Monday, March 05, 2012

Survey | Do you use your own equipment at work?

I'm talking especially about cameras, laptops, smartphones, and other hardware or software.

If so, please describe:
  1. the equipment
  2. its cost to you
  3. your department (advertising, editorial, etc.)
  4. why you use it instead of company equipment
  5. whether your supervisor knows you do this
Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

19 comments:

  1. In circulation at The Tennessean. use my personal BlackBerry and laptop all the time for email and reports. No compensation.

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  2. Nope. Still using the laptop etc. provided by the company. Didn't get a smart phone because I'm non-breaking news. My coworkers who got phones found out last week that they have to pay for the necessary apps up front then get reimbursed.

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  3. Another good question! About 3 years ago I asked my publisher for a new printer because the one I had (Laserjet 4 - doorstop) wasn't doing what I needed. I was doing a lot of scanning and emailing of documents to corporate and didn't need to be doing this from a community printer. So, I went out and for about $500 got a very nice HP multifunction machine. I don't know if the publisher ever figured out I bought my own or not, but the IT guy did - he helped me unbox it, take the old one and then I set it up. When I was laid off last year, he helped me carry it to my car and it is now in my office. Wireless too, so I can print from my den on the laptop. I was used to buying what I needed from previous jobs.

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  4. I use my own laptop ($1200) because it is more lightweight and better performing than the 8-year-old dinosaur I've been issued. The work laptop literally takes 5-plus minutes just to boot up and weighs 8 pounds with a tiny 15-inch screen. My laptop boots up in seconds, weighs 3 pounds and has a larger, brighter screen. Additionally, I also use my own version of Adobe Photoshop -- otherwise, I'd have no photo editing software.

    I also used my own DSLR (purchased used for $300) over the cheap point-and-shoot they gave me for 5 years until I was finally issued a quality DSLR last year. I often have to photograph indoor stories and the point-and-shoot just did not produce quality shots.

    My supervisor was/is aware of both the laptop and the camera. The software guy knows that I use my own version of Photoshop. I'm in the newsroom.

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  5. I buy my own pens, and I brought an old space heater in so my fingers and toes don't freeze in the winter.

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  7. I bought my own stapler. It's a Swingline, and not the plastic pieces of crud that jam every third staple.

    $22 and heavy enough to throw through a window in case I need to make a quick escape.

    No, not red. Red is for people who confuse movies and real life.

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  8. Before I left Gannett earlier this year, I was a reporter at a paper with about 40,000 circulation. I was one of a few who had a personal iPhone; often I was told I needed to live-tweet an event and cover it for online/print at the same time, even though we were never issued company smart phones. My supervisors often emailed or texted while I was at the scene of breaking news. I was expected not only to check my texts and emails on my personal phone but to respond to my editors' inquiries immediately. So yes, my supervisors were very aware that we were all using personal devices copiously for work-related endeavors. Not a goddamn peep about ever compensating us for any of those expenses. It was just expected.

    As far as laptops, we had a couple of ancient, company-owned iMacs available for reporters to use while we were on assignment, but they were so slow and unreliable that many of us (myself included) would bring our personal laptops to use while on assignment. Again, not a word about any sort of compensation for using these personal and very expensive devices while on the job. And of course not a word of thanks for the extra effort.

    I have since moved on to a much, much better job, but I can't believe how bitter I still am about the way my colleagues and I were treated at Gannett. Everything above is truly minor compared to other things we had to deal with.

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  9. I have used my own laptop for years to edit videos. Company-issued laptop is fine, lots of memory, good processor, but didn't have video editing software, so if I was to complete those videos much in demand and expected by Gannett, it came from my own system. Obviously, I also use my own computer for personal stuff, but it's used quite a bit, too, for work related efforts.

    Also have been using my own digital SLR for years now. Spent about $1,300 to update a 2003-era model that was fine in good light levels, but in anything other than ideal - it sucked. Also spent about $275 of my own money years ago to outfit myself with digital video camera. It was used exclusively for videos produced for a Gannett property.

    Both purchases were known by higher-ups and their the things they produced appreciated, but never word about compensating me at all. This was taking place at the same of year-after-year of no pay raises. Occasionally when I feel frustrated by this lack of support, I will quite using the good dSLR and go back to the old company-issued one, but its results are so pathetic that it compounds the already depressing situation we find ourselves in.

    I personally know of many other staffers at my paper who do similar things, buying digital recorders, point-and-shoot cameras and even using their own laptops because the material given by the company is so sadly wanting or we're just expected to have and use these things in our jobs.

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  11. I work on a newspaper online staff. I use a smartphone and occasionally a digital camera. The smartphone cost is about $80 a month. The camera was purchased several years ago. I use them because I have been issued neither, even during the recent iPhone distribution. My supervisor knows.

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  16. Mine - The 3 digital recorders I keep in rotation, the camera I had for the first 5 years on the job (the company's broke the week I was hired and would not replace it).

    Company's - the company does provide us with large screen iMacs and software. I cannot fault them for that. They don't provide us with post-press equipment that works and some there turn their noses up at fixing anything, period, including stuff that the paper cannot be printed without - at all.

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  17. I refuse to make any videos until they provide us with video cameras. I am not spending large amounts of money on them anymore.

    They want you to buy your own stuff so they don't have to. But, in reality, if they expect you to do something, they're obligated as your employer, to provide you with the materials to accomplish the task.

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