Have you ever kept work equipment?

[StillHasTheMouse]

I’m talking laptops, monitors, phone chargers, that kind of thing. Maybe you weren’t asked to return it or maybe it was just… quietly forgotten. Or maybe you did hand everything back but kept something small like a branded mug or office stationery.

Be honest, have you ever kept work equipment after leaving a job? And AIBU to think most people have, even if they won’t admit it?

Yes a work monitor. They never asked for it back & so I didn’t return it. Most toxic workplace id ever worked at & feel no guilt.

Both times I've been made redundant I've negotiated with them to keep my computer, even though it was company property. It was worthwhile as I had a computer to job hunt on. You can't just keep things on an asset register, but yeah small peripherals like a mouse, headset etc for WFH won't be logged as needed to be returned. I still have a bit of company marketing swag I don't know what to do with!

Only stuff that I have asked for when employers have been refitting, rebranding or closing down.
I had a filing cabinet from when Midland Bank became HSBC, a medical dictionary from another and loads of stationery from another.

I have a 30cm wooden ruler from the primary school I taught at

A bit different but while working for a company they went into administration. We had the bailiffs or whatever come to the business just before closing. I’d had this happen 10yrs prior in another company so knew the drill. All my staff were lovely and it was Christmas time. Head office knew it was happening and all these staff on minimum wage were not only heartbroken but so worried they weren’t going to be paid. So I decided to say to them all I wasn’t doing bag checks at the end of the night and remember the bailiffs don’t know what is yours.. no regrets.

No, the NHS can't afford to have people thieving. It's a disciplinary offence.
I have on occasion bought dated equipment that needed to be replaced and it was all above board.

Headset and a laptop bag.

I kept a headset which had stopped working and I didnt get round to replacing. I came across it just the other day and thought of throwing it away. It’s been 18 months, surely nobody wants it.

I'm a teacher and there's always an odd assortment of board pens and marking pens in my house and car from my pockets. Every now and then I gather them up and take them back to work so I'm not really keeping them....although I can't say for sure my kids don't pinch them sometimes....but them I have a stack of stationary from home that I've purchased on my desk at work.

Yeah because returning most things for a remote company is a pita so they asked me to keep it all except for the laptop.

I’ve never deliberately stolen anything of value but I did work with someone rather irritating who was obsessive over their mug and anyone else using it, so it now sits nicely in my cupboard and I use it whenever I want.

The obsolete computer may work but you should know it is very vulnerable to cyber attacks. Once an operating system is obsolete, the editor (Microsoft) stops sending security updates, therefore any vulnerability discovered by hackers will not be corrected.

I never deliberately took anything but I was in a serious car crash on the way home from work and by the time I was out of hospital and realised that my work bag had been left in the boot the remains of my car had been crushed. I presume that a variety of things including my work phone, charger and office keys went into the crusher, if they weren't pulverised during the crash anyway.

Thank-you, but please don’t worry - it isn’t used any more, I think DF only switched it on to see if it would work. He has a laptop too, which is completely up to date. The Windows 95 computer is also so old that it was never online, one of the last pre-internet relics - DM just used it for Word documents which she printed and saved to floppy disks. Those disks are long gone, DF destroyed them with a hammer before throwing them out so that nobody could ever access the documents!

I walked out with pride and dignity, reclaiming them as my own 😃

When I got made redundant a few years ago I sold a ‘do not disturb meeting in progress’ sign just for a laugh on eBay I couldn’t believe someone actually would want one 🤣

Disclaimer I have no idea how the sign ended up in my leaving box

I too k my chair, keyboard & mouse home at the first lock down & still have them, no one knows because a lot of my team back then have left.
no idea if I’d return them, probably not the chair because it’s now our home office chair & it’s comfy

All these “no, I am not a thief”…. Some companies have no interest in having some
equipment back!

In the last four companies I have been with, none of have asked for anything more than the laptops, phones and iPads.

I have offered to return headsets, keyboards, foot rests, laptop bags, printers…. Nope. Not interested and can’t provide details to return even if you want to. these days I tell new employers from the start that I don’t need headsets etc in the hope they don’t automatically provide .

Yes an iPhone and I think 2 headsets.

had been there a very long time and the company had merged loads. No one had any idea who had what really!

Laptop, 2nd monitor, phone, standing desk and an ergonomic chair. The company went bust and lost my job overnight. The administrators asked me to take it all back to head office 150 miles away and I told them they could organise couriers and I heard nothing again.

I unceremoniously walked out of my last job, and they told me I couldn’t return to get my own things, as it was ‘a security risk’.
A colleague had to pack up my desk, and I picked it up from her. She’d packed a couple of things which weren’t mine, and I didn’t realise until I unpacked a few months later.
i tried to return them, but as I couldn’t go back into the building, I offered to courier them back, at their expense. No one ever asked for them (a calculator, a coffee pot, a laptop charger.) Meh 🤷🏼‍♀️

When we get issued new phones they want the old hsndsets back but I’ve kept headphones / chargers type stuff.

I have some things from a former job. Was made redundant as the business was closing (due to owners retiring and not finding a buyer for the business) and they offered for us to take any furniture and stuff we wanted.

The only things my employer makes people return are phones and laptops. Everything else - monitors, keyboards, headsets and office furniture - we’re told we can keep or dispose of.

A lovely raspberry pink filing cabinet! They didn’t ask and I didn’t offer.