mindedly putting it in the fridge, or etc etc. really try to trace back what you did. GOOD LUCK!

What do you mean you dont know how to report it lost? Is it a phone, wouldn't you just speak to your IT or whatever department?

Without knowing what it is it's difficult to advise

Could one of your children have got hold of it? Have you asked them about it?

I lost two laptops in two years in one job. Insurance claims made, all fine. They did make me use a desktop after that though….

It's a portable device, these things get lost all the time. If you haven't lost your own phone you know the pain of someone who has.The devices are encrypted so should be secure. You need to follow the correct procedure and stop worrying. Unless your employer's are complete arseholes you are not going to lose your job.

I mean I looked up if there was a lost property policy and I couldn’t find anything on it, found a 24 hr IT number and they said they don’t deal with it and try tomorrow. So I will, but I don’t know if there’s a bespoke policy

I was going to say report it asap. I would make a record that you tried to report it, and the time and who you spoke to.

As long as you follows policy you are unlikely to be guilty of gross misconduct just by losing something, and I suspect it’s somewhere in your house. Good luck OP

I’ve asked, especially as my car keys got snatched and thrown across the road yesterday, so it would be on brand for them. They’ve said they’ve not seen it and they don’t know… but then they also said lalala I need a phone now, buy me a phone mummy

Husband has dropped his work phone down the toilet twice! Its all covered by insurance and they just send out a new one no questions asked!

Echo what Poit said.

It’s really difficult to find something when you’re in a panic. Sit down with a cup of tea and replay your movements from Friday lunchtime.

Did you go out in the afternoon? Would you have taken it with you? Did you drive? Did you get out the car etc etc.

It may well come to you if you can calm your mind down. Good luck, even if it is lost you won’t lose your job.

My friend lost her warrant card and handcuff keys when she was a probationer. I say lost but she left them in her jacket pocket, left jacket in car, dad took car to the pub and it was broken into and stolen. She got a major bollocking from a senior officer but is now very senior herself so hasn’t had any lasting effect!

I worked for a very large company and my boss (who was the head of our department) had her laptop and work phone stolen while we were all very drunk at the pub.

The didn’t even bat en eye lid - just replaced it and she carried on like normal. Your laptop will have some sort of software on it that means whoever has it won’t be able to access anything.

I really wouldn’t panic… this stuff happens all the time and business should be suitable insured and have the right software in place to protect themselves if it does.